School Committee - Agenda - 9/08/09

1. Routine Business

Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the August 25, 2009 School Committee Meeting.
Payment of Bills Mr. Kelly
Payroll Ms. Armenio

FHS Student Representatives – Welcome to the new student representatives: Zach Price (President of Senior Class) and Christie Gianetti (Student Government President)

Correspondence

1. Budget to Actual
2. Letter from Kristen Redpath (donation)

2. Guests/Presentations


a. School Improvement Plans

• Horace Mann Middle School – Dr. Anne Bergen
• Remington Middle School – Paul Peri
• Annie Sullivan Middle School – Beth Wittcoff
• Franklin High School – Peter Light

3. Discussion Only Items

• Facilities Update
• Transportation Update
• H1N1 Update
• Superintendent’s Goals

4. Action Items

1. I recommend adoption of Horace Mann Middle School’s School Improvement Plan
2. I recommend adoption of Remington Middle School’s School Improvement Plan
3. I recommend adoption of Annie Sullivan Middle School’s School Improvement Plan
4. I recommend adoption of Franklin High School’s School Improvement Plan
5. I recommend acceptance of a check for $554.22 from the Tri County Partnership as credit for Life Fair for the FHS gift account
6. I recommend acceptance of a check for $100.00 from Kristen Redpath in memory of her late husband, Donald Redpath, for the FHS Science Department.

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report

1.  News You Can Use
2. Back to School Update
3. Enrollment Comparison
4. Preliminary AYP Update

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

Chamber Job Fair 9/13-14

The United Regional Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce:

Job Search Sunday, September 13th 12:30pm – 5:00pm 
Career Fair Monday, September 14th 10am - 4pm

Where:
At Living Waters Church, 15 John L. Dietsche Blvd, North Attleboro MA.


Do you or someone you know need help finding a job?  Then you are welcome to these FREE EVENTS.

Job Search Sunday will offer career development courses like:

• Resume Writing
• Interviewing Skills 
• Using Social Media to Network (by Tricia White of the Mass Small Business Development Center at 1:30pm)

Career Fair Monday will include companies who are actively hiring and seminars on "Staying Motivated While Unemployed."

Keynote speakers Include:

• Ann Crawford , Life Coach 11:30am
• Bill Napolitano, Institute for Business Excellence 1:00pm

To register for this click here


For additional information contact

Jen Osojnicki at the United Chamber, 508.695.6011, jen@unitedregionalchamber.com

Where do you put open space on the budget priority listing?

Currently, the Department of Public Works is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all town parks, recreation areas and School grounds. The Recreation Department is responsible for scheduling the use of the Town of Franklin athletic fields and facilities. Recreation Department Director, Ryan Jette indicated that it is a difficult challenge to maintain all the open space and recreation areas in Town and there is not adequate staffing for the upkeep.

The Conservation Department maintains a list of open space and conservation sites in Franklin. The current level of staffing for the management and maintenance of open space is not satisfactory, there is insufficient staff and resources to complete routine property inspections and maintenance. Issues such as hiring a forester to oversee the cutting of the Town Forest have proven challenging for the Conservation Commission due to a lack of funding.

If the Town continues to obtain additional open space and recreation areas, there will likely be issues providing sufficient upkeep due to a lack of funds and staffing available to provide upkeep of the sites.

As the Town Council candidates declare themselves for election this November, this would be a good topic on which to find out where they stand.

While the Town has a number of budget needs (the school department is the single biggest item of our Town budget), where open space management sits amongst the priority list would be important to understand.

For additional information on the Open Space and Recreation Plan, read the full report on the Town web site here (PDF)

http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Planning/2008plan

In the News - FHS GPA,

Franklin High School tosses old GPA system

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS by Angel Roy, Daily News staff

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The GPA changes covered in this article were discussed at length in the School Committee meeting on 7/21/09. You can review the live reporting from that meeting here.

Election "line up" card - updated

A phone call to the Town Clerk's office resulted in a number of updates as we head into this Labor Day weekend.

Prior updates can be found here and here

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Table below shows the positions available for election this November.

The Candidates column initially showed just the incumbents.
Those who have confirmed taking out papers are marked with a * and bold.
New candidates have their name in bold with -new.
The incumbents who have confirmed not to be running again have been marked in red text.
The existing position holders who have not yet taken out papers are listed for reference to keep track of the "line up card"

So what does this tell us?
We need more candidates! The only election competition is for the Board of Health position.

Name	# of Openings	Candidates	Term of Office
Board of Assessors	1 Position (For 4 years)	Robert Avakian*	2009 to 2013
Board of Health	1 Position (For 4 years)	Bruce Hunchard* Koren Kanadanian-new	2009 to 2013
Planning Board	2 Position (For 4 years)	Anthony Padula*	2009 to 2013
	* 1Vacant	Joseph Halligan-new	2009 to 2013
Planning Board (Associate)	* 1 vacant position (For 4 Years)		2009 to 2013
Town Council	9 Positions (For 2 Years)	Joseph McGann	2009 to 2011
		Deborah Bartlett - not running again
		R. Scott Mason*
		Christopher Feeley
		Judith Pond Pfeffer*
		Thomas Doak - not running again
		Shannon Zollo*
		Robert Vallee*
		Stephen Whalen
		Glenn Jones- new Daniel Ballinger-new Bryce Kuchs - new Robert Avakian - new Matthew Kelly (switch from School Committee)
School Committee	7 Positions (For 2 Years)	Cora Armenio	2009 to 2011
		Susan Rohrbach*
		Paula Mullen*
		Edward Cafasso*
		Roberta Trahan*
		Matthew Kelly - switch to Town Council
		Jeffrey Roy* William Glynn - new

Bang for your buck

The Boston Globe "G" section has an interesting table depicting the performance of school districts (according to MCAS scores of the 4th and 10th grades) compared to the assessed home value. Franklin is amongst the top.

No real surprises there. Steve Whalen had put together a similar table and now that table is part of the Financial Planning Committee's report.

If the tax rate was use instead of assessed home values, Franklin would rise higher on the chart.

View the full chart here in the Globe

View the Financial Planning Committee report here

In the News - online interaction, 'treeted' stormwater

Franklin may outlaw student-teacher interaction online

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Angel Roy/Daily News staff

For the live reporting notes of this discussion from the School Committee meeting on August 25th click here

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Tree to help eliminate pollution in Franklin

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Angel Roy/Daily News staff

Does age of the respondents determine survey answers?

Results of the Citizen Participation Questionnaire were very helpful in identifying what Franklin residents believe to be the Town’s biggest recreation and open space needs. When asked what recreation and open space facilities the Town needed most, Bike Trails, Conservation Areas, and Hiking Trails were the three most popular responses. The survey data shows there appears to be a desire for additional passive recreation facilities. Franklin residents’ desire for improvement and expansion of passive recreation activities and facilities is consistent with regional and national trends.

Analysis of survey data show that a respondent’s opinion of which facilities the Town needs may be directly related to the age of individuals in their households. For example, of the respondents that claim to have children in their household, 35.9% chose Youth Center as one of the Town’s more important facilities needed, compared to only 15.0 percent of households with individuals 60 years and over, and 28.2 percent of all respondents. Likewise 52.2 percent of respondents with children in their household chose Bike Trails as a needed facility, compared to 22.5 percent of households with individuals 60 years and over, and 41.9 percent of all respondents. The most popular response from respondents with individuals 60 years and over in their households was conservation areas, with hiking trails and dog park coming in close behind.

Each one of us has a point of view. It is good to acknowledge and respect that. It is also good to then find some common ground within those points of view. The common ground can bring diverse sections together to build a community effort.

Read more about the survey and the resulting Open Space and Recreation Plan on the Town web site here (PDF).

http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Planning/2008plan

Visit Grateful Farm at Farmer's Market

The Farmer's Market is open on the Town Common today from noon to 6:00 PM.

One of the farms regularly appearing to feature their produce for sale is a real "local" farm, Grateful Farm. 

Grateful Farm is located on Prospect St and has been growing organic produce since 1983.

If you get a chance to stop by their tent on the Town Common, say hi to Kyle. She will help you with a smile!

Pleasant St - paving work

One of the signs that had been reported stolen earlier this summer at least is now back in place to for warn drivers that Pleasant St gets rough from that point on towards Norfolk.

It had been so hot and humid, I cut back my longer runs on the weekends and had not been out Pleasant for several weeks in this past Sunday. The top layer had been removed in preparation for paving. I did not observe that the casing were raised as I ran on Sunday. That work must be underway.

Franklin Downtown Partnership’s Harvest Festival

Sunday, September 20^th

11:00 am-4:00 pm.

The event will be downtown on Main Street, East Central Street and Summer Street. Over 100 crafters and vendors, free music and entertainment, children’s games, fun food, farmers’ market, and an antique car show.  

Rain date is Sunday, September 27th

For more info contact Mary Graff at mgraff@berryinsurance.com or the FDP office at downtown.franklin@yahoo.com  (774)571-3109

Do you know is what a major environmental concern?

A major environmental concern in Franklin is both the quality and quantity of its water supply. Franklin is completely dependant upon wells for its water supply, therefore, it is imperative that both the quality and quantity of the water sources be maintained. Franklin has implemented a Water Resource District23 to protect, preserve and maintain the existing and potential ground and surface water resources that provide water supply to Franklin. The State’s efforts to encourage keeping wastewater local and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Phase II stormwater management regulations also ensure that more water is returned to the ground to recharge aquifers in a way that maintains quality. Preservation of open space and education efforts regarding the use of fertilizers and pesticides are a key component in addressing water quality in Franklin.

What else would you add to this listing?

1. The next time you open the tap to draw water, give thanks to the DPW crew that takes care of providing us good water.
2. Consider putting trash in an appropriate container (don't just toss it out the window to let it lie along the roadside).
3. Consider picking up any recyclables as you walk through Town (this will prevent them from getting into our waste water treatment system).

Read more from the Open Space and Recreation Plan found on the Town web site here (PDF)

http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Planning/2008plan

Door-to-Door Sales Scam Alert

The Franklin Police Department is warning residents about a scam involving young men and women, between 18-25 years of age, going door-to-door either trying to sell magazines subscriptions or other services, such as cleaning windows or doing landscaping. The ultimate goal is have residents write a check to a company called Quality Subscriptions Inc. (QSI) with the expectation of something in return.

The salespeople often mislead residents. They portray themselves as either living in the local area or being friends of someone in the neighborhood. They are apparently contracted by a company out of Georgia called Quality Subscriptions Inc. (QSI) or United Family Circulation. Information about this company can be readily obtained on the internet.

The Town of Franklin requires most solicitors to provide information and obtain a permit from the Police Department prior to conducting business. Residents are encouraged to contact this Department about anyone soliciting door-to-door to make sure they are registered.

Election "line up" card - updated

This was just updated to reflect the announcement at the Town Council meeting on 9/2/09 that Deb Bartlett will not be running for re-election this year,

------
Table below shows the positions available for election this November.

The Candidates column initially showed just the incumbents.
Those who have confirmed taking out papers are marked with a * and bold.
New candidates have their name in bold with -new.
The existing position holders who have not yet taken out papers are listed for reference to keep track of the "line up card"

So what does this tell us?
We need more candidates! The only election competition is for the Board of Health position.

Name	# of Openings	Candidates	Term of Office
Board of Assessors	1 Position (For 4 years)	Robert Avakian*	2009 to 2013
Board of Health	1 Position (For 4 years)	Bruce Hunchard* Koren Kanadanian-new	2009 to 2013
Planning Board	2 Position (For 4 years)	Anthony Padula*	2009 to 2013
	* 1Vacant	Joseph Halligan-new	2009 to 2013
Planning Board (Associate)	* 1 vacant position (For 4 Years)		2009 to 2013
Town Council	9 Positions (For 2 Years)	Joseph McGann	2009 to 2011
		Deborah Bartlett - not running again
		R. Scott Mason*
		Christopher Feeley
		Judith Pond Pfeffer*
		Thomas Doak - not running again
		Shannon Zollo*
		Robert Vallee*
		Stephen Whalen
		Glenn Jones- new Daniel Ballinger-new
School Committee	7 Positions (For 2 Years)	Cora Armenio	2009 to 2011
		Susan Rohrbach*
		Paula Mullen*
		Edward Cafasso*
		Roberta Trahan
		Matthew Kelly
		Jeffrey Roy*

Using the pool to clean storm water

Franklin was awarded a grant to treat storm water and clean it before it gets to the Charles. What does storm water treatment look like? These two views are found along Panther Way on the site of the old Town pool next to the Police Station.

 

The article in the Milford Daily News announcing the grant to fund this work was posted in July here and on the Wicked Local Franklin site here.

 

The catch basins are projected to handle about 86,000 gallons of water per storm, or about 1.6 inches of rain.

Do you know Franklin is home to some endangered species?

The following is from the Open Space and Recreation Plan updated in 2008 and available on the Town web site (PDF)

The Town of Franklin has four National Heritage & Endangered Species Program

(NHESP) delineated priority habitats of rare species and also estimated habitats of

rare wild life. The locations are described as follows:

1. The area around Beaver Pond and Mine Brook from the railroad tracks just south of Route 140 across Interstate 495 to and including, Spring Pond on Washington Street.
2. Located primarily within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Charles River Natural Valley Storage area.
3. The area encompassing Wampanoag Drive up to Concetta Way located eastern part of Franklin on the border of Norfolk and Wrentham.
4. The area surrounding Miscoe Brook on the southwestern portion of town within proximity of Washington and South Street.

According to National Heritage and Endangered Species (NHES), Franklin provides a

habitat for several endangered, threatened and species of special concern.

Open the link to the Open Space and Recreation Plan (PDF) and cruise to page 30 to find this section and the table listing the endangered species living within Franklin.

http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Planning/2008plan

Town Council Mtg Smry 09/02/09

This is the collection of live reporting posts from the Town Council meeting on Sep 2, 2009:

• Live reporting - Administrators Report, and close
• Live reporting - Action items
• Live reporting - H1N1 Update
• Live reporting - License transactions
• Live reporting - Appointments
• Live reporting - Town Council Mtg  

Community Health Council - Agenda - 9/3/09

The agenda for the Community Health Council meeting is attached:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

The notes from the last meeting in June are also attached:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

The Community Health Council meets every other month. All meetings will be held in the Training Center on the 3rd floor of the Franklin Municipal Building.


Note: For those reading this via email, the documents may not appear in your view. You may need to click through to the web site to view the attachments on the Franklin Matters website.

In the News - virus planning, Dean football

Franklin plans to distribute swine flu vaccine

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS by Angel Roy/Daily News staff

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Chinese native tackling a new goal

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Angel Roy/Daily News staff

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Live reporting - Administrators Report, and close

Nutting - the contract for the downtown project have been received here, signed and returned to the state. We are waiting now for the authorization to proceed. It will take a lot of input from a number of folks to do this project.

We did get the million dollar PWAT (sic) grant to aid in the downtown effort.

The work at King St/RT 140 was completed to help the turn across the from the new Walgreens

Jeff read a letter of thanks for the TIF from a business that did receive one for his relocation to Forge Park.

Initial meeting with Bellingham, Milford on storm water management to ensure that the regulations have a similar standard. We are concerned about the financial implications for local businesses. We have asked to meet with our state representatives. All Town property would be subject to this. Huge cost and implications that we will work for over the next many years.

We were approved for our third Economic Development site.

Q - How much does a plan cost, not even the work itself?
A - This is being developed from the EPA, etc. to reduce the amount of phosphorous input to the Charles River. If your business is sitting on ledge that is one thing as opposed to another sitting on sand. It will be expensive. It is a difficult take to take 50% of the phosphorous out.

Q - What can we learn from Milford's water problem.
A - It can happen anywhere. We can prevent it but try to mitigate it. We get all of our water from wells not surface water. We can isolate water or sections within the town. We have experience. We do have fencing and locks around all of our water points. We have major improvements to our infrastructure with pipe replacement. we do perform inspections everyday of the year. We have a computerize monitoring system, 24 hours a day an alarm will go off if something is not right in the system. We treat all ground water as it comes in. At the end of the day, you're 24-36 hours. We can use the reverse 911 to communicate to all 10,000 households within 30 minutes.

Tom Doak arrived during Jeff's update.

Counselors comments:
Bartlett is not running again for Town Council. She struggled with decision but her schedule won't allow her to commit to deliver 100% of what she thinks she would need. If you think you can contribute to a town position, please consider doing so.

Motion to executive session, not to return to open session
motion passed 7-0