3. Discussion Only Items
A) - Policy – Second Reading
o GBEBA/JIA Staff Research Policy
Mullen - no additional info at this time
B) - Anti-Bullying Plan
approximately 20 comments from the public
a couple of areas of interest, minor tweaks or suggestions
no additional comments from the committee
the plan will go to the policy subcommittee which will draft a policy for review and acceptance by June 30th
C) - Child Nutrition Bill Task Force
Based upon the recent legislation just signed into law
to form a task force, to evaluate the legislation and make a determination on how it would be implemented
Glynn to chair task force, Trahan volunteered to work on this, as did Roy
Sabolinski - this would dovetail nicely with the nutrition work done previously
D) - Budget Workshop
Jan 29th, 8:30 AM - noon
an opportunity to discuss in greater detail the school budget and the budget process
provide a brief overview of the budget at the beginning
comments open for suggestions up until Jan 14th
Cafasso - enjoy having the principals there, they should not feel that they have to sugar coat anything, we need them to be honest, ideal situations, not just 'ideal'. We are going backwards for so long on the budget, it would be good to come away with some honest assessments of what we should be striving for. What are priorities? When the time comes?
Glynn - What I'd like to see is to go through the budget as you outlined, and a what if scenario. What would you define as a good plan and what would it cost us to get there? It would not be an optimal plan, not a Wellesley.
Trahan - we need to keep in front of us where we would like to be, we were on a 'good to great track', what would it look like?
Mullen - What level of detail are you looking for?
Glynn - more or less high level categories, based upon the student teacher ratio what would it look like?
Sabolinski - I can through a number out right now, we need 63 million.
Roy - the number at that time was 64 million three years ago, it would not surprise me to have it north of 70 million in today values
Roy - if we were to update the 'good to great' numbers, that might be something that would answer your questions
E) - Innovative learning models
Glynn, this idea came from some session at the recent conference I attended
an example of a program where high school students were taking courses and getting college credit for them
distracted learning, life long learning, online courses, what would we be looking at
maybe formalize this process a little more
Soblinski - we have a number of different programs going at the high school, we should include them in this, along with some union leadership to look
Roy/Sabolinski - Task Force or Study Group, study group being a broader group, bringing in different stake holders as necessary, put the information together
Co-Chair of study group - Glynn and Sabolinski
Franklin, MA
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Live reporting - Cafeteria workers contract
2. Guests/Presentations
b. Signing of Cafeteria Contract July 2010 – June 2013
Trahan, a collaborative group no issues and no tension, good working relationship
willing to understand what the situation is
Sabolinski - thank you for all yu do every day to make life better for our students and staff
Franklin, MA
b. Signing of Cafeteria Contract July 2010 – June 2013
Trahan, a collaborative group no issues and no tension, good working relationship
willing to understand what the situation is
Sabolinski - thank you for all yu do every day to make life better for our students and staff
Franklin, MA
Live reporting - presentation
2. Guests/Presentations
a. MASS Academic Excellence Awards
Franklin, MA
a. MASS Academic Excellence Awards
- Samantha White
- Daniel Nulton
Franklin, MA
Live reporting - School Committee Meeting
Present: Douglas, Cafasso, Rohrbach, Roy, Trahan, Glynn
Absent: none
1. Routine Business
Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Added Budget Workshop in Jan for discussion, added alternative learning method to discussion only items
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the open session of the November 16, 2010 School Committee Meeting and August 31, 2010 special meeting, and the following Executive Session minutes:
August 24, 2010
September 14, 2010
September 28, 2010
October 12, 2010
October 26, 2010
November 9, 2010
November 16, 2010
motion to approve the minutes, passed 7-0
Payment of Bills (11/9 & 12/14) Mr. Glynn
motion to pay the bills, passed 7-0
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives
Correspondence
1. Budget to Actual
2. Anti-Bullying Plan Feedback
Franklin, MA
Absent: none
1. Routine Business
Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Added Budget Workshop in Jan for discussion, added alternative learning method to discussion only items
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the open session of the November 16, 2010 School Committee Meeting and August 31, 2010 special meeting, and the following Executive Session minutes:
August 24, 2010
September 14, 2010
September 28, 2010
October 12, 2010
October 26, 2010
November 9, 2010
November 16, 2010
motion to approve the minutes, passed 7-0
Payment of Bills (11/9 & 12/14) Mr. Glynn
motion to pay the bills, passed 7-0
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives
Correspondence
1. Budget to Actual
2. Anti-Bullying Plan Feedback
Franklin, MA
"need to think before they react"
McAfee is running a five part series on Cyberbullying and begins with a definition:
You can bookmark, favorite or subscribe to the McAfee page to get the remainder of the series.
Franklin, MA
Cyberbullying: “a situation when a child, tween or teen is repeatedly ‘tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted’ by another child or teenager using text messaging, email, instant messaging or any other type of digital technology.” (source: StopCyberbullying.org)You can find all of part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here.
You can bookmark, favorite or subscribe to the McAfee page to get the remainder of the series.
Franklin, MA
Monday, December 13, 2010
FM #80 - Week Ending 12/12/10
Let's take about 10 minutes to review what matters here in Franklin, MA as the week comes to a close Sunday Dec 12, 2010.
Time : 8 minutes, 43 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 80 in the series for Franklin Matters.
In this session, you give me about ten minutes and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin as this week comes to a close on Sunday Dec 12th.
This past week, the Town Council approved the smallest capital budget in recent years. While we have 2.1 M in 'free cash' the joint decision (administration and Town Council) was to keep $500,000 for snow/ice and $800,000 for unemployment insurance expense. The snow and ice budget has been growing closer to a realistic number over the years but given the variability in NE weather, and the tightness of the budget recent years, it is better to under forecast it and cover with free cash than to over forecast it. The unemployment insurance pool is being created in case an override fails come May/Jun 2011 and there are a large number of Town and School employees laid off.
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering this capital budget:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=5qFm%2baJMGjV57Fyb%2f6R%2fsg%3d%3d
As much as some folks still think that the Administration is incompetent, the actions and their results have some quite the opposite. Their performance has shown a high level of stability in the overall budget with lots of alternative planning.
Just flash back to the chart in the appendix for last week's slide cast, the one slide I think makes this point. Look at the variation in free cash over the years. The variability has narrowed in the last several years. The revenue forecasts have been closer to reality, the budget expenses have been managed very closely. Both of these combine to result in 'free cash', which is not 'free' nor really cash. Free cash should be created each year, in a tight and acceptable range, especially given the size of the operation Franklin is running.
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/12/fm-79-slidecast-tax-hearing-info-for-fy.html
Back to the Council meeting, the tax rate was set at 12.95 as calculated and expected. It also continued the single tax rate that I believe rightly should be used here in Franklin. You can disagree if you choose, but the numbers speak for themselves.
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering the Tax Hearing:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=3dwRSxWPYuVy9u0sTBN5kA%3d%3d
As another sign of good financial management, Franklin is going to fund some $2 M for school repairs with a bond issue. The bond issue will fit within the operating budget and not result in an override consideration. The Council has been operating with a policy of using up to 3.5% of the total operational budget for debt service and has been building some capacity in this area in the last year or so with more expect in the next year as debt retires. This is a good financial maneuver and you can hear more of the rational behind it during the Council discussion
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering the school bond issue:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=RcYKs%2b0J6JuGZPLL%2fsGOyg%3d%3d
Looking ahead:
School Committee meeting on Tuesday and the next Town Council meeting Wednesday
School Committee agenda is published, the Town Council is not yet available.
School Committee has the anti-bullying plan is the major item on the agenda. The plan was released a couple of weeks ago for feedback and will be voted on during the meeting Tuesday.
While the TC agenda is not available, I did receive an advance copy of the revised approach to the downtown commercial zoning changes. If you were confused by the initial plan, you were not alone. The plan has now been split into three parts, the first part will be discussed Weds. The cover memo and supporting documents were published on Franklin Matters Sunday and the link is included here.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/approach-revised-for-downtown.html
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can use your help.
How can you help?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings, please let me know.
As always:
Thank you for listening.
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to listen to this podcast
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Time : 8 minutes, 43 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes
This internet radio show or podcast is number 80 in the series for Franklin Matters.
In this session, you give me about ten minutes and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin as this week comes to a close on Sunday Dec 12th.
This past week, the Town Council approved the smallest capital budget in recent years. While we have 2.1 M in 'free cash' the joint decision (administration and Town Council) was to keep $500,000 for snow/ice and $800,000 for unemployment insurance expense. The snow and ice budget has been growing closer to a realistic number over the years but given the variability in NE weather, and the tightness of the budget recent years, it is better to under forecast it and cover with free cash than to over forecast it. The unemployment insurance pool is being created in case an override fails come May/Jun 2011 and there are a large number of Town and School employees laid off.
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering this capital budget:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=5qFm%2baJMGjV57Fyb%2f6R%2fsg%3d%3d
As much as some folks still think that the Administration is incompetent, the actions and their results have some quite the opposite. Their performance has shown a high level of stability in the overall budget with lots of alternative planning.
Just flash back to the chart in the appendix for last week's slide cast, the one slide I think makes this point. Look at the variation in free cash over the years. The variability has narrowed in the last several years. The revenue forecasts have been closer to reality, the budget expenses have been managed very closely. Both of these combine to result in 'free cash', which is not 'free' nor really cash. Free cash should be created each year, in a tight and acceptable range, especially given the size of the operation Franklin is running.
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2010/12/fm-79-slidecast-tax-hearing-info-for-fy.html
Back to the Council meeting, the tax rate was set at 12.95 as calculated and expected. It also continued the single tax rate that I believe rightly should be used here in Franklin. You can disagree if you choose, but the numbers speak for themselves.
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering the Tax Hearing:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=3dwRSxWPYuVy9u0sTBN5kA%3d%3d
As another sign of good financial management, Franklin is going to fund some $2 M for school repairs with a bond issue. The bond issue will fit within the operating budget and not result in an override consideration. The Council has been operating with a policy of using up to 3.5% of the total operational budget for debt service and has been building some capacity in this area in the last year or so with more expect in the next year as debt retires. This is a good financial maneuver and you can hear more of the rational behind it during the Council discussion
The segment of the Town Council meeting covering the school bond issue:
http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=RcYKs%2b0J6JuGZPLL%2fsGOyg%3d%3d
Looking ahead:
School Committee meeting on Tuesday and the next Town Council meeting Wednesday
School Committee agenda is published, the Town Council is not yet available.
School Committee has the anti-bullying plan is the major item on the agenda. The plan was released a couple of weeks ago for feedback and will be voted on during the meeting Tuesday.
While the TC agenda is not available, I did receive an advance copy of the revised approach to the downtown commercial zoning changes. If you were confused by the initial plan, you were not alone. The plan has now been split into three parts, the first part will be discussed Weds. The cover memo and supporting documents were published on Franklin Matters Sunday and the link is included here.
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/approach-revised-for-downtown.html
---- ---- ----
This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can use your help.
How can you help?
If you have an interest in covering the Planning Board, Conservation Commission and or the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings, please let me know.
As always:
- If you like this, please tell your friends and neighbors
- If you don't like this, please tell me
Thank you for listening.
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to listen to this podcast
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
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