Saturday, November 29, 2008

Junior Miss Program

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29

41st Franklin Junior Miss Scholarship Program.


7 p.m.

Thomas D. Mercer Auditorium, Horace Mann Middle School, Oak Street, Franklin.

Tickets available at the door: $15

This year’s theme is "Friends."

Friday, November 28, 2008

"he knows of parents who allow underage drinking"

GHS
Posted Nov 26, 2008 @ 07:32 PM

FRANKLIN —

Outraged that some parents think it's OK for their children and friends to drink alcohol at home, a coalition of concerned residents is shedding light on the problem of underage drinking.

Franklin High School Principal Pamela Gould has helped form a group called WASTED, or When Alcohol Starts To Effect Decisions. The group will host a meeting for parents on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. at the high school, to share ideas to keep kids from drinking.

Many parents don't believe their children drink, but the problem is pervasive, Gould said.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Defaced already


Defaced_already, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Yes, Dolores and I found a sticker placed on the base of the "Hat's Off to Franklin" sculpture on our walk this morning.

It didn't take long for some inconsiderate soul to deface this brand new Franklin gem.

Fortunately, it removed fairly easily.

Hat's Off to Franklin - slideshow

Franklin has much to be thankful for this year. I think the "Hat's Off to Franklin" sculpture helps to summarize all the goodness that the people, businesses, organizations and local government that make up this town is capable of.






Happy thanksgiving!

"you want to help him out"

FRANKLIN - When Gabriel Dut Bethou fled his remote village in southern Sudan 14 years ago, after a raid by soldiers of the faction that controlled the country at the time, it was with fear for his own life and grief for a family he thought had been killed.

Fourteen years later, the 24-year-old is preparing to return to his homeland — this time, with unimaginable joy.

Bethou, a student and employee at Dean College in Franklin, will be reunited with his mother, Ayen Aleer, and 20-year-old sister Akuot Bethou, both of whom he spent more than a decade believing to have been killed in the attack.

He will also meet for the first time two younger sisters born after Akuot and his parents — his father was later killed in other strife — relocated to the Sudanese city of Juba: Aluong, 10, and Nyakong, 14.

Read the full article in the Gazette here

Earlier this year, Franklin Matters had posted on the story as reported in the Boston Globe


Tuesday, November 25, 2008

live reporting - remaining items

Reminder that the ConnectED is to be used for more than just emergencies
The reminder on the completing the survey yielded 800 additional responses, it is a powerful tool.

Subcommittee reports

building use met earlier

communications need to met to review some advertising and to prepare the enxt steps on the EdNets

Liaison reports

A small group from the DOE will visit the high school on Dec 18th to visit and assess the needs as submitted in the recent statement of interest

Wasted - lecture on Dec 7th, impact of alcohol on students at Franklin High School

live reporting - action items

4. Action Items
  1. I recommend approval of the budget transfers as listed on the attached. - covered earlier
  2. I recommend approval of the Horace Mann Middle School’s School Improvement Plan - approved 6-0
  3. I recommend approval of the Remington Middle School’s School Improvement Plan - approved 6-0
  4. I recommend approval of the Annie Sullivan Middle School’s School Improvement Plan- approved 6-0
  5. I recommend approval of the request of the FHS Music Dept. for the April 18-20, 2009 field trip to New York City as detailed.- approved 6-0
  6. I recommend acceptance of the donation of science equipment valued at $8,000 from Vacumet Corp. for the FHS Science Department. - approved 6-0
  7. I recommend approval of the authorization of the Superintendent to create and administer the FPS 403B Plan document in accordance with the IRS Regulations as detailed in the attached memo. covered earlier
  8. I recommend acceptance of the annual donation of $50.00 from Leuder’s Environmental, Inc to be used for library books for Davis Thayer Elementary School. - approved 6-0
  9. I recommend approval of the MS Trip to NY City on May 9, 2009 as detailed on the attached. approved 5-0, 1 abstain

live reporting - modulars

Are you going to vote to give any direction to Paula and Ed to take to the Building Committee?

Take modular down because
  • of the condition of the modular
  • you have space within the building to absorb the students
  • you want to restore the building to a good condition
Davis Thayer, FHS and Remington-Jefferson

The action item should be an all inclusive package (removal of modular, restoration of grounds, re-wiring, etc. within the facilities).

live reporting - school calendar survey

The top part of the table reflects the survey responses by percent, the bottom part by number of responses. The highlights in green show agreement between the staff and the parents/guardians. The highlights in yellow show the disagreements between the staff and the parents/guardians.


The summary will go out with the school newsletters after the Thanksgiving break.

There are three points of disagreement between staff and parents.
  • Teachers want start before Labor Day, parents want to start post Labor Day
  • Teachers support the current calendar scheduling of professional day, parents do not
  • Teachers want professional development days during school year, parents want professional development days scheduled during the summer

There was agreement on the other five questions on the survey.

The administrator team will incorporate these findings into the next calendar when they bring that before you next Feb/Mar.

live reporting - technology capital

Tim Raposa presenting the technology capital for the Town and the Public Schools

Looking at a sharing laptop project for the high school

The document for the Technology Update can be found here.

The Technology department now covers all Town functions except for the Police Department.

Food service revenues would cover cafeteria automation software.
Nursing software avoids paper copies, integrates into student record keeping system.

Halleluiah! The Cable Commission is bringing streaming video within 3-4 months for all meetings, indexed and archived.

Hopefully close to resolving the legal issue with EdNets and should be able to bring that in within a couple of months.

approx 18-20 smart boards district wide about to be purchased with money already approved.

Armenio - can we get software where a parent can check their students homework or grades from yesterday's test?

Raposa - that software would be about $15,000 per year. I can consider moving it up in the priority listing.

Cafasso - I would echo Sharon Jackson's memo, I hear no complaints from the consumers.

Raposa - Thank you!

Rohrbach -What about the number of smart boards? Is there really a need in the elementary levels?

Raposa - If I could bring in more of them, I would.

Rohrbach - I have been to other high schools where they have multiple smart boards, why do they only have one?

Raposa - It is not a technical limitation at the high school. I was spreading the money around to be fair.

Ogden - You answered it but may not have made the point fully, the survey of the faculty of the high school for what they needed did not reveal smart boards. They do want the wireless and the networking. We may need to do some familiarization amongst the high school faculty to bring their familiarity with smart board technology.

Roy - with regards to the laptops at the high school, about 200 for loan, would also be able to get a deal for parents?

Raposa - It is an option, I can do that, need to work out how to buy them and then in turn sell them within the School Department finances.

Roy - is a laptop in the hands of every student on the radar?

Raposa - the amount of money is the problem, even at the high school with 400 incoming students and a $400 system that adds up. I have focused less on providing the laptop and more on focusing to provide the network to let them access the systems.

live reporting - MCAS Q&A





Cafasso - what about the difference in the longitudinal studies?

Kingsland-Smith - remember that longitudinal looks at different populations of students, so as long as we stay within a small range of variance we are okay.

Cafasso - the cohort numbers are increasing

Kingsland-Smith - the population is also a factor here with significant students moving into ot out of the district, the numbers in the aggregate can change reflecting that. To really be sure of cohort progrsss, you need to look at an individual level and see how they have progressed within the district.

Gerlits - The DOE database next year will provide the analysis for a true cohort study, focusing on students who have been in Franklin for all their education

Kingsland-Smith - an 8th grade ISSP will follow the student through to the High school. The transfer of information occurs between the teachers at the transition time.

EPP educational proficiency plan is specific to the 10th grade test results


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Live reporting - MCAS

Michelle Kingsland-Smith
Bobbi Gerlits



AYP - adequate yearly progress is a state measurement towards the overall target; four status category; no status, improvement (no improvement for 2 years running), corrective action (state interaction to provide assistance), state restructuring

performance highlights
  • district vs. State
  • 98 Adams scholarship recipients
  • school recognitions
  • grade level recognitions
Biology, a new standard, the only one where Franklin did not score high, first time for this test

Davis Thayer, top five performance in Grade 4 mathematics
Helen Keller, grade 5 mathematics, 94% of the students scored high
Grade 3, 4, 5 received very high scores in mathematics

Elementary made AYP in all groups and rankings

Middle School did not make AYP in subgroups
  • Horace Mann made AYP
  • Remington ELA improvement year 1 - subgroups
  • Annie Sullivan ELA improvement year 1 - subgroups
FHS made AYP

Middle schools
  • Math, Science - Low Income in subgroup
  • Math -Very Low in special education subgroup
possible factors for this
1 - idea of developmental learning process, state identifies a constant rate of change, we know from research and experience that students do not learn at a constant rate of change, compound that with the social and emotional challenges of the middle school age group

2 - when we talk about subgroups we usually talk about students with learning disabilities, progress usually is one year of growth per year, students with disabilities however need more time to make the development step; by the time they finish high school they meet the standards, having taken the time necessary to develop

3 - the test materials, learning standards increase exponentially in the middle school over the levels in the elementary schools. There is a ceiling in the 10th grade testing material, at an adult reading level.

High School
  • Math - low income made moderate improvement
  • Biology for both Low income and Special Education subgroups, they were in the Low performance rating category
Addressing the issues, mostly talked to in the Middle School improvement plans discussed earlier this evening

RTI - response to intervention, a framework to identify readers and reading levels

ISSP - individual student success plans, any student with a score between 220 and 238 has a plan to focus on their instruction and progress

Graduation requirements are changing for the students graduating in 2010, the passing score increases from 220 to 240 for both Math and English

Class of 2012 in addition to the Math, English and Science, they will also be required to pass a US History test

live reporting - middle school improvement plans

1 - Ms. Beth Wittcoff, Principal of Annie Sullivan Middle School

developed mission statement, culture and other foundation items when the school opened

need to tackle annual yearly progress especially within the special education students

their document has already served the building very well this year as the school year started

2 - Mr. Paul Peri, Principal of Remington Middle School

Goal 1 - reading, writing, literacy
Goal 2 - targeting skills of two sub-group populations, all three middle schools rank in the Very High or High categories, except for the low-income or special needs students
Goal 3 - connecting to the Franklin community

3 - Dr. Anne Bergen, Principal, Horace Mann Middle School

Goal 1 - writing, literacy
Goal 2 - focus on the highest performing students, wrote a grant application to submit to the state (which unfortunately the state is unable to fund). Surveyed the students to determine their interests, so they could at least get planning for some of the materials, putting together a personal finance course; mosaic tile project with Worcester Art Museum; etc.

analysis of reading rate, analysis on note taking (some kids are faking it)

Armenio - what are the implications of AYP?
Armenio - touch base with Kathleen Woods they took part at the High School in a Credit for Life fair and have some good information