Saturday, September 26, 2009

Franklin - shows its color

The little pond along Beech St provides a wonderful glimpse of the autumn color rapidly taking over the landscape.




Where in Franklin do you find good autumn color?


Catherine C Haynes and Cafe Dolce

The featured artist this month at Cafe Dolce is Catherine C Haynes.

She has worked in a variety of mediums and her current work emphasis is pastels in a traditional landscape format.
Her work will be displayed at Cafe Dolce through November 8th.


Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

For more information on the artist, please visit her web site here



In the News - fund raising on two fronts

Two mothers get together to raise money for Cradles to Crayons

Give a little, get a little

from The Milford Daily News News RSS

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Pirelli Scholarship raises money

Father fights to keep son's name alive

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS




Friday, September 25, 2009

Farmers Market - Nonni Roses


The Farmers Market will be open today from noon to 6:00 PM on the Town Common.

This is your weekly opportunity to help the local economy and to get quality food items.

You can get baked goods in addition to fresh produce. Nonni Roses usually has a tent each week. Nonni Roses' menu was previously published here and here.


Fall Into Art

The 38th Annual Fall into Art Exhibit and Sale will be held on November 7th/8th at the Adirondack Club on Chestnut St.

The flyer I picked up at the Harvest Festival looks like this:

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For additional information about the Franklin Art Association, please visit their web site here


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Gallery 218 - NonArt Teachers featured

Gallery 218 (in Franklin High School) will be opening a new show of art by non-art teachers within the Franklin Public Schools on Tuesday, Sep 29th with a reception from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Come to view the new show in the Gallery!



J W Tumbles - Franklin

J W Tumbles opened here in Franklin earlier this year. I stopped by their table/tent at the Harvest Festival to check in and picked up this flyer.

Schedule - Page 1

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Schedule - Page 2

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Additional information is available on their web site here


Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Town Council Candidate - Tina Powderly

Tina Powderly is one of the thirteen candidates for the Town Council. You will have the opportunity to choose nine of these candidates at the election on November 3rd.

I have a discussion scheduled with Tina and will publish that as part of the series planned for October. In the meantime, you can review Tina's web site and sign up for updates she sends out.

Tina's web site can be found here.



School Committee Mtg 09/22/09

The collection of live reporting from the School Committee meeting on 9/22/09 can be found here:






In the News - Communications policy, brain drain, rail trail

Franklin schools OK new high-tech communication policy

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS 

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Franklin experiencing a brain drain



Rail trail work set to begin in Milford


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Live reporting - closing items

6. New Business
To discuss future business that may be brought before the School Committee.

Sue raised the request for a report overview of the school district to be used to help explain the funding needs and requirements. Sen Spilka is apparently looking to review the school funding process.

7. Executive Session
Contractual Negotiations

Motion to move to Executive session, not to return to public forum.
Motion passed, 7-0

8. Adjourn



Live reporting - Superintendent Report

Superintendent’s Report
a. H1N1 Update
video created, available on demand from Town web site

(the video is also available via this link here)

b. English Language Learners
Need to add a .5 FTE to work with students that are non-English speaking who need additional assistance. It is not an action item for now, she wanted to have it reviewed first. It is a State unfunded mandate. The State will be coming in later this year for a visit and this is one of items they will be looking at.

Our population is getting more diverse.


c. Students Leaving the District
The document referenced is as follows:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io




Maureen and Sally are taking 'learning walks' through the schools. Members of the School Committee are invited to join them.

Gallery 218 will be opening an Art Show next Tuesday with art from non-Art teachers

Live reporting - Action items

4. Action Items
a. I recommend adoption of Policy GBAB Acceptable Use motion to approve, passed 7-0
b. I recommend adoption of Policy GBAB-E1 Acceptable Use Agreement 6-12  motion to approve, passed 7-0
c. I recommend adoption of Policy GBAB-E2 Acceptable Use Agreement K-5  motion to approve, passed 7-0
d. I recommend adoption of Policy JT Electronic Device  motion to approve, passed 7-0
e. I recommend adoption of Policy JU Electronic Communication motion to approve, passed 7-0 (as amended)
f. I recommend acceptance of a check for $117.86 from Target’s Take Charge of Education Program for the Annie Sullivan Middle School for In-house enrichment and supplies.  motion to approve, passed 7-0
g. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1,000.00 from the Oak Street PCC for a 3rd grade field trip to Plimoth Plantation as detailed.  motion to approve, passed 7-0
h. I recommend Acceptance of a check for $112.31 from Target’s Take Charge of Education Program for the Horace Mann Middle School.  motion to approve, passed 7-0
i. I recommend adoption of Davis Thayer’s School Improvement Plan as detailed.  motion to approve, passed 7-0
j. I recommend adoption of Jefferson’s School Improvement Plan as detailed.  motion to approve, passed 7-0
k. I recommend adoption of Keller’s School Improvement Plan as detailed.  motion to approve, passed 7-0
l. I recommend adoption of Kennedy’s School Improvement Plan as detailed.  motion to approve, passed 7-0
m. I recommend adoption of Oak Street’s School Improvement Plan as detailed.  motion to approve, passed 7-0
n. I recommend adoption of Parmenter’s School Improvement Plan as detailed.  motion to approve, passed 7-0


Live reporting - Policies - 2nd readings

b. Policy - Second Readings
1st reading was in August, changes were implemented since then

1. GBAB Acceptable Use Policy

2. GBAB-E1 Acceptable Use Agreement 6-12

3. GBAB-E2 Acceptable Use Agreement K-5

4. JT Electronic Device Policy

5. JU Electronic Communication Policy

Discussion to clarify the layout of the policies and the placement in the student handbooks. Intent being that the handbooks should be containing the same rules that exist in this policy. The pieces going into the handbooks are what is in front of the committee this evening. (Documents to be added later)

Q - on whether there needs to be additional wording to address a potential teacher/parent harassment situation.
A - Those are already covered by other items in other policies, i.e. the employee sections.

Q - "school sanctioned" - does that need to be defined further?
A - The issue is how far down do you describe the details, especially with the rapid changes in technology. If we run into problems down the road, we can come back and revisit this if necessary.

Q - I like that interpretation, I was thinking 'school' would refer to 'district' but if school truly refers to each individual school then that works for me. Propose to use the language from the GBAB to add to further define the "good behavior".


Live reporting - Elementary School Improvement Plans

a. Elementary School’s School Improvement Plans

1. Davis Thayer – Shirley Babcock
Three goals, similar to last year, one added
Goal 1 - Literacy
Goal 2 - Communications
Goal 3 - Collaborative Learning
Goal 4 - Math Achievement


2. Jefferson – Jane Hyman
Goal 1 - Literacy
Goal 2 - Mathematics
Goal 3 - Home School Comunications
Goal 4 - Professional Learning Communities
Goal 5 - School Safety
Goal 6 - Supportive Learning Environment
Goal 7 - Technology Integration

3. Keller – Mary Jane Wiles
Goal 1 - Literacy
Goal 2 - Math
Goal 3 - Collaborative Leadership
Goal 4 - NAEYC Accreditation (1st year of 2 year process)

Q - What is this collaborative leadership goal?
A - The faculty have come forward with a suggestion to become more involved in addressing the problems that arise. The major issue we have is actually finding time to meet and implement this. We are attempting to meet quickly at the end of the day. We are looking for the problem to be brought forward with some strategies that have been already attempted.

4. Kennedy – Joan Toye
Goal 1 - Literacy
Goal 2 - Math
Goal 3 - Communications

5. Parmenter – Judi Bassignani
Goal 1 - Literacy
Goal 2 - Communications
Goal 3 - NAEYC Accreditation (2nd year of 2 year process)

6. Oak Street – Corine Minkle
Goal 1 - Literacy
Goal 2 - Math
Goal 3 -Response to Intervention (RTI)