Franklin Matters

Jerry Sherlock is one of the lucky ones. His sons took him to the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC in 2007. Others still need to go.

Jerry, his sons and one grandson in front of the Iwo Jima Monument can be viewed here

You can find out more about this cause here

Franklin, MA

"It's not a single thing we do"

In kindergarten through fourth grade, charter school teachers focus explicitly on character by teaching students how to behave at school, interact with each other and give back to their community. In fifth through eighth grade, those skills are reinforced while teaching academics through the bridge activity, rap writing and other projects, O'Malley said.

Character education culminates during a capstone project students complete as seventh- and eighth-graders. The project involves researching, planning and implementing a service project such as tending gardens for the Franklin Food Pantry, administrators said.

"We try to focus on the whole student," O'Malley said, noting all students participate in weekly small group sessions that address character issues. "Parents, teachers and students buy into the idea that character education is at the heart of what we do."

Several students who participated in interviews before the committee said they didn't realize how well character is integrated into their studies until they were asked about it.

"There's a sense of community here," said Cobi Frongillo, 13, an eighth-grader. "I can name about 95 percent of the students here. I don't think that would happen in another school."

"If you don't preserve the stories, then history is lost"

It was 1945 and Crawford, an 87-year-old Franklin Army veteran, was fighting in the Ruhy Valley in western Germany. His sergeant sent him to an old lumberyard up on a hill to see if there was any salvageable lumber. Instead, he found two German soldiers.

"I pointed my gun at them and they stood with their guns pointed at me," Crawford recalled Tuesday. "It felt like 30 minutes but it was probably only a minute."

The Germans, demoralized from losing the war, gave up. On the way back to his unit, Crawford realized his gun was unloaded when he attempted to shoot a rabbit for its meat and nothing came out of the gun.

While many stories like this are forgotten when veterans die, Crawford's tales of serving in the U.S. Army's 548th Field Artillery will be saved for future generations thanks to Regis Schratz, a Franklin teenager who interviewed Crawford and is making a video of his stories to be preserved in the Library of Congress.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/features/x1078554324/History-revived-in-Franklin#ixzz1NAUUW7Gj

Related post about bringing WWII veterans to the WWII Memorial in WDC

Franklin, MA

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Photo slideshow - Book Sale/'Touch a Truck' Day

The combined Library Book Sale and DPW 'Touch a Truck Day' drew a good crowd according to DPW Director Robert 'Brutus" Cantoreggi. This is the 4th 'touch a truck day' and third when combined with the Library Book Sale.

Did the kids find the buttons for the horn? Yes, they did!