Live reporting - Asst Supt Candidate

2. Guests/Presentations

b. Assistant Superintendent Candidate – Sally Winslow

Maureen introduced the changes being made choosing to replacing herself and Linda Waters' position indirectly. Bottomline they are collapsing two roles into one, and restructuring the role so that the Director of Special Ed could be replaced without complicating the issue with the PPS requirements.

Sally then presents her background and development
She came up through King Phillip and most recently Dover

She had involvement with budget development and monitoring
the special education budget takes up a huge portion of the overall district
has written grants, there is not a day in Spec Ed that there is not some crisis being managed
has lead districts through cycle reviews

one big piece is the parent relationship
she has been active in school and district wide initiatives
balanced literacy, second year at Dover
brought in Everyday Math two years ago at Dover (already here in Franklin)

Graduate of FHS
Lives in Plainville with husband and two daughters
Class of 1973, the second class to graduate from the new high school
had previously done double sessions at Horace Mann
family is life long Franklin residents

Her mother worked at the high school answering the phone
Sally volunteered a lot during school, summers with the Rec Dept.
She has a personal experience with the town

Leadership and comunication style
Team player, will work collaboratively
try to gain consensus, not afraid to articulate the bottomline
has worked with wonderful principals
try to lead by example, strong work ethic
try to be concise, clear, listen important

phone calls, emails acknowledgement important
being proactive on a regular basis, to avoid surprises
working to balance an open door policy (being accessible) with getting things done

would be in her current position until June 30th
there are things that could be done between now and then as schedule permits
would love to get to the schools before the school year ends
you might even see me lurking about at some school committee meetings

explore creative ways to provide a high quality education that Franklin has been known for

Her dad lived all his life here in Franklin, he did not take a vacation
he would go to Uncas Pond
he had an 8th grade education due to the depression
one of the happiest days he had was when I graduated and was part of the second class of women admitted into Holy Cross
He is probably even happier today looking over me here talking with you about a position with the district.

Cafass0 - I think you are a great fit for this, Maureen is very smart to be able to attract someone like you, what is your sense of the reputation of this district for Special Ed?

Winslow - I think you have been very good, you managed your own kids and we would only get those you just couldn't serve. I think that when you have capacity to build programs that is very good. I would like look at the programs and see how we can sustain them and perhaps expand them.

Cafasso - what do you think about the duel role your getting into?

Winslow - I am excited about it. It will be somewhat of a work in progress, figuring things out as the year goes.

Patrick Slight - Is there anything that you have at Dover that you could bring here?

Winslow - that is a very good question. I'd like to look at pre-evaluation to see how we can help that here.

Rohrbach - How will it be working with Maureen where you share some roles.

Winslow - Similar thought process to Maureen, we have not worked together for 12 years. We will have to find out how we can compliment each other in that way.

Roy - What 2 or three bullets attracted you to the school district?

Winslow - attract wonderful teachers, and administrators, do really well despite the budget issues

I have a lot of energy and can't wait to get into the schools to really see what there and how I can help.

Live reporting - Presentations: NASA

2. Guests/Presentations

a. NASA Project – Horace Mann Middle School

• Anne Bergen, Principal

Ms. Foreman, James Schliefke

• Rachita Chaudhury
• Cody Williamson
• Lauren Kane
• Cole Comfort
• Elise Rivera
• Joe Chernak

Looking at heat transfer and astronomy
comparison of conditions between moon and earth
create a product to withstand the stresses of the moon
NASA specialist provided assistance


Note: No pictures were taken of the students to respect the privacy concerns that were not clear at the time of the presentation.

Live reporting - School Committee - 2/24/09

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


1. Routine Business

• Citizen’s Comments - none
  
• Review of Agenda - add FY 10 budget discussion update
  
• Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the February 10, 2009 School Committee Meeting. Motion to approve - 7-0
  
• Payment of Bills - Mr. Kelly
• Payroll - Ms. Armenio
• FHS Student Representatives

• Correspondence:

"state would save about $2.5 million a year"

"Am I disappointed they're dropping the U.S. history MCAS? Not at all," said Dennis Wilkinson, test coordinator at Franklin High School. "We test the heck out of (students) in English language arts, math and biology."

He said he understood why the state would consider dropping the test, given the cost and the financial situation the state finds itself in.

Read the full article on the proposal to slide back the addition of history to the MCAS test suite in the Milford Daily News here

The Green Reel: "Renewal"

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

What: "Renewal"

When: 7:00 PM on March 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 "Renewal" 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

School Committee - Agenda - 2/24/09

1. Routine Business

• Citizen’s Comments
• Review of Agenda
• Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the February 10, 2009 School Committee Meeting.
• Payment of Bills - Mr. Kelly
• Payroll - Ms. Armenio
• FHS Student Representatives
• Correspondence:

2. Guests/Presentations

a. NASA Project – Horace Mann Middle School

• Anne Bergen, Principal
• Rachita Chaudhury
• Cody Williamson
• Lauren Kane
• Cole Comfort
• Elise Rivera
• Joe Chernak

b. Assistant Superintendent Candidate – Sally Winslow


3. Discussion Only Items

• Budget to Actual
• Second Reading – Sub Committee Minutes Policy & Exhibit BEDGG/BEDGG-E

4. Action Items

1. I recommend budget transfers as detailed.
2. I recommend acceptance of the anonymous donation of $10,000 for the Ruth Reitzas Scholarship Fund at the FHS.
3. I recommend the acceptance of a check for $5,000 from the Oak Street PCC for the following field trips: K: Davis Farmland; Gr 2: Stony Brook; and Gr. 4: Fine Arts.
4. I recommend adoption of Sub Committee Minutes Policy & Exhibit BEDGG/BEDGG-E.
5. I recommend action be taken regarding the make-up day for the HM/Oak/ECDC Complex.
6. I recommend approval of the Horace Mann MS Trip to Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence, RI to see the play “A Raisin in the Sun”.
7. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1,000 from the Singleton Family Foundation for Special Education programs/equipment at FHS.
8. I recommend approval of the recurring Washington, D.C. field trip for Remington Middle School students in April, 2009.

5. Information Matters

• Superintendent’s Report
• 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. Adjourn

"It's just a silly, silly thing"

FRANKLIN —

Faced with the options of making students go to school and teachers work on either a Saturday, Good Friday, or another day in late June to make up a missed school day, the School Committee is still mulling its options.

The committee has been trying to find a viable way, but each option presents some problem.

The state education commissioner denied Superintendent Wayne Ogden's waiver request for the day of school that students at the Oak Street School complex missed when a pipe burst the Tuesday after Labor Day and shut down Horace Mann Middle School, Oak Street Elementary School, and Early Childhood Development Center (a preschool).

School Committee member Ed Cafasso has suggested the district take its chances and keep its existing school calendar instead of adding another day or half day.

"Unless I hear something that changes my mind, I am going to oppose school on Good Friday or creating an extra school day in June," Cafasso said.

"The circumstances justify a waiver, especially since Franklin students already exceed the minimum hours for instruction. Disrupting families and creating new costs for taxpayers just so we can check off a bureaucratic box doesn't seem fair to me," Cafasso said.

Read the full article about the make up day for the Oak St/Horace Mann school complex in the Milford Daily News here

Copyright explained

Wes Fryer does a good SlideShare presentation synchronizing the slideshow with audio to explain copyright. It is almost an hour but you should give yourself credit for watching it, well worth it.

Copyright for Educators

View more presentations from wfryer. (tags: librarian library)

Enjoy!

FM #31 - This week in Franklin, MA

This is podcast 31 in the series on what matters in Franklin, MA. I review what happened this week ending 2/22/09. The Financial Planning Committee is closing in on finishing their report, there is an updated time line, and an opportunity for feedback.

Time: 8 minutes, 48 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes:

Music intro
My intro
FM #31

This internet radio show or podcast for Franklin Matters is number 31 in the series. In this session, I’ll focus on what you should know about what happened in Franklin, MA this week ending Feb 22, 2009.

The week was a quiet one as school vacation came and went too quickly for most, I would assume. There were no major meetings scheduled for the town council or school committee.

As reported in the Milford Daily News, the Tri-County Vocational District announced their school budget this week. They are coming in at less than level funded with multiple cuts across the budget. Their final budget will be voted on in April. The exact charge to Franklin will be known then. It is primarily based upon how many students are sent to the district and then a per pupil charge is summarized.

There was a Financial Planning Committee meeting on Thursday the 19th. My live reporting from that meeting can be found here.

They previewed the 3 page Executive Summary highlighting

• where we have been
• where we are going
• what we can do about it
  

Much work remains but the structure is there to highlight exactly how much Franklin has saved over the years and how efficient the Town is operating.

We now have two choices, increase revenues or cut costs. Cutting costs seems to be easy, every business that does it makes headlines doing so. But there are also examples that not every business does so smartly. The cost cutting that remains in Franklin is in actual programs and services provided. What can we do without?

Increasing revenues needs to be part of the discussion. It is the real opportunity. We need to figure out ways to make it easier for the town to grow revenues to a more sustainable level than we have today.

The timeline for the Financial Planning Committee was also updated:

• April 2 - focus group meeting
• April 15 - present to a joint Town Council, School Committee and Finance Committee meeting
• April 29 - town forum to review the plan document and solicit feedback
  

So let's start thinking out of the box. For example, we have a library that services the entire community. We also have each school with a library. Let's look at combining those operations. It could put a branch of the main library in each neighborhood (i.e. the local school). It could leverage book purchases with the volume of the school and main libraries. Note: the purchasing done by the Town is generally quite efficient. This may already have be done.

Second, we have a Senior Center kitchen. A few hundred yards away are several cafeterias with kitchens where the schools provide many more meals. Let's combine those operations. Why force the seniors to travel all over town when they could more easily reach the school in their neighborhood.

Since the class size will likely increase, let's get more adults into the classrooms to help the teachers. Let's use the seniors to assist in classrooms, some may have taught previously, others dealt with grandchildren. One of the common jokes about grandparents dealing with their grandchildren is they can “spoil” them and then give them back to their parents. There is some truth to the natural relationship between the generations and helping to foster that will bring multiple benefits. With an additional adult (or adults) in the classrooms, the effect of larger class sizes (students per teacher) would be minimized

And here comes your chance. Between now and April 29th, put your thinking caps on to generate additional ideas.

You can include them in a comment, send me an email, or make a list to bring to the Forum on April 29th.

Together we can come up with something worthwhile. We may not find a silver bullet but every gem we do find will add up. A little here, a little there will soon add up significantly.

Here is your chance, take the challenge!

Looking to the week ahead: there is a Planning Board meeting on Monday, the School Committee meeting Tuesday. There are other town meetings posted on the calendar on the Franklin Home page. Check it out and go attend a meeting.

--------------

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

"people are still spending money, it's incredible"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Feb 21, 2009 @ 11:44 PM

---

Robert R. Vallee Sr., owner of Vallee Jewelers in Franklin, knows the key to surviving an economic depression.

"You just work," said Vallee, a sentiment echoed by others whose parents or grandparents pulled their local businesses through the Great Depression.

From their point of view, today's society has lost sight of what is important, letting greed and excessive living plunge them into debt.

The world will get through the economic crisis, and whatever's around the corner, they say, by returning to a more simple way of living and a stronger work ethic.

"My father (Emile Vallee) worked two jobs. He learned watch making and worked at a textile mill" in Manville, R.I., said Vallee.

Read the full article with stories from other business owners in the area in the Milford Daily News here

"You don't see the difference"

By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

GHS

Posted Feb 21, 2009 @ 11:47 PM

---

FRANKLIN —

On any given day, municipal departments are just beginning, trying to begin, or trying to finish, time-consuming projects on a tight budget.

Today, the School Department can sit back a bit and start adding up all the savings wrought by the completion of 65 energy-saving initiatives, an effort that took 10 years to finish.

Michael D'Angelo, the facilities director for the schools and the town, takes pride in Franklin taking the lead in using technological advances early in the game.

"We were doing it before it was popular," said D'Angelo, who is constantly researching ways to make the schools as energy-efficient as possible - he's currently eyeing the installation of solar panels three years down the road, when he says they will be cost-effective.

"We're almost as technologically advanced as you can be, without getting into solar or wind," D'Angelo said.

Read the full article on how energy efficient Franklin's schools are in the Milford Daily News here

"we're looking to impact their behavior"

More than a dozen young adults who were at the October underage drinking party where 17-year-old Taylor Meyer of Plainville was last seen alive must take part in a drug- and alcohol-awareness program, in addition to fulfilling other requirements, a Wrentham District Court judge ordered Thursday.

Fourteen people ranging in age from 17 to 20 appeared before Judge Warren Powers for a probable cause hearing, each facing a charge of underage possession of alcohol, said David Traub, a spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney William Keating.

All were charged following the Oct. 17 post-Homecoming party at the former Norfolk Airport. Meyer, who wandered away from the group, became lost, and drowned in an adjacent wetland. Her blood alcohol level was .13, according to autopsy findings.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

"You'd have to change the marketplace"

FRANKLIN —

In continuing discussions about presenting a three-year fiscal plan for the town, the Financial Planning Committee last night generally agreed that without some kind of structural change the town's expenses will outpace its revenue indefinitely.

Most towns in the state are contending with the same problem, even affluent communities such as Newton, said Town Councilor Shannon Zollo, who is also a planning committee member.

"Our budget goes up a lot more than 2.5 percent every year, it's more in the 4 or 5 percent range," said Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

Financial Planning Committee minutes 2/5/09

FINANCIAL PLANNING COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF MEETING
FEBRUARY 5, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.

Members present were: Deborah Bartlett, James Roche, Matt Kelly, Roberta Trahan, Rebecca Cameron, Doug Hardesty and Gwynne Wilschek. Also present were Jeffrey Nutting and Wayne Odgen. Absent were Steve Whalen and Shannon Zollo.

The Committee reviewed reports to date. Matt Kelly handed out a sample of FAQ's for review. Deborah Bartlett and Roberta Trahan submitted their information to Doug Hardesty. Jim Roche handed out a draft of his work; Jeff Nutting continues to work with Rebecca on the assumptions. Members should submit changes, improvements etc. to Doug Hardesty in the next 10 days so it will be ready for the next meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeffrey Nutting

Financial Planning Committee minutes 1/15/09

FINANCIAL PLANNING COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF MEETING
January 15, 2009

A meeting of the Financial Planning Committee was held on January 15, 2009 at the Franklin Municipal Building. Members present were Deborah Bartlett, Shannon Zollo, Roberta Trahan, Jim Roche, Rebecca Cameron and Doug Hardesty, Matt Kelly & Gwynne Wilschek. Also present was Jeffrey Nutting, Town Administrator and Wayne Odgen, School Superintendent. Absent was Steve Whalen.

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m.

The Chairman Jim Roche asked that each subcommittee report on the progress of their assignment. The members reviewed their work to date and the Committee discussed the work and suggested a format for a final product by each subgroup.

Doug Hardesty requested that all work at the individual level be completed in two weeks and forwarded to him so he could collate the information.

The next meeting is scheduled for February 5, 2009

Respectfully submitted,

Jeffrey D. Nutting