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Obama appealed to virtue. And I think he was right. And the virtue I think we need above all others is practical wisdom, because it's what allows other virtues -- honesty, kindness, courage and so on -- to be displayed at the right time and in the right way. He also appealed to hope. Right again. I think there is reason for hope. I think people want to be allowed to be virtuous.
In many ways, it's what TED is all about. Wanting to do the right thing in the right way for the right reasons. This kind of wisdom is within the grasp of each and every one of us if only we start paying attention. Paying attention to what we do, to how we do it, and, perhaps most importantly, to the structure of the organizations in which we work, so as to make sure that it enables us and other people to develop wisdom rather than having it suppressed.
The BOLD was added for my emphasis. This is from Barry Schwartz's TED Talk presented in February 2009. He talks about the need for "practical wisdom".
"Practical wisdom," Aristotle told us, "is the combination of moral will and moral skill." A wise person knows when and how to make the exception to every rule...Here is the full TED Talk:
eat ¢ drink ¢ celebrate summer | |
Celebrate Summer with 3! | |
It's not too late to celebrate summer at 3! For the entire month of June, dine at 3 and receive a sealed envelope. Inside the envelope is a surprise gift voucher valid on your next visit to 3 before August 31, 2009. The voucher may be for a complimentary appetizer, an entree, or maybe even dinner on us! So come see us soon, and celebrate summer with 3! | |
Envelopes will be given out during lunch and dinner from June 1 to June 30, or while supplies last. One envelope will be given per table, per visit, in the dining room only. Envelopes must be presented by August 31, 2009. Vouchers are not valid unless envelopes are opened with your server present. This offer is valid at 3 only. Vouchers must be redeemed at time of reveal. No substitutions are available on this offer, and vouchers are not redeemable for cash. Tax, gratuity, and alcohol are not included on any voucher offers. | |
461 West Central Street (Route 140), Franklin, Massachusetts www.3-restaurant.com Visit our other Let's Eat, Inc. restaurants: SKY, Norwood, MA www.sky-restaurant.com and Sudbury, MA www.sky-restaurant.com |
Local twins John and Austin Brown brought something much more exciting than their favorite toys to school for show and tell yesterday.
They took Bruins forward Phil Kessel.
"This is our buddy Phil Kessel," Austin said to a crowd of his fifth-grade classmates gathered in the auditorium at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School.
The Browns were the winners of the "Show and Tell" experience sponsored by the Boston Bruins Foundation. According to the boys' father, Dan Brown, the family was looking to donate to the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon and saw this as the perfect way to contribute.
"I just thought it would be a great way to support a great cause and my kids are more than excited," Brown said.
Read the full article about Bruin Phil Kessel's visit to Franklin in the Milford Daily News here
The teachers union overwhelming approved a proposal to freeze their wages for one year, which will save an estimated 16 teachers' jobs, said School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy yesterday.
The Franklin Education Association voted 176-74 yesterday in favor of the proposal, which defers members' negotiated 2.5 percent pay raise through June 30, 2010, Roy said.
Union President Robert McLaughlin could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Read the full article on the teacher's deferment in the Milford Daily News here
I do not believe that the article states the correct number of school positions to be cut for this budget year. By my count, I show the following positions cut since FY 2003:
Franklin (MA) School Position Reductions | Total |
FY 2003 | -28 |
FY 2004 | -21 |
FY 2005 | -1 |
FY 2006 | -4 |
FY 2007 | -1 |
FY 2008 | -29 |
FY 2009 | -44 |
FY 2010 | -45 |
-172 |
"Our example to our children, to our families, and to the world around us isAnd the outlook for the week ahead:
constant. The question is not whether or not anyone is watching, the question is
what are they learning as they watch." Kirk Weisler
Franklin, MA-The Franklin Downtown Partnership announces the special activities planned for the next “Third Thursday”. Join downtown businesses for a “Girls Night Out” and discover how easy it is to get in touch with your creative side in this round robin of fun, relaxing activities for busy adults. Grab a friend and head to Franklin’s downtown for this special event.
There's a decent chance parents will not have to pay the sizable increases in fees for busing, athletics and extracurricular activities that was under consideration to help offset the budget deficit, said Superintendent Wayne Ogden.
The School Committee still must vote whether to bump up athletic fees to $200 per sport (now $150), extracurricular fees to $50 per activity (now $25), and $350 for busing (now $325).
Administrators calculated the cost for a family with three children, who each participated in one sport per season ($1,800 total), one extracurricular activity each, for the year ($150), and each taking the bus ($1,050), to total $3,000 annually, or 60 percent of the average Franklin tax bill.
"We deliberated a great deal about the need to increase fees to cover our rising costs at a time when the budget was being level-funded, versus the financial stress on families during our economic crisis," Ogden said.
"Plus, there was a very real possibility that increased fees might result in reduced participation in these programs," said Ogden.
Read the full article on activity fees in the Milford Daily News here
With the final budget still unsettled, if the fees are not raised, how will the budget end up balanced?
You can either increase revenue (increase fees in this case) or cut expenses (additional programs or personnel) to balance a budget. Stay in touch to find out what schools could look like when September 2009 rolls around.
“We’re cutting down to bare bones,” ... “We are cutting some services. We are taking no increase in pay on the town side. On the school side, teachers are giving up some pay days. We still don’t have a state budget. We are using estimated figures. If we’re wrong, we’re looking at additional cuts. People are unhappy.”Gee, this sounds familiar! We are not the only Franklin with budget troubles. Franklin, CT has similar woes. Read the full article in the Norwich Bulletin here
Amid the backdrop of the deaths this week of two teens linked to drinking, a report released today by a regional health foundation shows a drop in alcohol use among area high school students.
The biennial report, the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey, uses responses from questionaires sent to middle and high schools in MetroWest and Greater Milford by the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation. Introduced in 2006, the report now includes data from 2008, allowing the first look at possible trends.
Between the two surveys, the proportion of high school students who reported drinking within a month of the questionnaire dropped from 42 percent to 39 percent.
Those using alcohol at some point in their lives, meanwhile, fell from 67 percent to 63 percent. And those recently consuming five or more drinks in a row binge drinking fell from 25 percent to 23 percent.
Click through to the Milford Daily News web site to down load the full report.
While the numbers are down for alcohol, they are up for marijuana. Given the recent tragedies involving local youth and drinking, clearly much work remains.
For my two cents; how much have parents/guardians changed their own behavior? They are the ones who are setting the example for the children to grow up with.
One quote I like makes this point:
"Our example to our children, to our families, and to the world around us is constant. The question is not whether or not anyone is watching, the question is what are they learning as they watch." Kirk Weisler
Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has appointed his chief advocate, Majority Leader Rep. James E. Vallee, D- Franklin, Majority as the principal House member of the legislative conference committee on ethics reform.
DeLeo credited Vallee with being the drafter of the stringent, far-reaching ethics and lobbying reform bill recently passed by the House and strongly applauded by government reform advocates.
The conference committee, consisting of three House members and three Senate members, is charged with resolving the differences between each chamber's versions of ethics reform legislation.
"I am honored to be part of crafting such an important piece of legislation," said Vallee. "Only when the citizens of Massachusetts see their legislators making bold moves to change the public perception will we prove that we are acting with nothing but the public interest at heart. I look forward to working with my House and Senate colleagues to negotiate a bill that will represent the strongest, most comprehensive, and meaningful overhaul of the way our government does business."
Read the full article about Rep Vallee and the ethics reform efforts in the Milford Daily News here
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Farmers already depend on the unpredictability of weather and nature each year so it was with some trepidation given the faltering economy that organizers of local farmers markets opened for business last week.
For now, farmers and organizers are optimistic for their harvest sales.
Framingham farmer Tom Hanson said the poor economy in an indirect fashion is fueling farmers markets. He believes people are slowing down, eating at home, and taking the time to come out to the market, while before they were too busy.
Jeff Cole, executive director of the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets, said the downturn in the economy and a declining restaurant industry "leads us to conclude that folks are taking limited resources and making different choices on how they are going to spend, which seems to be in the direction of the markets."
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here. Note: there is no reference to Franklin in this article.
Did you know Franklin has a farmer's market? On the Town Common, Friday afternoons. You can visit the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets website to sign up and receive an email alert to remind you of the market.
Several area communities and school districts have asked employees to break existing contracts and accept wage freezes, salary-increase deferrals, or other givebacks in the coming fiscal year to help prop up wobbly municipal finances.With the stakes high for both communities and public employees, municipal and school unions have generally turned down the requests, with reactions ranging from respectful mutual understanding on both sides to acrimony and suspicion.
In Franklin, the School Committee's chairman, fearing that the teachers union had not adequately briefed its members about the town's financial plight, used the online site YouTube to make a direct appeal to teachers. In a virtual Internet duel, the union used its own website to respond.
Whatever the relationship between employers and employees, there is a shared understanding of the need to save cash, as municipal revenues and local aid from the state go into freefall, according to local officials.
Read the full article in the Boston Globe here
The Franklin teachers are scheduled to vote on their latest negotiated agreement with the School Committee on Monday, June 15th.
... I also wonder if we can actually make something new out of something old in this case. Without remaking the system, is it reasonable to expect that we can systemically move toward inquiry based, self-directed, networked learning spaces that focus on the learning that Carroll describes in the essay?
Even in the midst of a recession, state Rep. James E. Vallee, D-Franklin, knows how to secure money for his towns: "persistence and tenacity."
"You wear them down. Essentially, you just keep running at them, and hopefully you can convince them," said Vallee, the new House majority leader.
After five years of pushing, Vallee said Franklin has been awarded $1 million in state funds for improvements to downtown. That money is separate from a $5 million federal grant.
The $1 million, available through a public works economic development grant, will pay for improvements to Main Street, Dean Avenue, Depot Street to Ray Street, and a municipal parking lot on Depot Street, Vallee said.
Read the full article about this state grant in the Milford Daily News here
The grant will help economic development efforts downtown. It will allow Franklin to spend less of its own money to do the work required. While the grant can not be used to offset our operational budget problems, the grant will help the overall budget by avoiding the expense of additional debt. Our debt to operations ratio will remain low.
TEWKSBURY -- Despite passionate pleas from teachers and parents for leniency, the School Committee voted unanimously last night to temporarily roll back the workday -- and thus the salaries -- of all school employees by 10 percent come July 1.
But the committee also left the door open for other suggestions, noting that it could not delay the controversial vote because of a contractual June 15 layoff deadline that the teachers union declined to waive.
"We're not close-minded," Chairman Richard O'Neill said after the vote. "Closing a school is off the table and we're not going to just flat lay off 40 people, but anything else we're willing to entertain."
In the meantime, though, all school employees will receive pink slips. Recall notices with a reduced, 90 percent workload will then follow. Those employees who agree to be rehired will essentially accept a temporary 10 percent pay cut and shorter work week.
Read the full story on the Tewksbury budget problem and how they are attempting to address it in the Lowell Sun here
Hmm, we have cut 28 positions in 2008, 42 positions on 2009, and could go as many as 60 for 2010.
Town Council last night unanimously approved an $88.1 million budget for next fiscal year, which is $500,000 less than the current year's budget.
The only line item that was discussed last night was the Police Department budget, as Councilor Robert Vallee said he was "very concerned for deteriorating salaries" within the department.
He is worried that officers will lose a significant portion of their salary if the state eliminates the Quinn Bill (an educational incentive), and officers have fewer opportunities for detail work.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
You can read the collection of live reports from the same Town Council meeting here
Should low-rise jeans and spaghetti straps be banned and Milford students be required to all wear khakis and tucked-in polos?
Vice Chairman Jonathan Bruce asked the question under new business at last night's School Committee meeting, sparking what promises to be a hot new debate over a uniform policy for Milford schools.
Milford's dress code, which the committee made stricter two years ago, is "way too open," Bruce said. He asked that Superintendent Robert Tremblay explore the idea of uniforms as a way to make things simpler.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
Would Franklin consider uniforms?
Town councilors listened to an hour of dismal budget information from the town comptroller and administrator last night in its first public hearing on the fiscal 2010 budget.
Town Council will hold its second public hearing on the budget tonight, and is slated to vote on an $88.1 million budget, as recommended by Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting and the Finance Committee.
An additional $11.4 million is slated for the solid waste, sewer, and water budget, but that isn't included in the town budget as those expenses are covered by self-supporting enterprise funds paid for by user fees, not taxes.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
Read the live reporting from the meeting last night here
Town Council will hold back-to-back budget hearings tonight and tomorrow, and will consider a general operating budget that is $500,000 less than last year's budget, said Town Administrator Jeffrey D. Nutting.
Nutting will advise the council to pass an $88 million budget, also recommended by the Finance Committee, and make any modifications in a few weeks, when the state is expected to have its final numbers.
He is also recommending the council use the governor's original budget numbers, excluding meals and hotels tax revenue, he said.
The Senate budget gives $875,000 less aid money than town officials were anticipating, though that shortfall is likely to drop, Nutting said.
Read the full article on the scheduled Town Council meeting in the Milford Daily News here
You can find the agenda documents on the Town website here
You should participate at the meeting
The School Committee last night closed the public hearing on the budget, unanimously voting to adopt a $50.2 million spending plan for fiscal 2010. They will present it to Town Council tonight.
"We continued the hearing in hopes we'd have new news, but we don't," said School Committee Chairman Jeffrey Roy.
The Franklin Education Association will vote Monday on whether to accept a proposal to defer their wages for one year, which will save the district $800,000 - or 16 teachers' jobs, Roy said.
"Every dollar that comes back in this budget, whatever the source, will go solely to bringing back positions," Roy said.
Read the full article on the School Committee meeting in the Milford Daily News here
You can find all the live reporting posts, including pictures and a copy of the Senior Project presentation, here
Ella ReedFrom 250 initial entries, whittled to thirty for the high school students to work with and create 5 logos
Ben Fretz
Cam Goldsmith
Brett vanVort
Patrick McClellan Hurd
Jillian McGrath
Madison Wendell
Lyndsey Donahoe
Pooja Agaraal
Michelle Reinertson
Samantha Fitzpatrick
Collin Berg
Ellie Mancin
Erin Lee
Kasey Lynch
Breanna Metras
Caleigh Smith
Emma Campbell
Joe Nevells
Ashley Monterotti
Kevin MacAllister
Nichole Higgins
David Joany
Anna Humphreys
Madison Hinckley
Andrew DeSignore
Jill Downing
Kristen Dumas – final selection