Franklin, MA: Town Council - Agenda - Dec 17, 2014

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
August 6, 2014, December 3, 2014

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
This meeting is being recorded by Franklin TV and shown on Comcast channel 11 and Verizon channel 29. This meeting is being recorded by Franklin Matters.

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS
Del Arnold, Marlene Oliver

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

E. APPOINTMENTS
Library Building Committee – Vote Resolution 14-89 First

Nancy J. Rappa - 25 Queen Street
Matthew T. Kelley - 75 Crescent Street
Judith Pond Pfeffer - 37 Arlington Street
Thomas D. Mercer - 14 Mercer Lane
Christopher K. Feeley - 5 Taft Drive
Felicia Oti - Library Director
Monique Doyle - 3 Greenfield Road
Sandra Brandfonbrener - 8 Beech Street
James M. Roche - 152 Daniels Street

F. HEARINGS

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
2015 Annual Alcoholic Beverages Licenses Renewals

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS
• Habitat for Humanity

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
1. Zoning Bylaw Amendment 14-742:Changes to Chapter 185-§4. Districts Enumerated – 2nd Reading Requires 2/3 Vote
2. Zoning Bylaw Amendment 14-743:Changes to Chapter 185-§20. Signs - 2nd Reading Requires 2/3 Vote
3. Zoning Bylaw Amendment 14-744:Changes to Chapter 185-§31. Site Plan and Design Review - 2nd Reading Requires 2/3 Vote
4. Zoning Bylaw Amendment 14-745: Amendment to Chapter 185, Attachment 7, Part VI, Use Regulation Schedule, Residential Uses, Office Zoning District – Referral to Planning Board
5. Resolution 14-87: 2015 Town Council Meeting Schedule
6. Resolution 14-88: Legal Notices
7. Resolution 14-89: Creation of a Library Building Committee

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

L. OLD BUSINESS

M. NEW BUSINESS

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS

O. EXECUTIVE SESSION
– Negotiations, Litigation, Real Property, as May Be Required

P. ADJOURN

Franklin Public Library

The full set of documents released for this agenda can be found here
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2014/121714.pdf

Reporting by walking around on Saturday

The sun was shining on the cool morning when I went walking around Franklin on Saturday.

Fletcher Field is getting a new installation of a tot playground. You may recall earlier this year there was an opportunity to use a State grant to put in a sprinkler park. It turned out that the water testing for the sprinkler park was going to be cost prohibitive so the grant was used to purchase and install this tot area. The work needs to be done by the end of the month in order to receive the grant. By the looks of it, they'll make it.

new tot playground being built at Fletcher Field

The folks at Franklin Ford were in a festive mood with so many balloons dancing in the breeze.

balloons dancing in the breeze

The Cake Bar is doing a fund raiser to provide four cup cakes with each of the 200 holiday hams being prepared for distribution this week by the Franklin Food Pantry. Please consider stopping by to help fund this effort. For every 4 purchased, the Cake Bar will add 1.

stop by the Cake Bar to fund some cupcakes for the Food Pantry holiday ham dinners

The democratic process will be at work this Tuesday. Polls open at 6:00 AM and close at 8:00 PM. All voting for all precincts is done in one place at the gym in the new Franklin High School.

There is only one ballot to vote on. One candidate to fulfill the open position on the Town Council. The Town Council, while a volunteer position, really sets the priority on what happens in Franklin. They fund the budget, they set the tax rate (including raising the taxes automatically by 2.5% every year). So your vote counts more this time than it does respectfully in almost any other election.

Make time Tuesday. Get out and cast your vote.

Election day reminder - Dec 16

The library book sale was on Saturday, the bag sale will happen today

library bag sale today

The Town Common looks festive even in the morning without the lights

Town Common - festive sight

Special Election - Tuesday, December 16, 2014

SPECIAL ELECTION NOTICE

There will be a Special Election to fill a vacancy on the Town Council Tuesday, December 16, 2014

This election is due to a Town Councillor resignation. Although we have only one candidate running for this position, according to Mass General Law (MGL), an election must be called to elect.

Place: Franklin High School Gym 

Time: 6:00am – 8:00pm

If you have any questions please call Deborah L. Pellegri, CMC, Town Clerk at 508-520-4900


This notice was shared from the Franklin webpage here
http://franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_News/01F5B049-000F8513

Special Election - Tuesday -  12/16/14

FHS Sports Results - 12/13/14

From Hocomock Sports we find the results of the Franklin High School teams competing on Saturday, Dec 13, 2014.


Indoor Track (@ Reggie Lewis Center)

BoysAttleboro, 30 vs. Franklin, 70 - Final - Luke Gordon finished with the fourth best time in the 300M race in the league and tied for second in the league in the high jump. Junior Ryan Spelman finished with the third best time of the day in the one mile race. David Seybert had Attleboro's best finish of the day, finishing the two mile race in 10:17.82, the second best time on the day among Hockomock teams. 

FHS Panthers

GirlsAttleboro, 24 vs. Franklin, 76 - Final - Senior Sabrina LoMonaco had the second best result in the shot put (33-10.00), sophomore Meghan Doherty recorded the second best time in the one mile race (5:50.84) and junior Brittany Robinson had the fourth best time in the 1000M race (3:23.74) for the Panthers. Attleboro's Ashley Daggett and Courtney Daggett tied for the best finish in the high jump at 5-01.00. 

Girls Hockey

Franklin, 3 vs. Whitman-Hanson, 6 - Final

For all the results across the Hockomock League, visit this link
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/hockomock-schedule-scoreboard-121314

Charter School helps the Santa Foundation

From the BFCCPS webpage we find that they were quite successful in helping the Santa Foundation this year:

With your help, we’ve been able to make the holidays a little brighter for seventeen families this year. In total, twenty four huge bags which were all chock-filled with gifts were delivered to the Santa Foundation this morning.

collection for the Santa Foundation

For additional info and photos on the collection by the Charter School. you can visit their page here!
http://bfccps.org/a-santa-foundation-update-thank-you/

APECS/CrossFit Tri-Valley and Hockomock YMCA Christmas Candlemania and Lego Drive

Season's Greetings!

Everybody loves a bargain and it's even better when supporting a great cause in our community! 

Please come shopping at your local Hockomock YMCA.  If you can or can't make it….please call, tweet, email or text the Candle mania info to one of your candle loving friends! Great gifts at super bargain prices.  These candles retail for $20 plus.  Buy one, mix and match or buy a case! 100% of the proceeds benefits our community. Friends and Family starts - THURSDAY 12/11 5-7 pm through Sunday December 14th.  (PDF link for Candlemania and Lego Drive below)
http://www.hockymca.org/images/Candle_and_legos.pdf 

We are also proud to announce the 2nd annual APECS/CrossFit Tri-Valley and Hockomock YMCA Lego Drive. Because last year's drive was such a huge success, providing Legos for several local after-school programs, integration initiative programs at the Y, and the Hockomock YMCA Giving Tree Christmas gift program, we had to do it again! 

Feel free to drop off your gently used Legos at either of our APECS locations (Medway or Franklin) or at any of the three Hockomock YMCA locations (Franklin, Foxboro, and North Attleboro)....... all to help our community! Program runs now through December 20th! 

My sincerest wishes to you and your family for a joyous holiday and a blessed new year. 

Kind regards,
Jason

screen grab of APECS webpage

FHS Principal Peter Light's letter to the parents and community

December 2014

FHS Community,

Last evening, Fox News ran a segment regarding ongoing discussions at FHS about moving to gender neutral robes for our commencement ceremony. The purpose of this communication is to clarify the issues and discussion process in which our school is currently engaged so that all members of our educational community including students, parents, alumni and involved citizens can develop a deeper understanding of the issue and how the school is working through it with our students.

This is not a discussion brought about by a minority opinion of Franklin High School students who wish to impose personal views on the majority of students as may be portrayed or misunderstood inside and outside of our school. Instead, this is a discussion that has its foundations in legal, educational and moral issues that our students and community should and deserve to understand.

In 2011, the Massachusetts Legislature, passed An Act Relative to Gender Identity (Chapter 199 of the Acts of 2011). In summary, the act sought to include gender identity as a protected class against discrimination, specifically with regard to access to all aspects of public schools. In essence, beginning July 1, 2012, schools were prohibited from discriminating against students on the basis of gender identity (also included under the law is discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin or sexual orientation). This was an important piece of legislation in that it sought to further ensure that all students are treated equally within the educational setting.

Subsequent to this legislation being enacted, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released an advisory entitled Guidance for Massachusetts Public Schools: Creating a Safe and Supportive School Environment. In this advisory, the DESE discussed in detail the pertinent issues for public schools and recommended steps schools and districts should take in order to adhere to the new law.

In the advisory, the DESE clarified specific issues that high schools may face in responding to the need to adopt gender neutral practices. Some issues described discuss access to restrooms, locker rooms and treatment of student records. The document also includes high school-specific examples relative to school-based activities. Specifically, the DESE advises that

“As a general matter, schools should evaluate all gender-based policies, rules, and practices and maintain only those that have a clear and sound pedagogical purpose. Gender-based policies,rules, and practices can have the effect of marginalizing, stigmatizing, and excluding students,whether they are gender non conforming or not. In some circumstances, these policies, rules,and practices may violate federal and state law. For these reasons, schools should consider alternatives to them.”

The DESE also offers a specific example within the document:

“For example, some schools require students to wear gender-based garb for graduation or have gender-based dress codes for prom, special events, and daily attire. Schools should eliminate gendered policies and practices such as these. For example, one school that previously had blue graduation gowns for boys and white ones for girls switched to blue gowns for all graduates. The school also changed its gender-based dress code for the National Honor Society ceremony, which had required girls to wear dresses.”

As the Principal of the school, it is my obligation to act with the best interest of our students in mind ensuring that every student has the opportunity to be included in the culture of the school, and to ensure that my decisions are consistent with applicable state and federal laws as well as district policies. Based on the guidance from the DESE and the specific example provided within the document, it is clear that the issue of Franklin students wearing blue or white dress on the basis of sex or gender identity is inconsistent with the intent of the law and runs the risk of alienating students. As such, the school must take action to address this issue.

While there is a legal basis for the school taking action on this issue, there is great educational opportunity afforded to us as a community in teaching our students valuable life lessons. First, that an individual or group can raise an issue, follow process and effect change through rational discourse and communication with appropriate parties (in this case students, faculty and administration of the school). Additionally, we have an opportunity as a community to demonstrate to our students a willingness to seek to understand all facets of an issue, how the issue and proposed resolution can impact others, and work together toward a common goal, despite having begun with an adverse situation.

Graduation attire is clearly an issue that holds a place in our students’ and community’s mind at the moment. Today, I asked a group of students “when you talked to your friends last year around graduation, how many of them told you that they were excited because they were wearing a blue or white gown?” The answer I received… zero. I also asked our students that if we were not currently discussing graduation robes, and I were to ask them to list the top ten things they looked forward to about graduating from FHS, would the color of their robe have made that list? The overwhelming answer.. probably not. Instead, having been through 6 commencements as Principal, four as an assistant principal and having worked as a member of the faculty for 17 years, I believe that our students value things like senior week, all night party, coming together as a class throughout their senior year, and ultimately the memories they have made throughout their four years at FHS.

It is clear that what has been held as a tradition at FHS is about to undergo change. Some of our faculty and students have offered wise opinions that our country has previously held traditions based on race, color, religion and sexual orientation that today we would universally deem inappropriate for the educational environment.

In the 1970’s FHS students wore one color of graduation robe at commencement. At some point thereafter, they wore two. Our students today have an opportunity to work together as a school to determine which tradition FHS will adopt for its next generation of students.

One thing I do know about students at FHS is that for a long time, our school community has worked to create an inclusive environment for all of our students and I believe we have one of the most caring, accepting environments of any high school in the state. Our students in Best Buddies advocate for their peers with disabilities, and a multitude of our student organizations work throughout each year to serve those less fortunate in the school, community and around the world.

We have an opportunity to take a small step that will result in not just some or most students, but every student feeling included and comfortable with who he/she is in our school’s final activity… Graduation. We also have an opportunity to work through the process in a way that values the opinions of all and does not alienate any group. Finally, we have the opportunity to show our students that as a school community, we may not all agree on every issue, but that we can work together to find a solution that we believe benefits our kids and represents our school in a way that reflects all of the pride and passion we always have.

Thank you for your sincere understanding and support of our students as they continue to learn from each other and work toward a solution that meets their needs.

Sincerely,

Peter Light
Principal

the entrance to the new FHS

Note: the only change to Mr Light's text was the switch from an underline to BOLD in one sentence. The underline for internet use indicates a link elsewhere and BOLD in this case was to mark the sentence for emphasis