Third Thursday - 9/17/09

Yes, Third Thursday has rolled around for September already. Here are the details for the events scheduled to occur this Thursday evening in downtown Franklin:

Thursday, September 17 4:30 PM - 8:00 PM

hosted by Artbeat, The Creativity Store
 

Turning Sibling Rivalry into Harmony

Meet identical twin sisters (and Bellingham residents) Heather Kempskie and Lisa Hanson this Thursday, September 17th at ARTBEAT from 4:30 to 6:00 PM when we feature their award-winning "The Siblings' Busy Book: 200 Fun Activities for Kids of Different Ages."   Heather and Lisa will share tips with parents, and kids will have the chance to try some fun activities that help turn sibling rivalry into harmony.


Theme:  It's All About Time

Emma's Quilt Cupboard, It's Time to get started on your Holiday Gifts.  Come see our beautiful fall/holiday samples and take advantage of our new class offerings

Jane's Frames, 11 E. Central St. It's Time for Celebrating 15 years in business. Daily specials with lots of 15% off savings!

 H & R Block, 9 E. Central St. It's Time for Tax Planning! Tax talks every 15 minutes. Topics: education, making work pay credit, first time home buyers credit, home energy credits

Hair at Nail It, 20 Main St. Free wash & blow dry & new customer coupon

Franklin Pizza,  18 Cottage Street, Free 2 liter soda with large pizza purchase

Pretty is Pink, 9 Summer Street, It's Time for You. Shop for yourself, enter free drawing for Gift Certificate

Rick's Restaurant  28 W. Central St., It's Time for Taste, 3rd Thursday participants: Diners enjoy free homemade onion rings.

Sarapaan,  17 E. Central St , It's Time for a new look! Design your earrings and let us finish it for you.

Salon Sorella, 9 Summer St. It's Time to relax! Receive a free 10 minute back massage.

Get full details at each participating business

So much is happening Downtown/Uptown Franklin
Come join the Fun!

 

You can also mark your calendar for October 15th and November 19th for the next Third Thursdays!

Boston Globe introduces "Budget Blues", a new blog

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Introducing Budget Blues, a new blog

via Override Central on 9/15/09

We're launching a new blog, Budget Blues, to cover the financial struggles facing Massachusetts communities and their tax payers. We'll write about property tax overrides, budget cuts and some of the spending priorities cities and towns make.

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to Override Central using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

College Cost webinar - Thu Sep 17 - 7:00 PM

The word "college" can trigger a lot of stress, but here's a solution...

One of the country's leading experts in college admissions and financial aid, author and speaker Paul Hemphill, will be conducting a live seminar online Thursday evening, Sept 17, at 7 PM. Topics will include:

• How to cut $42,000 from college costs without a parent taking out a single loan
• The financial advantages to applying to 10 colleges instead of 5
• Why a student should apply Early Action and NOT Early Decision
• The 4 questions to ask to get the most financial aid
• The money advantage of appealing a financial aid award
• The financial advantages of going to college during high school
• The college application – why answers to innocent questions can cause rejections
• Financial aid forms – why you must be cautious

Paul provides 60-70 minutes of pure stress relief. Be sure your high school student is watching - Paul will set their minds - and yours - at ease.

Paul has a fact-filled and fast-paced program that will produce a few laughs from true stories that will really hit home.

Go ahead and register now, and be sure to send this notice of the webinar to 4 of your friends who have high school students.

Here's a free YouTube video Paul created, which has become the second most-watched video on college essays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ago6tIEnL0g


Click through to register here

Open Learning Initiative - Great Courses

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Open Learning Initiative - Great Courses

via Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne) on 9/11/09

The Open Learning Initiative offers free high-quality courses created by Carnegie Mellon University. There are courses available in Statistics, Engineering, Science, Economics, French, and more. All of the courses are open to anyone that wants to give the courses a try. Users can create an account to track their progress or users can just jump into the course materials without creating an account.

In addition to offering open learning opportunities to students, the Open Learning Initiative provides instructors with course packages that they can use for free. To explore the free options offered to educators, request an OLI Instructor Account.

Applications for Education
The Open Learning Initiative provides high school students with the opportunity explore their interests and get a sense of what is required by collegiate level courses. If you're school allows you to create independent study opportunities, the OLI instructor resources could be starting place for creating those opportunities.



Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:
100 Awesome Open Courses
Lectures and Courses from Great Universities
Yale Open Courses Added to iTunes

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to Free Technology for Teachers using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Who Gets the Money? Your Vote Decides for Dean Bank!

Who Gets the Money? Your Vote Decides!
 
Dean Bank will be hosting a fundraiser and would like you to help choose which Franklin-based non-profit organization will be the beneficiary.

On Saturday, October 10th, Dean Bank will host an E-Waste Recycling Collection behind its Main Office in Franklin. Local residents will be able to pay reasonable fees to drop off their old, used and unwanted electronics, which will be hauled away to a recycling facility. All profits will be donated to the Franklin-based non-profit that the community selects by voting at Dean Bank's website.

Dean Bank employees collectively nominated the following five organizations to be voted on: The Franklin Food Pantry, The Franklin Library, The Franklin Downtown Partnership, The Franklin 2010 July 4th Celebration, and Random Smile Project.

Tell us. . . Who do you support? The voting period will end on Monday, September 21st at 4:00pm. The organization that receives the most votes will be announced by Dean Bank as the fundraiser beneficiary. Voting is limited to one per computer. 

 
To VOTE on who you think should get the money and see current results, click HERE!
To LEARN MORE about the E-Waste Recycling Collection fundraiser, click HERE!

Town Council - Agenda - 9/16/09

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – August 19, 2009, September 2, 2009

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS

E. APPOINTMENTS

F. HEARINGS  

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS

H. DISCUSSIONS

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS – Charter Review Subcommittee

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION

1. Resolution 09-59: Amendment of FY 2010 Budget
2. Bylaw Amendment 09-634: Amendment to the Franklin Conservation Bylaw Chapter 181-8D: Term of Years- 1st Reading
3. Bylaw Amendment 09-635: Amendment to the Code of the Town of Franklin, Chapter 25 – Personnel Regulations – 1st Reading
4. Bylaw Amendment 09-636: Amendment to the Code of the Town of Franklin, Chapter 25 – Human Resource Management – 1st Reading
5. Zoning Bylaw Amendment 09-637: Amendment to Chapter 185-3. Definitions – Referral to Planning Board
6. Zoning Bylaw Amendment 09-638: Amendment to Chapter 185-39. Uses Accessory to Dwelling – Referral to Planning Board

K. TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

L. OLD BUSINESS

M. NEW BUSINESS

N. COUNCIL COMMENTS

O. EXECUTIVE SESSION – Negotiations, Litigation, Real Property, as May Be Required

P. ADJOURN

The documents supporting the pertinent agenda items can be found on the Town website here (PDF)

School Committee duties

With some potential new members coming to the School Committee, I thought it would be a good idea to find out what the School Committee duties are. The following comes from the School Committee policy library.

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Policy BBAA

SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER AUTHORITY

Authority

Because all powers of the Franklin School Committee derived from state laws are granted in terms of action as a group, members of the School Committee have authority only when acting as a committee legally in session.

The School Committee will not be bound in any way by any statement or action on the part of an individual member except when such statement or action is a result of specific instructions of the committee.

No member of the committee, by virtue of his/her office, will exercise any administrative responsibility with respect to the schools or command the services of any school employee.

The School Committee will function as a body and all policy decisions and other matters, as required by law, will be settled by an official vote of the committee sitting on formal session.

Duties

The duties and obligations of the individual committee member may be enumerated as follows:

1. To become familiar with the General Laws of the Commonwealth relating to educational and School Committee operations, regulations of the Massachusetts Board of Education, policies and procedures of this School Committee and the school department.

2. To keep abreast of new laws and the latest trends in education.

3. To have general knowledge of the goals, objectives, and programs of the town's public schools.

4. To work harmoniously with other committee members without trying either to dominate the committee or neglect his/her share of work.

5. To respect the privileged communication that exists in executive sessions by maintaining strict confidentiality on matters discussed in these sessions, except that which becomes part of the public record, once it has been approved for release.

6. To vote and act in committee impartially in the best interest of the students of the town of Franklin.

7. To accept the will of the majority vote in all cases, and to remember that he/she is one of a team and must abide by, and carry out, all committee decisions once they are made.

8. To represent the committee and the schools to the public in a way that promotes interest and support.

9. To refer questions and complaints to the proper school authorities.

10. To comply with the accepted code of ethics for School Committee members.

This policy statement can be found online with all the School Committee policies here