Four Changes to Law

Phillip K Howard spoke recently at the TED Conference and it was captured in this TED Talk.

The land of the free has become a legal minefield, says Philip K. Howard -- especially for teachers and doctors, whose work has been paralyzed by fear of suits. What's the answer? A lawyer himself, Howard has four propositions for simplifying US law.

What are the four propositions?

1 - Judge law mainly by its effect on society, not individual situations.
2 - Trust in law is an essential condition of freedom. Distrust skews behavior towards failure.
3 - Law must set boundaries protecting an open field of freedom, not intercede in all disputes.
4 - To rebuild boundaries of freedom, two changes are essential:

• simplify the law
• restore authority to judges and officials to apply law

I do encourage you to view the video (approx. 20 minutes) as the arguments Phillip makes are quite compelling. 



What do you think? Do we stand a chance of getting somewhere with these proposals?

In the News: Closing the gap, winter carnival

Rep. Vallee votes to close obscene messaging gap

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Staff reports

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Franklin High's Winter Carnival set for Sunday

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Ashley Studley/Daily News staff

Maguro House - Grand Opening Party

The Grand Opening Party is scheduled for Sunday, February 28th from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Harlem Wizards return to Franklin!

The Harlem Wizards, one of the greatest basketball show-team organizations to ever “lace it up and let’em fly”, will play our own Sullivan Rockets. This will be an entertaining night for kids of all ages (and adults too)!

From Franklin Matters

Did you miss their visit last year?



Don't miss it this year!

Date:  Friday, March 19th, 2010, 7:00 PM
Doors Open 6:00, Game Time 7:00

Location: Tri-County Regional High School
147 Pond St, Franklin MA

Tickets: Click here to print ticket order form

Contacts: ayotte_k@verizon.net or erinclong@comcast.net

Sponsored By: Annie Sullivan Middle School PCC

School Committee Mtg 02/23/10

The collection of posts from the School Committee meeting of Tuesday, February 23rd can be found here

• live reporting - Superintendent report, closing
• Live reporting - Action items
• live reporting - policy changes
• Live reporting - presentations
• Live reporting - School Committee

In the News - Cole's, Junior Miss, school progress

Police still looking for Franklin robbery suspect

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Krista Perry/Daily News staff

Franklin Junior Miss results

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Krista Perry/Daily News staff

Franklin schools report progress

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Ashley Studley/Daily News staff

live reporting - Superintendent report, closing

5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report
a. Ethics Laws
b. 2011-2012 School Calendar – 2 drafts
one drafted with a start before Labor Day, one drafted with a start after Labor Day
looking for review from School Committee, will be reviewed with principals Wednesday
will also be posted to the schools website for review
with a post-Labor Day start, the senior graduation day would have to be pushed back from the normal first Friday in June


• School Committee Sub-Committee Reports
Building Committee - Mar 1 is meeting to vote and approve the selection of the OPM, which will trigger the effort on designers (architects) to get one hired by fall

Space Needs - will be reporting out at next meeting

Budget subcommittee - FY 11 budget tweaked, revised to be reviewed with the full committee on March 9th to review the level service needs


• School Committee Liaison Reports
none

6. New Business
To discuss future business that may be brought before the School Committee.

Trahan - FEF Trivia Bee on Apr 29th

Glynn - with the current events around cyberbullying, are we planning to do anything
Mullen - yes, the subcommittee is working on it, the Superintendent has been keeping us informed

Roy - providing feedback from the Univ of Hartford on theater students coming from Franklin who have been doing very well there.

7. Executive Session
Contractual Negotiations


motion to enter executive session with no intention to return to open session
passed 7-0