Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Live reporting - Finance Committee 04/29/09

Attending:
Brett S. Feldman
Juan Rivera
Patricia Goldsmith
Phyllis Messere
Rebecca Cameron
Mark Cataldo
James Roche
Tina Powderly

Missing:
Craig Maire
Robert Teixeira


Library Acct 610

Felicia Oti

Police budget request cut 200,000, Fire request cut 600,000

Library will be closed on Friday's, hours cut to 52
will apply for a waiver to maintain certification from Library Board
Jeff hopeful that the waiver won't be an issue given what is going on

Discussions with Medway still ongoing, Town Meeting required for approval

Rivera - commendation to the Library for all the work and services you provide. Question on cost of office supply increase? Just cost related?
Oti - yes,
Nutting - focus on keeping open as much as possible, keeping 52 hours (80% level) so cutting the book budget is one way to come and balance the budget
Oti - meet minimum in hours (50.5) will only need to apply for waiver for the overall budget dollars

Powderly - What was the change in subscriptions?
Oti - We drop the access to some databases but maintains the access to the Minutemen inter-library loan. There are other sources to access the info provided via the databases.

Roche - What was the total Library staffing in 1999?
Oti - 19

Roche - big budget, easy target, what kind of services do we really want?
Cameron - How is morale? Foot traffic is increasing.

Nutting - To say morale is good or bad, they have a job. You show up and do the best you can. In any place, I have ever worked, no one has ever said morale is great.
Oti - It is low.

Feldman - Is there any utilization of volunteers?
Oti - we do use the tax workout volunteers

Rivera - How is the inter-library

Cindy Dobrinski - Library Board Director, library use has increased considerably, especially over the last several months. Even in support of the school system. She references the library video (I have the link) where the student compares the librarian to the teacher and the librarian allows him to think. She urges consideration when they make their final deliberation.

Refreshing post from Franklin teacher

Click through to read this on the School Committee blog...

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

via Franklin School Committee by Jeffrey Roy on 4/29/09
I saw this post on milforddailynews.com this morning and thought it was worth repeating here. It is said to be from a Franklin teacher. To me, it exemplifies the typical Franklin teacher: hard-working, dedicated, and caring. It also captures empathy for the residents in Franklin, other teachers, the School Committee, and administration. [...]

Things you can do from here:

Back story and request for clarifications

As in most issues there are two sides to the story. Here are my notes from the first School Committee meeting on Tuesday 4/28/09 where they gathered information from the principals in preparation for the teacher unions response to the School Committee counter offer.

If there are any corrections to be made, let's get them out so we all start with the same information.

Note: feedback from the School Committee is marked in GREEN and there is a bold highlight in BLUE to indicate the sentence(s) changed.

On the 27 versus 32 meetings
The teachers are required to attend 27 meetings during the school year plus they "may be required" to attend five meetings for a total of 32 meetings.
The 27 meetings are generally scheduled as three meetings per month (except December and June).
These meetings are generally scheduled on Wednesday's.
The meetings are used differently amongst the elementary, middle, and high school buildings.
One consistently is the principal's meeting for the building.
One generally is a department (i.e. subject) meeting.
One generally is a grade level/team meeting.

The five meetings are generally scheduled other than on Wednesday's.

Due to scheduling mistakes and calendar nuances, not all buildings have 32 meetings scheduled this year although the principals claim to need them to conduct their business appropriately.
For example, the high school had scheduled a meeting that resulted in a conflict with a district wide meeting.
The five meetings originated in the 2001 contract although the need for additional meetings was acknowledged in negotiations prior to this contract.

In the 2001 contract, the elementary school teachers increased from 150 minutes of preparation to 220 minutes in return for the five meetings.

In the 2004 contract, to keep the five meetings, there was an agreement to give up two professional development days.

Contrary to the teacher's claim that there is "no cost" associated with this request, there is. In order to provide the additional prep time, activity monitors were hired by the district to cover for recess, lunch, and other non-instructional periods to provide the teachers the prep time.

While the 2004 contract was agreed to, the parties also agreed to work on a "side letter" to address the time associated with the meetings.

The teachers claim that there has been no progress on the side letter.
The School Committee/District did have at least five meetings with teacher union representatives participating on this matter.
Clearly, the issue has not been resolved, but there was an agreement to schedule the five meetings in advance of the school year to provide the teachers additional time to plan to attend them.

On scheduling meetings before report cards
The teachers are requesting not to have to attend a meeting in the two weeks prior to a report card so that their time can be focused on preparing the accurate and detailed report cards required.
The School Committee proposed that teachers would not be required to attend a meeting in the two weeks prior issuing report cards for the 2009 - 2010 school year (FY10) updated 4/29/09 per School Committee feedback


My two cents:
The real issue tying these two items together is teacher time. There is an instructional time requirement from the state. There are work hours per the contract. Neither of these reflect the actual hours required for teachers to prepare for instructional time and to review and correct student class work/home work.

There is a common misconception that teachers are only "working" during school, that when the school bell rings, the students leave and the teachers are free to do as they please.

This is far from the case. Teachers can spend more hours outside the classroom preparing for instruction (i.e. elementary level) or correcting class work/home work (i.e. middle/high school) than the actual classroom time.

The nature of the instructional time varies from elementary through middle school to high school. Let's get some agreement on the real hours of teacher classroom time, classroom preparation, and classroom post work (i.e correction of papers, preparation of report cards, etc.).

Superintendent Ogden has stated that the 6.5 hour school day is obsolete as well as the current school calendar overall. I agree. Those two items were based in our farming heritage and should be brought to the modern world. Learning should be a life long experience, it has pretty much become that. If you as an adult are not keeping up with changes in your area, you will fall behind and find yourself obsolete.

Based upon what is actually done, let's get an agreement on what is required and should be subject to compensation and what can be considered "over and above" the requirements.

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On providing reasons for the "personal" day
Two paid "personal" days are provided to the teachers per the contract.
The days used to be "use it or lose it".
The contract language changed in 2004 to require a reason to be provided for personal days.
The days can be denied if they are for
  • leisure or recreational purposes
  • extending a holiday or vacation period
The Superintendent can make the decision. In order to make the decision, the reason needs to be provided. It is not meant to be a "control" item, it is meant to enable a rational decision.

The teachers have asked for a "permanent" removal of the requirement to provide the reason. The School Committee proposal to the FEA was to remove the requirement to provide a reason for personal days for the 2009 - 2010 school year (FY10)
It should also be noted that as part of the 2004 negotiation any unused personal days are converted to sick days. updated 4/29/09 per School Committee feedback


My two cents:
One possible solution would be to reword the contract such that if the day being requested fell on the calendar before or after a holiday or vacation, to require the reason be provided. If the day requested was not before or after the holiday/vacation day, then allow it to be granted without requiring a reason. Then the request for a "personal" day remains a "personal" day.


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The notes from the first meeting can be found here
The notes from the second meeting can be found here

My disclosure statement can be found here

"that meeting never happened"

FRANKLIN —

After a 20-minute executive session, School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy announced the board and teachers union have not yet come to an agreement on wage concessions.

At the behest of Superintendent Wayne Ogden and the School Committee, the Franklin Education Association had agreed to a one-year wage deferment to save jobs on April 13, but attached three conditions. The union also offered to forgo course reimbursements to save the district another $200,000.

The School Committee then made a counter offer, which would give the union some of what it sought.

The union rejected the counter proposal yesterday afternoon and again put forward its original offer, which had three stipulations: The removal of five floating after-school meetings, permanent removal of the need to give a reason for personal days, and the permanent requirement that no meetings be scheduled two weeks prior to the issuing of report cards, according to a copy of the proposal.

Read the full article on the School Committee/teachers dispute in the Milford Daily News here


"The sky is the limit"

FRANKLIN —

The Fourth of July Coalition is gearing up for its second five-day Independence Day celebration, and is excited to report it will feature a parade, said group secretary Warren Revell.

The coalition didn't have time or funds to hold a parade or fireworks last year, he said, but there is a slim possibility for both this time around.

"This is a town (where) you can't just put something in front of the people - you gotta put out a quality product," Revell said.

"I'm excited, because the town needs a parade. It draws people into the town; fireworks don't. Hopefully, it'll get businesses to be in the parade," he said.

Most likely, there will not be fireworks, he said, because of the cost.

Read the full article on the 4th of July plans in the Milford Daily News here


Treesavers: Paul Barcelo

Paul Barcelo, author of The Sweet War Man

Paul Barcelo completed Army Infantry training at Fort Benning, Georgia, then rotary wing training at Fort Wolters, Texas and Fort Rucker, Alabama. He flew one tour as a UH-1 pilot in Republic of Vietnam. He resides in Franklin, Massachusetts with his wife and four children. This is his first novel.
Will be appearing at Treesavers Books to sign his new book, The Sweet War Man.

May 16, 2009 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM




Cafe Dolce - Kai Olsson


Enjoy some music at Cafe Dolce with Kai Olsson

Saturday 5/2/09 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM

Click through to listen to some samples on Kai's MySpace page

Financial Planning - Town Forum

This is the collection of posts covering the discussion of the draft report by the Financial Planning Committee taking a long term view of the financial situation we face.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

School Committee Mtg 04/28/09

The collection of live reports from the two school committee meetings held on Tuesday 4/28/09


Updated to include the "Back story" posting in the appropriate time sequence of events

Live reporting - Subcommittee reports

School Committee Sub-Committee Reports
Trahan - thanks to Maureen and Wayne for their help in preparing the Financial Planning Report.
Cafasso - thanks, it was a good report.

School Committee Liaison Reports

New business - need to discuss the state inspection report from the High School

Budget hearing is scheduled for the second meeting in May
Athletic fees to be taken up next meeting

Live reproting - Superintendent

Superintendent’s Report
a. Using Data to Monitor Student Achievement
b. Best Buddies Prom -Saturday at Adirondeck 5:30 to 9:00 PM
c. Bicycle Racks - installed in next 2 weeks at schools that don't have them
d. FHS Modular Classroom - taking it down, rather than leaving it empty was going to be safer
e. Implementation of Point of Sale Technology / Food Service

DOE is now Dept of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)

Swine Flue - DPH guidelines already posted on school web site
hand washing is one of the best ways to prevent this, really pushing it in a more religious way

Live reporting - Action items

4. Action Items:
a. I recommend budget transfers as detailed. Motion to Approve; Passed 7-0
b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $2,500.00 from the Oak Street PCC for nurses and bus fees for upcoming field trips. Motion to Approve; Passed 7-0
c. I recommend approval of the ASMS 8th grade trip to Conn. River Valley and Eastern NY on May 1, 2009. Motion to Approve; Passed 6-0, 1 - Abstain
d. I recommend acceptance of the donation of 12 cases of copy paper for the Franklin Public Schools from Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Johnson. Motion to Approve; Passed 7-0
e. I recommend acceptance of the donation of $4,200.00 from the ASMS PCC to pay for two 8th grade field trip coach buses. Motion to Approve; Passed 7-0
f. I recommend declaring the graphic arts classroom modular at FHS as surplus. Motion to Approve; Passed 7-0

Live reporting - New lunch process

Presentations

c. Cafeteria – Point of Sale Implementation – Miriam Goodman

The school serve about 2400 lunches daily for an annual amount of about $1.6 million dollars.
Students would use their pin number. For the younger students, they would use an ID card.
In future to incorporate an online payment system to allow parents to update their students accounts.

The system is anticipated to move faster once the staff and students are comfortable with the new process.

The big win is the automated reporting that comes from this.

Armenio - This has been a long time coming. The anonymity of the low income students in the process will help.

Goodman - the parents can view the purchases of the student and review them with the student to ensure proper diet.

Cafasso - how are you communicating to parents about this?
Goodman - Central office update coming out. Word coming at each school, word through the cafes.

Cafasso - Consider getting the info out through to the PCC's

Kelly - How is the balance handled at the end of the year?
Goodman - The balance carries forward. The student maintains the same ID through their time at Franklin.

Trahan - Can the parent arrange something like EasyPass?
Goodman - It may have that capability, we can look at that down the road.

Slight - cash or check in the line, how is that handled?
Goodman - Just bring it in the line, it can be entered in by the cashier.

Live reporting - School Committee resumes

The meeting resumes in public session


Payment of Bills Mr. Kelly - motion, passed 7-0
Payroll Ms. Armenio
FHS Student Representatives
Correspondence: none

Announcement of what was discussed in Executive Session
Non-union all agreed without conditions
FEA would not take any action until the School Committee publicly requested
FEA would not discuss budget reductions

FEA requested to get together ASAP to review the proposal (as announced previously).

Offered via phone call
not have to provide the reason, did want to keep all 32 meetings (including the 5), did want to keep the reimbursement, did want to convey these directly to the teachers

Response back was to schedule a meeting on Thursday 4/16/09 at 7:30 AM
Creedon, Schlefke, McGovern
Clear from that meeting there would be no middle ground without consultation with each party.

Proposed joint meeting with FEA and School Committee (rejected by FEA)
Invited FEA to School Committee meeting

Final proposal to convene at 3:30 PM 4/28/09
School Committee met separately from FEA in same building

Reporting today that the FEA rejected the counter proposal, nor would they change their original proposal, nor would they meet with the School Committee.

The School Committe is not inclined to address the FEA proposal.

Town Administrator agrees with the School Committee stance.

There was no opporutnity for public comment at this time!

Live reporting - Executive session

The School Committee is still in Executive Session. It is passed their 15 minutes estimate. The longer it goes, the more interesting it becomes.

Stay tuned for a resume sometime