Saturday, March 15, 2008

I need your help on this one

I received this email from a reader:
Your web site came up in a Google search and I was wondering if you
might be able to provide some information about Franklin. I just came
across an old family photo and was wondering if you had fairly recent
historical information about a farm in Franklin. Was there ever a Dacey
Brothers Dairy in Franklin that made home milk deliveries? We lived in
Wrentham.
Does anyone have some information that you can share?

You can leave a comment here or send an email to me => shersteve at gmail dot com

Project Mayhem foiled at FHS

GHS
Posted Mar 14, 2008 @ 11:09 PM

FRANKLIN —

Police foiled students' apparent plan to wreak "chaos and mayhem" in the style of Project Mayhem from the movie "Fight Club" at Franklin High School yesterday, officials said.

Seven students were suspended indefinitely, pending further investigation, Superintendent Wayne Ogden said.

"In Fight Club, there's Project Mayhem, a group of guys who want to do things to cause chaos and mayhem to the establishment. From the best police can figure, that was kind of the express purpose of this group of kids - to create chaos and confusion," said Ogden.

Read the remainder of the article in the Milford Daily News here.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Town Hall wins Trivia Bee

Town Hall triumphant at Trivia Bee

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Thirty-six teams were tested on their movie mettle at last night's Trivia Bee at the Horace Mann Middle School, and in the end, knowing the name of Humphrey Bogart's club in "Casablanca" determined the victors.

Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting and the "Franklin Munibees," (aka Town Hall), Town Attorney Mark Cerel and Treasurer Jim Dacey, won a spot on the Bee trophy when they correctly answered "Rick's American Cafe."

Read the full article in the Franklin Gazette here.

Common Craft on Photo Sharing

Continuing the Web 2.0 series on new technologies and how to use them, the wonderful folks at Common Craft have this explanation on photo sharing:





Enjoy!

PS - You may have noticed that most of the photos I post here are from my Flickr account. You can also click through to see the full slide show of all my Franklin photos by clicking on any one of the photos. I also use a little widget in the right column to scroll through the photo collection.

Trivia Bee Mosaic


Trivia Bee Mosaic, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Scenes from the Franklin Education Foundation Annual Trivia Bee held Thursday night at Horace Mann Middle School.

Top left - a full panel of teams for one round
Top right - the judges and official timer
Middle left - one set of questions required the answers written on the white boards
Middle right - the appreciative and faithful audience
Bottom left - music during the change over from one set of teams to another was provided by Franklin High School musicians
Bottom right - The Town Hall team ended up winning their initial round (and the overall event)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Franklin Industry - Echo Therapeutics Inc

Help for diabetics on the way from Franklin:

A small Franklin company says it is developing a novel device that could potentially let diabetics continuously monitor their blood-sugar levels - without having to draw blood.

Echo Therapeutics Inc. is expected to say today the device passed one of its first key tests, a pilot study with two dozen patients in the intensive-care unit at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. The Symphony system, a disc about the size of a half dollar, is designed to read glucose levels through the skin and transmit the information wirelessly to a nearby computer or hand-held meter. Currently, diabetes patients must normally prick their skin to draw a few drops of blood and place them on a measuring strip.

"I think it's extremely promising," said Dr. Stanley Nasraway, a Tufts University School of Medicine professor and director of surgical intensive-care units at the medical center. Nasraway said Echo's experimental device appeared to be reliable, relatively accurate, and easy to use, though he cautioned that it must first be tested in much larger clinical trials with a wider group of patients.

Read the full article in the Boston Globe

In the news - Chamber of Commerce Awards

GateHouse News Service
Posted Mar 13, 2008 @ 01:27 AM

WRENTHAM —

Franklin business leaders dominated the United Chamber of Commerce's 20th annual meeting and awards gala at Lake Pearl Luciano's last night, taking home five of seven awards recognizing members.

People winning awards at last night's Chamber gala included: Franklin Town Clerk Deborah L. Pellegri, the Public Service Award; Franklin's Luigi Moccia of Putnam Investments, the Ambassador of the Year; Incontro Restaurant in Franklin, the Small Business of the Year; William D. Green, a Dean College alum and chairman and CEO of Accenture, a global management consulting and outsourcing company, Business Person of the Year.

Dean College President Paula Rooney accepted the award for Green, who was out of the country. ``He is without a doubt the most compassionate, caring intellectual human being I get the pleasure of speaking with on a regular basis,'' she said of Green.

Rooney read from a letter Green gave to her: ``We need an educated work force. Without that, the future is very bleak.'' Rooney said Green just gave Dean College a $1 million gift.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Where in Franklin? #36


Where in Franklin? #36, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Where would you have seen this clock reading about 9:37 AM looking over this snow covered lawn?

The guidelines for playing "Where in Franklin?" can be found here.

Enjoy!

Interview: Miriam Goodman (audio)

The Franklin School Committee interviews Miriam Goodman, the fourth of four candidates for the vacant School Business Administrator role. Each member of the committee took a turn asking questions. The same set of questions was used for all candidates.

Time: 24 minutes, 27 seconds



MP3 File

Interview: David Proule (audio)

The Franklin School Committee interviews David Proule, the third of four candidates for the vacant School Business Administrator role. Each member of the committee took a turn asking questions. The same set of questions was used for all candidates.

Time: 27 minutes, 54 seconds



MP3 File

Interview: Ann Giombetti (audio)

The Franklin School Committee interviews Ann Giombetti. The second of four candidates for the vacant School Business Administrator role. Each member of the committee took a turn asking questions. The same set of questions was used for all candidates.


Time: 24 minutes, 31 seconds



MP3 File

Interview: Patricia Lange (audio)

The Franklin School Committee interviews Patricia Lange. The first of four candidates for the vacant School Business Administrator role. Each member of the committee took a turn asking questions. The same set of questions was used for all candidates.

Time: 42 minutes, 6 seconds



MP3 File

School Committee Meeting 3/11/08

Candidate photos

Sherku: School Choice


Candidate Background Summaries


Candidate Questions

Interview: Patricia Lange (audio)


Interview: Ann Giombetti
(audio)

Interview: David Proule
(audio)

Interview: Miriam Goodman
(audio)

SCHOOL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR / INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

3 minutes: Candidate overview - tell us who you are as a professional and why you are looking to leave your current position

2 minutes: How would you define the role of the School Business Manager/Director?
(Paula)

2 minutes: What safeguards do you employ to insure the budget is balanced annually? What recommendations would you make to the superintendent in the event the budget had to be reduced? (Paula)

2 minutes: Citing specific initiatives or activities, how do you report financial information to Principals/Directors; the Superintendent; and to the School Committee and Town Council? (Ed)

2 minutes: Describe measures you have put in place to streamline and build efficiency into the management of the Business Office. (Ed)

2 minutes: Describe the process you employ to collaborate with the Special Education Director to oversee reimbursement programs (Circuit Breaker/Medicaid) and grants?
(Roberta)

2 minutes: Have you ever found yourself in a compromising position whereby your supervisor requested you take action that you felt was not appropriate? If so, how did you handle the situation and whom did you share information with? (Roberta)

2 minutes: Please discuss your skills with respect to conflict resolution-describe a situation whereby you had to resolve a conflict between two colleagues or two staff members?
(Matt)

2 minutes: What has been your most difficult budget issue? (Matt)

2 minutes: Why do you want to work for Franklin Public Schools? (Susan Rohrbach)

2 minutes: Please discuss your experience in overseeing payroll functions-what type of accountability /checks and balances have you put in place? (Cora)

2 minutes: Describe some of the challenges you have had to overcome working with elected officials and municipal administration and explain how you established positive working relationships. (Jeff Roy)

5 Minutes: Follow-up

-----

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Candidates - Background Information Summary

Candidate: Ann Giombetti
• Current Employer: Not employed, resigned from Lexington after one year due to extraordinary workload and after spending the year fixing a financial situation similar to the one Franklin faced this year.
• Experience: 20 years in school finance in well regarded, large and complex districts such as Newton, Framingham and Lexington
• Education: MP A BA Economics
• Other information: Strong skills in all aspects of Business Administration including Food Service, and Transportation, MUNIS experience.
• References from several superb superintendents (Irwin Blumer/retired from Newton and Mag Giffune/ Uxbridge) who both have state and national reputations.

Candidate: Miriam Goodman
• Current Employer: Woonsocket Public Schools
• Experience: 13 years experience in school business administration. Currently employed in large urban district with large budget.
• Education: MA Business Administration Rutgers, NJ / BS Early Childhood BU • Other information: Experience in food service, re-districting and transportation. Strong experience in finance professional organizations. Uncovered finance scandal by employee and was a whistle blower. MUNIS experience
• References in process of being verified.

Candidate: Patricia Lange
• Current Employer: Hudson Public Schools
• Experience: 5.5 years in education
• Education: MBA Babson / BA Economics
• Other information: Strong skills in accounting/ finance, experience overseeing food service and built strong relationships with municipal employees.
• References from a highly regarded superintendent (Sheldon Berman) who has a state and national reputation in school finance.

Candidate: David Proule
• Current Employer: Framingham Public Schools
• Experience: 14 years School business administration
• Education: MA Education/School Business Administration Boston College BS Business / Florida State University
• Other information: Strong experience in Food Service and Transportation.
Involved in MASBO and experience in MUNIS.
• References-worked with Chris Martes in Medfield and Framingham.