Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Live reporting - meeting closes

Jazz night (mentioned earlier) is only time to see the middle and high school jazz bands perform together. The Remington cafeteria is set up like a night club for this event.

Franklin Education Foundation - Trivia Bee coming up Thursday, March 19th

Live reporting - Superintendent

5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report
  • Make Up Day – School Calendar Change (covered earlier)
  • Neglect and Abuse
  • Special Education Educational Assistant (covered earlier)
  • Peanut Butter (covered earlier)
Ms Chris Neill - worked in the Freshman Collaborative as the Spec Ed teacher; had held principal positions at a couple of schools. This is a great selection on Peter's part.


School Committee Sub-Committee Reports - none


School Committee Liaison Reports
Cafasso - Building Committee did accept and appreciated the School Committee recommendations on priorities

Live reporting - Action items

4. Action Items
  1. I recommend the approval of budget transfers as detailed on the attached list. Approved 7-0
  2. I recommend acceptance of the donation of $2,500.00 from the Helen Keller PCC for a field trip and buses to the Museum of Fine Arts for Keller’s 4th grade students. Approved 7-0
  3. I recommend approval of the field trip to Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, RI for Keller’s 5th graders on May 1, 2009. Approved 7-0
  4. I recommend the hiring an Educational Assistant for the ALP that has not been budgeted for. Approved 7-0
  5. I recommend acceptance of a check for $350.00 from B & B Framers and B.F. Kushner of Franklin for mat boards for art for the Jefferson Elementary School. Approved 7-0
  6. I recommend approval of the FHS Cheerleading field trip to Atlantic City, NJ for a competition from 2/13 – 2/15/09 as detailed. Approved 7-0
  7. I recommend signing and ratifying the contract between Maureen Sabolinski and the Franklin School Committee for the position of Superintendent of Schools. Approved 7-0

Live reporting - Discussion only items

3. Discussion Only Items
  • Make Up Day for HMMS/Oak/ECDC Complex
Ogden did request an exemption from the DOE, it was denied

Two possible solutions
  • half day on Good Friday
  • appending another day at the end of the year
More data is being gathered before making this decision but because it is a calendar decision, you will need to make it.

  • Peanut Butter in our Schools
All the peanut food products were removed to be safe.

  • First Reading of Policy KCDB - School Based Advertising Content
Motion to move the KCDB policy to a second reading - Approved 7-0

Live reporting - FY 2010 Budget

Approach to provide the same level of services as this year.
$3.8 million or 6.9% increase would be required

What the state budget does will drive what our numbers come out as

Budget will be posted to the School's website tomorrow for a more detail review

a "level service" budget
the individual schools got the same allocation as last year. The individual schools may have chosen to distribute within differently.

Dollars allocated on a per pupil basis, will account for the major differences in the overviews for each line item

Teacher reimbursements to individual teachers and hence to the schools were centralized.

Increases for health benefits are projected to be about 10-15%

Armenio - This budget year will not be pleasant, not that any of the recent ones were too pleasant. This assumes School Choice would be continued at the same level as this year?

Ogden - Yes

Armenio - So if the reductions are such that people choose to bring the students back to their home district, that would be revenue we would loose.

Cafasso - On the transportation, can you give us a little more what is behind that?

Goodman - We are expecting an increase, there is an offset for the pay-to-ride, but there is also an increase in special ed out of district transportation.

Slight - What is included in the cost per pupil?

Ogden - the material and expenses associated with each level of the schools

Ogden - Chapter 70 formula possibly to be re-done for the FY 2011 year.

Rohrbach - some relief in spec ed transportation cost would be appropriate

Ogden - Rep Deleo did not think that was possible this year

Roy - Per Nutting, he is expecting Franklin to be short approx 4.5 to $5 million for FY 2010.
We have to be cautious, none of the reductions already made will not be considered for being back next year. It is more likely to see further cuts.

Ogden - what we may get is more like a level funded budget

Live reporting - Steering Committee for Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan Update
  • Maureen Sabolinski
  • Strategic Planning Team Member(s)


The slides can be viewed here

The PR Statement as read by April Crehan:

The Franklin (MA) Public Schools’ Strategic Plan allows the district to respond to emerging trends, events, challenges, and opportunities within the framework of the district's core values, vision, and mission. The School Committee has started the process to review and update the Plan adopted by the district in 2004. In conjunction with the Superintendent, the School Committee has appointed a Strategic Plan Steering Committee to manage this process. The Steering Committee will solicit input from all interested parties in the community with regard to the core values, vision, and mission of the Franklin Public Schools.

Strategic planning in education is a complex process. The Steering Committee recognizes that there are many parties interested in the education of the children of Franklin. Because the core values, vision, and mission articulated in the Strategic Plan will guide decisions regarding our children’s education for the next five years, it is vital that the interests of the community are represented. Opportunities for periodic review and feedback to and from the community will be included in the development and implementation of this Strategic Plan.

The Steering Committee:

Co-Chair:
  • Judi Bassignani - Principal, Parmenter Elementary
  • Miriam Goodman -Director, Franklin Public Schools Finance
Members:
  • Colleen Ahern - Teacher, Sullivan Middle School
  • April Crehan - Student, Franklin High School
  • Renee Danho - Community, Dean College
  • Ted McIntire - Parent
  • Susan Rohrbach - School Committee
  • Steve Sherlock - Community
  • Peg Sweeney - Parent
  • Rosanne Walsh - Teacher, Remington Middle School

Administration Liaisons

  • Wayne Ogden - Current Superintendent of Schools
  • Maureen Sabolinski - Incoming Superintendent of Schools

Live reporting - Life long learning

2. Guests/Presentations
Lifelong Learning Update
  • Pandora Carlucci
Mission statement:
The programs under the aegis of the Lifelong Learning Institute endeavor to contribute to the development of the Town of Franklin as a knowledge community.

Approx 5500 participants in all the offerings from Life Long Learning



Survey after every session, utilize the feedback for the next round of programs

Approx. 244 faculty and staff to run the program

$1.3 million revenue generated last year. All equipment become part of the Franklin School District inventory.

Private music lessons - trained and active performers as musicians

2300 students in the Summer program. Catalogs are at the Post Office ready for delivery.

Jeanne Hummel does the brochures and the website and does a marvelous job doing this.

Second summer of the High School Experience coming up. Added a Social Studies teacher to the course.

Nancy Schoen working with the music mentors has been taking the program to a new level.

"We are all teachers and learners."

Cafasso - You are doing a stellar job! I appreciate your hard work.

Kelly - I think it is very important to stress that this is self-funded.

Live reporting - School Committee

Attending: Armenio, Cafasso, Kelly, Mullen, Roy, Rohrbach, Trahan


Call to order Mr. Roy
Pledge of Allegiance
Moment of Silence

1. Routine Business
  • Citizen’s Comments - none
  • Review of Agenda - no executive session needed
  • Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the January 13, 2009 School Committee Meeting. approved 7-0
  • Payment of Bills - Mr. Kelly approved 7-0
  • Payroll - Ms. Armenio
  • FHS Student Representatives
Ms Neal - replacing Mr Light as 10th Grade Vice Principal
Mr Light - has launched a blog and podcast off the FHS website, click on Mr Light's name
Jazz Cafe - Feb 4, 7:00 PM - at Remington-Jefferson
  • Correspondence: Letter from Bethany Trainor

NewBCamp - find out about blogging, podcasting, Twitter, etc.

It's been almost one year since the inaugural NewBCamp took place and there's another one coming up in Providence.

What is NewBCamp?
It is a gathering of people interesting in learning and sharing about the new social media tools; blogs, podcasts, video blogs, Twitter, etc.

What is in it for me?
If you are interested in learning about these tools, then this is the place for you. The focus is on the new user (i.e. newbie or NewB). You won't feel lost, you will be amongst those who are learning from those who are willing to share.

What does it cost?
It is very reasonably priced at only $10. Less than a movie!


What are the details?

When:
February 8, 2009 - 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Where:
Johnson & Wales
Pepsi Forum
8 Abbott Park Place
Providence, RI 02903

There's also a brand new website http://www.newbcamp.com . Explore the site, add comments and pages to the wiki, and sign up to give presentations!

NewBCamp is brought to you by two organizations - Free Geek Providence and SofT ICE at Johnson & Wales.

If you would like additional information, please feel free to contact me. I will be there at the Welcome/Registration Desk.





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The Green Reel: "Escape from Suburbia"

The Green Reel: a series of films for sustainable living will be shown on Sunday evenings this winter.

What: "Escape from Suburbia"

When: 7:00 PM on February 1, 2009

Where: Agudas Achim, 901 North Main St, Attleboro or directions here


Free and open to the public. For more info: 508-695-2389


read more about the file "Escape from Suburbia" here

Sponsors:
Agudas Achim
Crystal Spring Center
Simply Keep It Local
Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary
Citizens for a Sustainable Local Economy
Murray Unitarian Universalist Church
Green Committee of First Universalist Society of Franklin
New Dawn Earth Center
Oake Knoll Ayrshires
Franklin Area Climate Team
White Barn Farm
St Mark's Episcopal Church-Foxboro

Monday, January 26, 2009

Live reporting - Planning Board/Walgreens

The Planning Board is in the public hearing for the proposed Walgreens at Four Corners. To alleviate traffic concerns, the Town working with Walgreens will add a right turn only lane (north bound on King) to turn onto East Central St (heading east). The second lane will be a combined straight-through traffic (to Chestnut) and left turn (westbound on East Central heading into town).

Jeff Nutting committed that if the applicant provides the design plans by April 1, the town will have enough time to do the work before Walgreens would be scheduled to open (in October).

The public hearing has now been closed. The decision on the special permits required will be scheduled.

School Committee - Agenda - 1/27/09

AGENDA

Call to order Mr. Roy
Pledge of Allegiance
Moment of Silence

1. Routine Business
  • Citizen’s Comments
  • Review of Agenda
  • Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the January 13, 2009 School Committee Meeting.
  • Payment of Bills Mr. Kelly
  • Payroll Ms. Armenio
  • FHS Student Representatives
  • Correspondence: Letter from Bethany Trainor

2. Guests/Presentations
Lifelong Learning Update
  • Pandora Carlucci

Strategic Plan Update
  • Maureen Sabolinski
  • Strategic Planning Team Member(s)

FY10 Budget Overview
  • Maureen Sabolinski
  • Miriam Goodman
  • Wayne Ogden

3. Discussion Only Items
  • Make Up Day for HMMS/Oak/ECDC Complex
  • Peanut Butter in our Schools
  • First Reading of Policy KCDB - School Based Advertising Content

4. Action Items
  1. I recommend the approval of budget transfers as detailed on the attached list.
  2. I recommend acceptance of the donation of $2,500.00 from the Helen Keller PCC for a field trip and buses to the Museum of Fine Arts for Keller’s 4th grade students.
  3. I recommend approval of the field trip to Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, RI for Keller’s 5th graders on May 1, 2009.
  4. I recommend the hiring an Educational Assistant for the ALP that has not been budgeted for.
  5. I recommend acceptance of a check for $350.00 from B & B Framers and B.F. Kushner of Franklin for mat boards for art for the Jefferson Elementary School.
  6. I recommend approval of the FHS Cheerleading field trip to Atlantic City, NJ for a competition from 2/13 – 2/15/09 as detailed.
  7. I recommend signing and ratifying the contract between Maureen Sabolinski and the Franklin School Committee for the position of Superintendent of Schools.


5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report
  • Make Up Day – School Calendar Change
  • Neglect and Abuse
  • Special Education Educational Assistant
  • Peanut Butter

School Committee Sub-Committee Reports
School Committee Liaison Reports

6. New Business
To discuss future business that may be brought before the School Committee.

7. Executive Session
Contractual Negotiations

8. Adjourn

Sunday, January 25, 2009

FM #29 - This week in Franklin, MA

This is the 29th in a series of podcasts on what is happening in Franklin, MA. In this session, I talk about how much snow removal we should do and about the teen substance abuse problem that Bill Phillips and his New Beginnings Program addresses.

Time: 9 minutes, 20 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes

Music intro
My intro
FM #29

This podcast for Franklin Matters is number 29 in the series. In this session, I’ll focus on what you should know about what is happening this week in Franklin, MA.

From the Town Council meeting 1/21/09, there was a very good presentation on the DPW and their snow removal efforts. Robert Cantoreggi, DPW Director was accompanied by Jim Estabrook, Graphical Information Systems Manager, to make the presentation. The video of the Town Council meeting is available on the town website. The presentation itself is also available on Franklin Matters.

You should note that the town website has added a link in the left column to allow you to go directly to the live video feeds and to the video archives. This is a simple navigation aid that will have lasting benefits. Thanks very much for putting this link in place. I have also added a link in the meetings for 2009 section.

In these days of cost cutting, one discussion we should have is how much should we spend on the snow removal? If you travel into some of the upstate Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont communities, they do not always plow their roads down to the pavement like we do here. There are other examples in state as well as out of state. You can travel on them. It is not a safety issue from a passageway point of view. You would need to travel slower as they remain snow covered and hence would tend to be slippery.

The money for salt and labor is effective only for as a short term benefit. Since a million dollars provides the salary and benefits for about 20 employees in the town. I would rather spend the money to keep people on the payroll rather than toss it away on road salt and snow removal.

What do you think?

Should we continue to pay whatever it takes to plow and sand our roads as we are today or should we consider cutting back, especially to save the money for other priorities? I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say on this.

The Town Council has asked the DPW Director to come back with some alternatives of reducing cost by 10 or 20 percent. Stay tuned into this discussion to see what happens.

A second item from the Town Council meeting will be worth watching, The Police Dept conducted a sting operation with 28 establishments in town that serve liquor and apparently caught two serving minors. I am not a lawyer but based upon what was reported in the Milford Daily News, they may not have a solid case on one of the two establishments. The hearing on the 4th should be interesting.

Let me be clear, the sting was a good thing. We do need to monitor how our teenagers get access to alcohol. The drinking and substance abuse amongst our teens is a problem that needs to be addressed. Bill Phillips has stated that you can get alcohol, drugs and weapons in any high school. In one school, there was a cooler in the student’s vehicle in the school parking lot to serve the beer cold. Bill referenced these and other stories during the WASTED presentation at Franklin High School in December. If you have not yet listened to that, I do recommend it. It is powerful material.

Bill’s program, New Beginnings, is in jeopardy. He had been funded by the MA Dept of Public Health. Unfortunately, his grant has been cut in this recent round of state budget cuts. The program has addressed over 200,000 teenagers since it was established in 1985. He currently is providing services to over 150 teenagers.

On the night he presented at Franklin High, he acknowledged receiving 19 emails from Franklin students after talking with them during the assemblies that day. 19 students by 4:00 PM that day had already reached out to Bill for help. How many of those are in jeopardy of losing Bill’s support right now? I don’t know but the odds are that some from Franklin are in the bunch.

I have started to help Bill in raising additional funds for his program. You may have noticed the Virgin Atlantic contest posting on Franklin Matters. This is just one step in the process of raising awareness for his program. I think his program is effective. I think it is valuable. I think it needs to raise additional funds to keep operating.

If you can help in anyway, I would appreciate it. Making a contribution is one way. You can contribute directly via his web site.

If you know of any company or foundation that Bill could appeal to for a contribution, please let me know. Or contact Bill directly.

If you would like to help spread the word on keeping the program alive, please let Bill or I know.

And to close this session, let’s look at what is coming up this week: there is a
  • Planning Board meeting on Monday
  • School Committee meeting on Tuesday
  • Financial Planning Committee is scheduled for Thursday
These are the “major” meetings. There are others listed on the Town website calendar.
Check them out.
Keep informed
and stay warm!

----- -----

This podcast has been a public service provided to my fellow citizens of Franklin, MA

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The musical intro and closing is from the Podsafe Music Network
Jon Schmidt - Powerful Exhilarating Piano Music

"I like the sting, it's good"

GHS
Posted Jan 24, 2009 @ 11:13 PM

FRANKLIN —

Two bars in town may temporarily lose their liquor licenses after allegedly serving alcohol to teens working with Franklin Police in an age compliance check, police said.

Workers at the Pepper Terrace Restaurant, at 400 Franklin Village Drive, and Cottage Street Pub & Grill, at 158 Cottage St., allegedly sold the teens beer on Saturday, Jan. 17, said Lt. Thomas Lynch.

"Do they look like they're 21? No they don't," Lynch said, explaining that police specifically instructed the teens not to wear make-up, jewelry, or dress up to appear older.

The goal, he said, was to check whether the establishments would serve people who were clearly younger than 21 years old.

Read the full article on the results of this sting operation in the Milford Daily News here

Circle of Friends - Vance Gilbert, Ann Heaton

Circle of Friends Coffeehouse
Saturday,- January 31st, 8:00 PM


"Gilbert's burnished voice poured over one purling, liquid melody after another, over an accompaniment of tender arpeggios and supple chord progressions. "
-The Chicago Tribune


with special guest
Anne Heaton

Tickets = $20