Monday, November 16, 2009

School Committee - Agenda - 11/17/09

6:00 Call to order Mr. Roy
1. Executive Session

-----


7:00 Call to order Mr. Roy
Pledge of Allegiance
Moment of Silence

2. Routine Business

Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the October 27, 2009 and November 4, 2009 School Committee Meetings.
Payment of Bills Mr. Glynn
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives

Correspondence: 1. Budget to Actual

3. Guests/Presentations

a. MASS Academic Excellence Awards
1. Kimberly Takahata
2. Christopher Anderson
b. MCAS Presentation – Michele Kingsland-Smith; Beth Fitzmaurice
c. Capital Plans – Tim Rapoza; Maureen Sabolinski

4. Discussion Only Items

First Reading – Policy JIEE Pregnant Students

Subcommittee Review

5. Action Items

a. I recommend approval of the recurring field trip for the 3 middle schools to New York City to see Mary Poppins as detailed.
b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $500.00 from Amy & Dana Lilly for the Annie Sullivan Student Activity Account for in-house enrichment, supplies & scholarships.
c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1,450.00 from the various sports boosters (as listed) for television installation at FHS.
d. I recommend approval of the request of Corine Minkle to declare outdated reading and math materials and old text books surplus for disposal.
e. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1,800.00 from the Franklin Music Boosters for in-house enrichment at the FHS.
f. I recommend approval of the Technology capital plan.
g. I recommend approval of the Facilities capital plan.
h. I recommend approval of the Budget Transfers and declassification as detailed.

6. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report
a. Enrollment Comparison 10-31-08 to 10-30-09
b. Capital Request Process
c. FHS Art Gallery 218
School Committee Sub-Committee Reports
School Committee Liaison Reports

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

8. Adjourn



FM #49 - reference sheet

The spreadsheet with the calculations and election totals as referenced in the weekly podcast FM #49 can be found below.

The weekly podcast that explains this can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/11/fm-49-week-ending-111509.html


Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io


If you would like a live spreadsheet copy to make your own calculations, please contact me.



Sunday, November 15, 2009

FM #49 - The week ending 11/15/09

Give me about ten minutes and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin, MA. In this session, I review my five findings from the recent town election and look over the busy week ahead.

Time: 8 minutes, 10 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes
Music intro
My intro
FM #49


This internet radio show or podcast for Franklin Matters. This one is number 49 in the series.

In this session, you give me about ten minutes and I'll fill you in on what matters in Franklin. I'll cover my 5 findings from the recent election. And review the week ahead.

While I am not finished with my analysis on the results from the election, I would like to share what I have found thus far.

By the way – I'll make the numbers from which I draw these thoughts available. There will be a link in the posting to a doc. If you want a live spreadsheet version, all you'll need to do is contact me.

1 – population shifts

Precincts 6, 1, 2 and 5 are declining in their voter percent relative to the whole of Franklin's registered voters. (in that order) as the population shifts within Franklin.

Precincts 4, 8 and 7 are gaining in relative voter percent (in that order) for the same population shift. The numbers were calculated as a change in 2009 versus 2006.

2 – voter participation

Year   2005       2007        2009

Votes 3,119       3,845       3,244

Percent 17.6%    20.7%     16.6%

Reg Voters        18572      19509

2005 estimated to calculate out at 17,772 (avg 425 voters inc per year)

3 – ballot position

an old marketing adage says, location, location, location

Ballot position does not make a difference. The voters worked to select their candidates. Yes, the first six listed on the ballot were ultimately selected but it is more important to note that the #1, 3, 5 overall finishers were well down on the ballot. The voters knew who they wanted and weren’t overwhelmed by the total number of candidates (13).

This was also observed in the 2007 election results where Vallee, Whalen, Yurgenson and Zollo held the bottom four positions and three of them were elected. Valle took the top number of votes and Zollo was 3rd only one vote behind Chris Feeley.

4 – hidden message?

There may be something to the “elect all newcomers” attempt that was referenced in a few of the exit poll comments as reported in the Milford Daily News. That would help explain how the one candidate who withdrew from the race too late to come off the ballot actually still received 592 votes.

5 – what majority?

In the 2007 election, three Council candidates gathered more than 50% of the voters who actually cast their ballots. This year, four achieved that mark. It is still disconcerting, one that so few bother to vote and of those that do, so few of the candidates actually achieve a majority vote.

In a standard two person race, you have one vote. One person gets it, the other doesn't. In the TC, we had thirteen candidates and each voter had 9 votes. What the blanks tell us is that most folks found 5 or 6 candidates to vote for but not 9.

Given the number of blanks recorded in the elections, it seems rare that a voter actually will cast their vote for all nine of the Town Council candidates and all seven of the School Committee candidates. How significant is the blank? Almost 35% of the ballots for Town Council included blanks, and just over 50% of the ballots for School Committee.

What does this all mean? We need to understand how to better engage the Franklin voters. If you have any ideas, please let me know. I'll be spending some time on this over the next several weeks at least.

6 - A busy week ahead

Gallery 218 opens a Portrait 2009 show on Tuesday

School committee meeting Tuesday

Town Council meeting Wednesday

  
Third Thursday sponsored by the Downtown Partnership


FEF Casino Night on Friday

The vote results by precinct were previously published here



The spreadsheet I reference during this can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/11/fm-49-reference-sheet.html

---- ---- ----

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can use your help.
How can you help?
  • If you like this, please tell a neighbor.
  • If you don't like this, please tell me.
Thank you for listening.


  
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/


If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and East of Shirley. The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with permission.

Another unfunded mandate coming down the pike?

The advocates are focusing their attention on a bill, sponsored by Representative John Rogers, a Democrat, that would require school districts to report bullying incidents and any discipline imposed to the state. The bill, one of those to be taken up at a hearing Tuesday, has the support of such groups as the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Microsoft Corp., and the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association.
The Bold is for my emphasis. You can read the full article in the Boston Sunday Globe here.

To be clear, I do not support bullying. I do know what it feels like. I was called "four-eyes" and worse growing up. Once I learned to stand up for myself, the bullying stopped. Bullies pick on those who are perceived to be weaker than themselves. Once stood up to, they generally back off.

I do think with sufficient funding, the schools can provide some help in this area. In fact, I think they are already doing what they should. 

I do believe that the responsibility to address bullying falls squarely in the realm of the parents. The parents of those bullying need to create a better home environment (easier said than done). The parents of those being bullied need to help their students stand up for themselves (coddling them doesn't cut it).

I'll focus on the unfunded mandate part because that is what we should have some control over. 

Let's recognize that even if the schools were sufficiently funded to support this reporting effort, once the kids go home, what was learned and fostered in the school environment may not be reinforced at home hence wasting the effort.

What do you think?

I added a new poll in the top center column to help obtain your feedback on this issue.


Can the Governor sing?

Can the Governor sing?



Yes, he can. Apparently, when he stopped by the Franklin Senior Center recently he joined in song with some of Franklin's finest seniors.

On the same day that he visited the Senior Center, Gov Patrick stopped by Jefferson Elementary School. The public address announcement to the school that the Governor made while there was recorded.



More on the Governor's visit can be found here

November 3rd Election Ballot

Since so many of the Franklin voters did not see the ballot on November 3rd, I thought it would be a good idea to share it here.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Some of the commentary on the election turnout and results reference this ballot.

This was originally located on the Town Clerk website


Regionalization

Regionalization, a dirty word for some but one of the realistic ways to tackle the issue of providing appropriate services at a reasonable cost is the topic of the video.



There is a new Regional Advisory Commission underway to explore opportunities in this area.



"the right to speak anonymously ... is not absolute"

The bottom line is robust dialog is always welcome. But defamatory speech is not. It is good to see that the courts are willing to open the doors to the anonymous world when speech crosses the line. That should serve as notice to posters that they should consider the legal, moral and ethical components of their comments. And they should be careful with their facts. Because if they are not, the courts will offer assistance to those who seek redress.

Don't miss the full posting over on the Franklin School Committee blog

One more reason why this site welcomes a civil dialog but anonymous comments can go elsewhere.

3rd Thursday - Men's Night Out


"Men's Night Out"
Ladies are welcome
Thursday, November 19th

5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Host for November:  Emma's Quilt Cupboard & Sewing Machines
12 Main Street
 
Emma's will showcase quilts made strictly by men. "We invite everyone to join us for a visual display of men's creativity and enjoy some refreshments"  says Cyndi Rich, owner of the quilt shop.

Other 3rd Thursday happenings:

Artbeat Your Creativity Store will host a reception to introduce "Handmade for the Holidays," a craft gallery featuring the work of local artisans and demos for unique holiday gifts that easily can be made by children and adults. Artbeat is located at 9 Summer Street.
 
Stop by Café Dolce, 17 East Central Street,  will host a gold buying event: Bring in your unwanted gold, silver, platinum, gemstones and diamonds and our experts in the jewelry industry tell you what it's worth and pay you on the spot. Check out the Café Dolce webpage for more information.
 
Facial Rejuvenation at 11 Main Street will offer 20 percent off all Jane Iredale mineral cosmetics. "Jane Iredale is the gold standard in minerals recognized by dermatologists, plastic surgeons and skin care professionals around the world" says owner Kathleen Ronzio.
 
Franklin Pizza, 18 Cottage Street, will offer a free 2-liter soda with purchase of a large pizza with one or more toppings.
 
Jane's Frames, 11 East Central Street, will display new etchings just in time for the holidays. Owner Jane Curran encourages shoppers to come in either ahead of time or during Third Thursday to create a wish list in anticipation of the Holiday Stroll on December 3. Kai Olsson will play guitar and refreshments, including "fruit of the vine," will be served.
 
Hair at Nail It, 20 Main Street, invites shoppers to help celebrate their 15th anniversary with a complimentary wash and blow dry. They will also give a $10 coupon for all new customers.
 
Pretty Is Pink, 9 Summer Street, invites women and teens to stop in for an evening of leisurely shopping. "After the menu is set, we want you to look your best for Thanksgiving," says owner Lori Rosenberg.  
 
Simon's Furniture, 8 Summer Street, will offer a 20 percent discount off all lamps, pictures and accessories on Third Thursday to help shoppers get their homes ready for the holidays.
 
The Franklin Downtown Partnership is gearing up for a special event in place of the December Third Thursday.  The Holiday Stroll will be Thursday, December 3 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  A tree lighting, music Holiday Carolers, Santa, a Craft fair and 30 downtown businesses offering treats and special offers are just some of the fun planned for families that evening.
 
Get more details at each participating business
 
So much is happening Downtown/Uptown Franklin
Come join the Fun!
Fall Third Thursday

----

About Franklin Downtown Partnership
The Franklin Downtown Partnership is a commuity based 501 (c) 3 organization, with a  mission of revitalizing our downtown, helping to make Franklin a better place to live, work, and shop, and  improving the overall  life of our community.

Post Office Box 413
Franklin, Massachusetts 02038
Franklin Downtown Partnership


In the News - food pantry, hockey clinic


At the Franklin Food Pantry, Executive Director Anne Marie Bellavance said the holiday season puts a strain on residents because of increased fuel costs that come with the winter months.
"This time of the year is the toughest time of the year," Bellavance said. "Due to fuel costs, our clients have to reallocate food money to heat their homes." She added that flu season also brings an added burden of increased medical costs.
The Franklin Food Pantry, located on West Central Street, will gladly accept the holiday trimmings to go along with the turkeys that will be distributed to the pantry's 24 registered clients.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

-----


Bruins sponsor youth hockey clinic in Franklin