Statement from Hockomock on Girls Soccer Post-Season

The Fall 2020 sports season has almost reached its conclusion. Special thanks to everyone’s flexibility and tremendous support through all of the COVID protocols. The Hockomock League is proud to stand by its athletes, coaches, school administrations, and parents to conduct this unique season.

Our Divisional Champions earned their title through traditional hard-fought dual meets and games. We then constructed a postseason tournament, the Hockomock Cup, for our team sports in Field Hockey and Soccer, to provide additional games for our athletes in a postseason competition in lieu of the cancelled MIAA tournaments. Golf concluded, and Cross Country will conclude, their seasons with their traditional team and individual championships.

Throughout this season, we have followed closely the COVID mandates of our local Boards of Health and must respect their professional decisions on the rules of quarantine. Consequently, the Girls Varsity Soccer Hockomock Cup was impacted by those BOH decisions forcing Foxboro and Canton Girls to forfeit opening round games due to quarantine.

Once again, working together, the League has come up with a flexible solution to keep our athletes engaged in competition. As Canton and Foxboro honor their quarantine, the Girls Varsity Soccer Hockomock Cup will continue with its scheduled games into next week to determine the Hock Cup champion. A Challenge Cup bracket has been added in Girls Varsity Soccer to allow Canton and Foxboro to play against each other on November 19. The winner of that game will then face the Hockomock Cup champion on November 20 for the Challenge Cup title. 

Sincerely,
The Hockomock League ADs

Mark Houle, Attleboro           Danny Erickson, Canton

Joe Cusack, Foxboro              Tom Angelo, Franklin

Gary Brown, King Philip            Mike Redding, Mansfield

Peter Boucher, Milford            Kurt Kummer, North Attleboro

Bill Matthews, Oliver Ames    Nick Schlierf, Sharon

Ryan Donahue, Stoughton      Mark Ottavianelli, Taunton 

 

This statement was shared from the Hockomock League page

https://hockomockleague.blogspot.com/2020/11/statement-from-hockomock-on-girls.html

 

Statement from Hockomock on Girls Soccer Post-Season

 

“People need to change their behavior and get serious”

From CommonWealth Magazine we share two articles of interest for Franklin:

"THE NUMBER of communities at high risk for COVID-19 nearly doubled on Thursday even with a new set of metrics sharply raising the threshold for attaining that designation.

The new metrics were implemented last week and caused the number of high-risk, or red, communities to drop from 121 to 16. But the number rebounded this week to 30 as rising case counts began to overwhelm some communities.

Norfolk, which reported 48 cases per 100,000 people last week, saw the number increase to 145.8 this week, largely because of an outbreak at a state prison there. Its positive test rate (positive tests divided by total tests) rose to 11.6 percent."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health/despite-new-metrics-high-risk-covid-19-communities-double/ 

 

"SOUNDING MORE and more like a coach trying to rally his team against a superior opponent, Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday implored Massachusetts residents to take COVID-19 seriously.

He said infections have been headed in the wrong direction since Labor Day and are rising faster and faster. He insisted the problem for the most part is not at workplaces, schools, or restaurants, but in situations where people let their guard down while engaging in familiar activities in casual settings with people they know.

“It’s the innocent acts of small gatherings where COVID is finding its greatest opportunity to spread,” Baker said at a State House press conference. “People need to change their behavior and get serious.” 

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/health-care/baker-implores-mass-residents-to-get-serious/

 

The latest dashboard  https://www.mass.gov/doc/covid-19-dashboard-november-13-2020/download

 The Governor's Press Conf YouTube link =>  https://youtu.be/6YsmzPZaU1c

 

FHS field hockey tops Attleboro, heads to Hockomock Cup Final

Via HockomockSports.com, we share the fall sports results for Franklin High School on Friday, Nov 13

 

Field Hockey = Hockomock Cup = #KR3 Attleboro, 1 @ #KR1 Franklin, 6 – Final 

– Franklin scored four unanswered second half goals to pull away from the upset-minded Bombardiers to secure its spot in the Hockomock Cup final. The Panthers pounced early as Amanda Lewandowski scored twice, unassisted at 3:04 and from Kaitlyn Carney at 8:47, to take a 2-0 lead after one quarter of play but Attleboro’s Madison Ellis cut the deficit in halftime with a second quarter goal. In the third, Stephanie Bell scored back-to-back goals to push the Panthers’ lead to 4-1, and Sara Carney and Jill Fenerty added fourth quarter goals to seal the win. Neilee Hess made six saves in net for the win. Franklin will host King Philip in the Hockomock Cup final on Tuesday at 4:00. 

 

For other results around the Hockomock League 

https://hockomocksports.com/fridays-schedule-scoreboard-11-13-20/

 

 

 

FHS field hockey tops Attleboro

CommonWealth Magazine: FY 2021 budget moves in Senate and House this past week

From CommonWealth Magazine we share articles of interest for Franklin on the state budget:

"House budget addresses COVID-related education dilemmas"

"The coronavirus pandemic created – and exposed – multiple problems with the state’s education system, from preschool through high school. Now, lawmakers appear poised to use the must-pass vehicle of the annual state budget to begin figuring out how to address some of these issues.

A large consolidated amendment passed at the end of Tuesday’s budget debate, after midnight, includes several education-related study commissions, funds, and data tracking requirements.

On the childcare side, Massachusetts’ childcare system is primarily private-pay and expensive, with some subsidies available for low-income children – a system that has long raised concerns about the lack of affordable, quality childcare for many families. Forced closures due to COVID-19 and expensive reopening requirements put many providers in financial peril.

The House budget includes several investments in early education, including a new $10 million fund to help lower income parents pay for childcare on a sliding scale."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/house-budget-addresses-covid-related-education-dilemmas-2/

"Senate spending plan hews close to House version"

THE SENATE WAYS and Means Committee on Thursday released its own nearly $46 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2021, a 5.5 percent spending increase over the current year, which is in many ways similar to the budget proposal currently being debated in the House.

The House’s initial proposal was slightly higher – $46.021 billion – and amendments are still being added on the House floor.

Like the House budget, the Senate budget includes no new broad-based taxes and relies on a significant draw from the state’s rainy day fund. There are no major cuts to services. Both the House and Senate budgets adopt proposals made by Gov. Charlie Baker to require large businesses to remit sales tax collections more quickly – though not to require daily remittances of sales taxes – and to delay implementation of a state charitable deduction.

“There’s definitely more similarities than differences in our budgets,” said Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues, a Westport Democrat.

 Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/state-government/senate-spending-plan-hews-close-to-house-version/

 

https://malegislature.gov/Legislators/House

 

Elections: Voting for Military and Overseas US Citizens

In addition to ballot by mail, absentee ballot, there is sometimes mention of UOCAVA. What is UOCAVA?

 

UOCAVA is the acronym for the MA legislation:

 

If you are a Massachusetts citizen, you have the right to vote in all elections, even if you are deployed, stationed outside the Commonwealth, or residing overseas.

Military voters, dependent family members of military voters, and overseas citizens are protected by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), a federal law which guarantees your voting rights.

If you are a military or overseas voter, you are exempt from voter registration requirements in Massachusetts. In order to get your ballot, you simply need to submit an absentee ballot application.

 

Find out more about UOCAVA on the Secretary of the Commonwealth page

https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elemil/milidx.htm

 

Elections: Voting for Military and Overseas US Citizens

MBTA Update: Commuter Rail notice - Interstate travel COVID-19 changes

According to the new travel order, passengers traveling from NY, WA or DC coming to MA must also quarantine for 14 days or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Passengers must also fill out the online Massachusetts Travel Form or risk a fine.

For more information visit Mass.gov/MAtraveler or text MATraveler to 888-777.

Last Updated: Nov 13 2020 04:35 PM

 

The update to the existing travel order reflects:

Travelers from COVID-19 lower-risk States are not required to fill out the Massachusetts Travel Form and do not need to quarantine. The Department of Public Health metric for determining lower-risk states for the purposes of Massachusetts’ interstate travel policy considers data over two weeks before moving a state from lower risk to high risk. One week of data is the standard for moving states into the lower risk category.

Additionally, the threshold of daily cases per 100,000 residents is 10 (which ensures that Massachusetts’ standard is in line with other states). States are included on the “lower-risk” list based on meeting two criteria: average daily cases per 100K below 10 AND positive test rate below 5%, both measured as a 7-day rolling average.  

Data is from covidexitstrategy.org as of November 11, 2020.

The current list of COVID-19 lower-risk states includes: 

Hawaii Maine

New Hampshire

Vermont

More info on the MA Travel order can be found  https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order

Interstate travel COVID-19 changes

Franklin events: Nov 13 - Nov 16

A quiet looking calendar with the FPAC Virtual Gala and Telethon scheduled for Saturday, a virtual concert at the Library on Sunday, and the Cultural Council Masterclass scheduled for Monday evening.

Friday, November 13

5:30pm

 Franklin Interact: Monster Dash - CANCELED due to COVID-19

Saturday, November 14

8:00pm

 FPAC: Virtual Gala and Telethon

Sunday, November 15

3:00pm

 Franklin Library: Hungrytown (folk concert)

Monday, November 16

7:30pm

 FCC: Annarella's Favorites: Italian Ricotta Cookies & Almond Crunch Biscotti

Find the full calendar  https://www.franklinmatters.org/p/blog-page.html

If you have an event to add to the calendar, you can use the form to submit it for publication:  https://forms.gle/oPdi8X3ZbHHyrHzo6
 

Community Calendar