Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Town Council Agenda - 3/19/08
The license transfer for what was operating as the Franklin Tavern (formerly GoodFella's) is on the agenda.
Egg Hunt Friday
For more information, contact the Recreation Department at 508-520-4909 or visit its page on the town's website, franklin.ma.us. - Rachel Lebeaux
Monday, March 17, 2008
Annual HMEA 5K Road Race - May 18th
Come to the 7th Annual HMEA Independence 5K Walk and Race in the Park on May 18th at 11AM, being held at 50 Constitution Blvd on the fields at EMC in the Franklin Industrial Park. All proceeds from this fund raising event go to benefit 2000 children and adults with developmental disabilities in Massachusetts. The event is a 5K Walk and a 5K race with free tee shirts for all fund raising partners and racers. Special gifts for fund raising walkers and medals and trophies for 1st through 3rd place finishers (all catagories) in the race. Free food, entertainment, games and activities. A special tribute to local veterans plus special guest appearances by Gene Lavanchy (Fox 25 News annchor), Gail Huff (WCVB NewsCenter 5 reporter), Ayla Brown of American Idol fame and Pat Patriot from The New England Patriots.
Registration for the race and the walk is through HMEA's web site
Horace Mann Education Association (HMEA) is a non profit human services agency located in Franklin MA, in Forge Park, Incorporated in 1961, providing specialized supports, education and therapy for 2000 individuals with disabilities in 110 Massachusetts cities and towns including Franklin.
Franklin bus schedule
Sunday, March 16, 2008
MA Best Zip Codes
Best part of the article?
Franklin's zip code was NOT in the top 25!
Do you think some folks will stay away?
We only want businesses to come here. Not families with kids!
Boston Globe gets to the high school renovation
The question is what? and for how much?
Read the Globe article here
Where in Franklin? #37
Can you identify "Where in Frankin?" this picture was taken?
The guidelines for playing "Where in Franklin?" can be found here.
Where in Franklin? Answer #36
The correct answer to #36 was the Ben Franklin Bank branch office located on East Central Street next to Honey Dew Donuts.
Thanks to ljsts for providing their third correct answer (I had miscounted last time).
Thanks to all for playing!
Stay tuned for the next chance to find "Where in Franklin?"
A process to reach agreement on joint maintenance
Using the talking stick concept, the stake holders should come together in a circle.
Stakeholders:
- Town Council
- School Committee
- School Administration
- Dept of Public Works
- Town Administration
- parents
- principals
- custodians
- tax payers
- are any left out?
Several white boards or flip charts to record the key points
Volunteers solicited to assist in the recording of the key points
First round records all the objectives, or goals, or constraints of each group that they feel need to be part of the ultimate agreement. Let's get all the issues on the table.
For example:
- cost savings
- principals control people working within their school
- education reform act requirements
- labor contracts
- etc.
Third Round entertains proposals from each stake holder group on how they would meet the overall goals as outlined in Round One and prioritized in Round Two
Fourth Round works to build consensus on the proposals from Round Three
There should be a break between the second and third rounds to provide time for the individual stake holder groups to prepare their proposals
There may need to be more than four rounds but that will depend upon the openness of the discussion and how well the group is able to come to a consensus
It may be required to review the current maintenance agreement which the town believes is working and at least from the point of view as expressed by one custodian, clearly isn't. We will need to address any and all issues with this process. We need a working process, not a broken process. If the current process has some flaws, let's address them, agree to fix them and then agree to move on. If we don't fix them, we will not be able to make significant progress on a new process for the custodians.
Cost savings or power struggle?
School and town officials battling for control of the School Department's $5 million maintenance account will continue to duke it out this month, according to Town Councilor Robert Vallee.
The account has traditionally been managed by schools, but Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting has proposed the town's Department of Public Works take it over for to eliminate duplication of jobs and maximize cost-efficiency, Vallee said.
Nutting, Vallee, Town Councilor Shannon Zollo, Councilor Deborah Bartlett,
Chairman Chris Feeley, School Superintendent Wayne Ogden, and several other town officials debated the issue at a joint budget subcommittee meeting last week, Vallee said.
``Nothing was accomplished, but we exchanged thoughts,'' said Vallee.
School officials still need to ``clearly understand'' why Nutting is seeking the change, said Ogden. Nutting could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Read the remainder of the article at the Milford Daily News here
If Franklin is going to make any significant progress on the growth of costs, tight cooperation needs to take place amongst the Town functional organizations.
This may be "low hanging fruit" but it needs to be handled properly. The Town does not need to split over issues that could save money. It is incumbent upon the Town to clearly explain what it would look like to have the two departments combined. This future vision would help to focus the discussion properly on who would do what, how school building issues would be handled, how the school and their important daily functions would operate so that the most important function of delivering a safe, efficient and highly qualified education to our children.
The current education reform act requirement that the school principals are responsible for everyone who works in their building is a potential road block. If properly addressed, it should be a key reason for crafting an agreement that will satisfy all parties.
Communication and open discussion are critical. Let's get all the parties to the table, not just a few. Include the custodians in this discussion. Include some parents. Bring in a moderator to facilitate the discussion and agreement if necessary.
Above all avoid the negatives. Avoid name calling. This is not an 'us' vs. 'them' situation. This affects all of us.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I need your help on this one
Your web site came up in a Google search and I was wondering if youDoes anyone have some information that you can share?
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.
You can leave a comment here or send an email to me => shersteve at gmail dot com
Project Mayhem foiled at FHS
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
Read the full article in the Franklin Gazette here.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."
Common Craft 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
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)