Jefferson and Oak St School Tours (video)

Realtor Warren Reynolds has posted his photos, videos, and summaries of the school tours of the Jefferson Elementary School and the Oak St Elementary School.

Here’s your chance to see the inside of the Jefferson Elementary School in Franklin, MA.  Jefferson Elementary is one of the most recently built schools in town, as amply demonstrated by the video and photo tour of the school provided below.

http://www.02038.com/2013/03/tour-jefferson-elementary/

Take a few minutes to tour the inside of the Oak Street Elementary School in Franklin, MA.  The school got a full renovation in 2004.  As the videos and photos below show, this is a beautiful primary education facility!

http://www.02038.com/2013/03/oak-st-elementary-tour/

Hopefully these posts will tempt you to join one of the remaining school tours this year. The one for Keller/Sullivan ended up getting canceled due to the snow (the new date has not been set yet). The tour of Franklin High School is scheduled for Apr 26th at 6:00 PM

"That human contact is critical"

The MA Dept of Elementary and Secondary Education is considering proposals for virtual schools. Up to 10 have been authorized to be created in MA over the next 10 years. In this recap of the status of the program and the first proposal from Greenfield, the Milford Daily News talked with Franklin.

Without face-to-face contact between teachers and students, Franklin Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski expects some students could fall behind. 

"It is a much more active type of learning," she said. "It could be a challenge for some students. You have to keep up with your work every day. Students may fall into thinking it will be a lot easier." 

Several other states offer blended learning and full-time online programs. In Florida, most students take online classes part-time, but full-time online students are able to connect with peers.

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x930815941/School-officials-say-virtual-schools-are-a-tool-with-some-red-flags#ixzz2NnCmGGQb

More on the Commonwealth of MA Virtual Schools (CMVS) can be found on the MA DESE webpage
http://www.doe.mass.edu/odl/cmvs/

Three Franklin Events for Sunday, Mar 17th

1 - Start with the Community Garden. From 9:00 AM until noon there will be spring garden work and demonstrations
http://www.franklincommunitygardens.org/2013/03/spring-garden-celebration.html

2 - Help celebrate the solar installation at the First Universalist Society at 11:45 AM
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/02/solar-anniversary-celebration.html

3 - Franklin celebrates it 235th birthday at the Historical Museum from 1:00 to 4:00 PM

Historical Commission Chairwoman Deborah Pellegri knows exactly how far her town has come since March 2, 1778, the date of its incorporation. And this year she will renew a tradition of holding public celebrations of Franklin's birthday. 

Pellegri, also the town clerk, invites one and all to a special party from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Historical Museum, 80 West Central St. In addition to wishing Franklin a happy birthday, she will recognize, as well, several residents born on March 2. 

Emma Newton, a 13-year-old harpist from Franklin, will perform, as well as local singer/songwriter Jamie Barrett, who’ll play "The City Known as the Town of Franklin," his ode to the town.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1433797648/Franklin-to-celebrate-235th-birthday#ixzz2NhGy7Q9g

Jamie Barrett's "The City Known as the Town of Franklin"




And an alternative to these three events would be to get to Boston to see the boys hockey team play in the State Championship game

TED 2013: Bono on poverty (video)

Spend 14 minutes to get some impressive facts on poverty.

"We're going to win if we work together as one, because the power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power." Bono

Take action. Become a factivist with one.org

Or focus your activities on the Franklin community and help with the Franklin Food Pantry

In the News: Dean College, DelCarte

Lenny at Large: Dean College teacher on the Boston stage

by Lenny Megliola/Daily News correspondent

The busy life is nothing new for McCaela Donovan. On this recent day, she is leaving the hustle of Boston for suburban Franklin, where the 30-year-old teaches acting to Dean College students who are serious about the craft, maybe as serious as she was at their age.

FinCom sets up development of new recreational park

by GateHouse Media, Inc.

The Finance Committee on Thursday night paved the way for a new recreational park inside the Ernest DelCarte Open Space, also know as the Franklin Reservoir.

DelCarte Recreation Proposal

There were two items on the Finance Committee agenda before they got into their budget hearing on Thursday. The first approved $35,000 for a solar powered speed alert to be installed on King St near the Parmenter School (Wachusett St) to slow the traffic down and make it safer for students to cross the road.

The second reallocated money that had been set aside for the repair of the dams on the DelCarte property. There had been $1.4M set aside last year. The bids came in for the dam repair at about $900,000 leaving this money in the fund that still needs to be spent on 'capital'. There was a public hearing on Tuesday where about 6-9 neighbors attended to review the plans. The Finance Committee voted 6-0 to approve the reallocation. The measure now moves to the Town Council agenda for their approval. Assuming approval, the work on the dams would be complete sometime in June and this work would begin thereafter. Depending upon the weather and priorities, the remainder of the work may not be completed this year.

A display of the proposal and playground model

DelCarte Recreation Proposal

A close up of the playground model

DelCarte Recreation Proposal - playground model

A close up of the overall display board

DelCarte Recreation Proposal - display board

A map of the DelCarte porperty showing the proposed trails and playground. Pleasant St is running along the top of this map. The train tracks are the solid line along the bottom of the photo.

DelCarte Recreation Proposal - map of trails and playground

These display boards are located in the entrance to the Franklin Municipal Building.

"assist with the unfunded mandates"

The Milford Daily News reports on the budget hearing from Thursday night:

The town’s portion of the more than $27 million in improvements planned for the Charles River Pollution Control District treatment plant has decreased by a half a million dollars, significantly reducing the proposed fiscal year 2014 sewer budget. 

Jeffrey Nutting gave the Finance Committee the news on Thursday, during its second night of hearings to review the $95,109,701 FY ’14 budget. The change in Franklin’s commitment to the Charles River project brought the sewer budget down by about $800,000, to $3,652,810. 

Franklin must cover 67 percent of the total cost to the plant, while Medway’s share will be 16.75 percent, or $4.6 million. Millis and Bellingham will foot the remainder.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x898149250/Franklins-FY-14-sewer-budget-sees-decrease#ixzz2NbH1852G

While the sewer budget will decrease the sewer rates were already set so there won't be an immediate change. The real impact will be in the future where due to this decrease the anticipated increase to cover the DEP mandated enhancements to the plant will be less which would mean that the rate increase to cover that assessment would be less. Still it is good news but not an immediate effect on the rates we pay today.

Related links:

The short version of the budget document reviewed last night can be found on the Franklin webpage
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Admin/FY%202014%20Proposed%20Budget/FY%2014%20Proposed%20Budget.pdf

The complete set of documents for the school budget can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/03/fy-2014-franklin-public-schools.html

My reporting from the budget hearing Wednesday can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/03/live-reporting-finance-committee-mar-13.html

My reporting from the budget hearing Thursday can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/03/live-reporting-finance-committee-mar-14.html