Sunday, April 13, 2008

Poll #2

Thank you for your feedback to the first poll.
My second one is now along the right column under the subscription options.

How do you prefer to catch up on what happens with a meeting?

You have three options and can choose one: audio files, audio and text, or text.

I have experimented with all three delivery methods over the last several months. I have my preference. Now you get to express your choice.

Letter From Ed Cafasso

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a restful weekend. As promised, here is an update on school budget matters, including a schedule of important public hearings that you may wish to attend.

The School Committee this week voted unanimously in support of a level service budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. That means we will ask the Town Council for approximately $4 million in additional funding, enough to cover our increasing costs so that we can support the same level of service students and parents currently receive.

As you know, Town Administrator Jeff Nutting has proposed that the schools receive only $800,000 in additional revenue for fiscal year 2009. If the Town Council accepts Mr. Nutting’s proposed funding level, the School Committee and Supt. Ogden would need to impose $3.2 million in cuts, including:

- 15 teaching positions at elementary level

- 12.5 teaching positions at middle school

- 17 teaching positions at FHS

- A $100 increase in the pay-to-ride bus fee hike, and

- The end of late bus service for students who need to stay after school for academic, clubs and extracurricular programs.

To date, we have not received any indications that the Town Council is willing to support additional funding for the schools beyond Mr. Nutting’s proposed appropriation. In light of this, the School Committee also voted unanimously to authorize Committee Chairman Jeff Roy to pursue the possibility of placing a Proposition 2½ override on the town ballot.

Dozens of you have written to me and to other members of the School Committee to express your deep concern over the impact of these potential cutbacks, including inappropriate class sizes, reductions in arts, music and extracurricular offerings, intolerable burdens for working families; destabilized property values, etc.

I appreciate all of the messages of support I have received and the great many smart questions parents are asking. I urge you to make your opinions known to the elected members of the Finance Committee and the Town Council. I have included their email addresses below, arranged in easy cut-and-paste blocks.

Finance Committee members:

RobustAlternatives@comcast.net; feldjamin@hotmail.com; pmessere@earthlink.net; rebecca65@comcast.net; mark.cataldo2@verizon.net; jfc322151@yahoo.com; pat@cbsfinances.com; csmaire@aol.com; wnorman18@comcast.net; rfvitale@msn.com; John.redwine@fmr.com; jnutting@franklin.ma.us

Town Council members: cdds2@comcast.net; bartlett.family@comcast.net; judpfeffer@verizon.net; TDoak@comcast.net; smason2@comcast.net; DMC2466298@aol.com; Vallee480@aol.com; whalen_stephen@hotmail.com; szollo@mbbp.com; jnutting@franklin.ma.us There are several public meeting opportunities coming up at which you also can ask questions of your elected officials and express your views as voters and taxpayers. These include;

Monday, April 14: The Finance Committee will hold a hearing to examine the School Department’s proposed FY09 budget at 7 p.m. in the Town Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of the Municipal Building.

Tuesday, April 15: Town Administrator Jeff Nutting and School Supt. Wayne Ogden will appear at the meeting of the Franklin Schools at 9 a.m. at Horace Mann Middle School.

Tuesday, April 29: The School Committee will hold its public hearing on the school budget at 7 p.m. on 2nd floor of the Municipal Building.

Wednesday, May 7: The Town Council will hold its hearing on the School Department budget at 7 p.m. on the 2nd floor of the Municipal Building.

Thanks again for your feedback and support. I will do my best to keep you informed. The next three to four weeks will be crucial in determining the state of our schools this fall. Stay tuned. Stay involved.

Ed Cafasso, Member

Franklin School Committee

Fire Station Open House (audio)

The ceremonies from the Fire Station Open House on Saturday. The speakers were in order: Lou Allevato, Building Committee Chair; Chris Feeley, Town Council Chair; Rep Vallee and his special assistant; Chief McCarraher; and Father Bob from St Mary's.

Time: 17 minutes, 50 seconds



MP3 File

Franklin Fire Station Open House 4/12/08


The speakers (in order of appearance) at the Fire Station Open House held Saturday 4/12/08:

Top left - Lou Allevato, Building Committee Chair
Top right - Chris Feeley, Town Council Chair
Mid left - Rep Vallee and his special assistant
Mid right - Chief McCarraher
Bottom left - Father Bob
Bottom right - the flag raising

Where in Franklin? #44


Where in Franklin? #44, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Where are you in Franklin to find this site?

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


Where in Franklin? Answer #43


Where in Franklin? Answer #43, originally uploaded by shersteve.

The answer to picture #43 is the former Tompson Printing Press building along Dean Ave.

ltsjs contiued their streak of correct answers. Thanks for playing.

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What was this building used for before Thompson? I have been here almost 13 years but have only seen the building from the train as I go to or return from Boston.

Can anyone fill in some details?

In the News - solar powered trash, fire station

GHS
Posted Apr 12, 2008 @ 10:00 AM

FRANKLIN —

Just in time for the town's Earth Day celebration April 19, the public works department has installed two $4,000 solar-powered trash compactors on Main Street and at the Beaver Pond recreation complex.

The "BigBelly" cordless trash compactors can hold up to 200 gallons of garbage - up to six times the typical load, said Denise Zambrowski, Environmental Affairs Coordinator for the Department of Public Works.

"It's really a neat invention. Using solar energy, it will help us maintain a neat (town), just controlling litter and trash in our parks, in our ball fields.

"It's a really interesting invention to help us deal with solid waste management in public places," said Zambrowski, who first learned about BigBelly at an energy efficiency workshop.

Read the full article at the Milford Daily News

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Milford Daily News
Posted Apr 12, 2008 @ 11:05 PM

FRANKLIN —

The town of Franklin on Saturday opened its new fire station on West Central Street. The new 22,250 square foot station more than twice of the facility it replaced, which was built on the same site in 1922 and demolished last year.

This is the complete article but you can click through to see the photo at the Milford Daily News.