Thanks to a loyal reader, I got pointed to this video and article on WBZ.tv
article:
http://wbztv.com/local/revere.recycling.recyclebank.2.1504270.html
video:
http://wbztv.com/video/?id=86880@wbz.dayport.com
It all sounds so good but there are no specifics on what the dollars would be.
You have heard of TANSTAAFL of course. No, then you should check it out.
Monday, February 22, 2010
School Committee - Agenda - 2/23/10
Vision Statement
The Franklin Public Schools will foster within its students the knowledge and skills to find and achieve satisfaction in life as productive global citizens.
The Franklin Public Schools will foster within its students the knowledge and skills to find and achieve satisfaction in life as productive global citizens.
Mission Statement
The Franklin Public Schools, in collaboration with the community, will cultivate each student's intellectual, social, emotional and physical potential through rigorous academic inquiry and informed problem solving skills within a safe, nurturing and respectful environment.
The Franklin Public Schools, in collaboration with the community, will cultivate each student's intellectual, social, emotional and physical potential through rigorous academic inquiry and informed problem solving skills within a safe, nurturing and respectful environment.
1. Routine Business
Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Minutes: I recommend approval of the Executive and Open Session minutes from the February 9, 2010 School Committee Meeting.
Payment of Bills Mr. Glynn
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives
Correspondence: none
2. Guests/Presentations
a. Summary of Ethics Laws – Maureen Sabolinski
b. Update Strategic Plan and District Improvement Plan – Maureen Sabolinski
3. Discussion Only Items
Policy – First Readings (note follow the links to view the proposed policy documents)
1. EB – Safety ProgramBudget to Actual
2. EEA – Student Transportation Policy Services and Eligibility
3. EEB – Student Transportation Policy Services and Eligibility
4. Action Items
a. I recommend acceptance of the gift of an Electronic Snap Circuits educational kit by Elenco for the students at Oak Street. Value $65.00 kit that has over 60 pieces which allows the students to build over 300 electronic projects/experiments.
b. I recommend approval to establish the Franklin Arts Academy (FAA) using the small learning community model, at FHS for the 2010-2011 school year.
5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report
a. Ethics Laws
b. 2011-2012 School Calendar – 2 drafts
• 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
Sunday, February 21, 2010
FM #58 - Week ending 2/21/10
The winter school break is ending, the Olympics are underway, let's just take about ten minutes to keep current with what matters here in Franklin, MA as the week ends February 21, 2010
In this session I’ll go back to cover the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Feb 10. In particular, their decision to reduce the annual curbside solid waste and recycling fee and implement minor increase to fees for Beaver St and to handle specific large items.
Time: 12 minutes, 48 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
In this session I’ll go back to cover the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Feb 10. In particular, their decision to reduce the annual curbside solid waste and recycling fee and implement minor increase to fees for Beaver St and to handle specific large items.
Time: 12 minutes, 48 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast is number 58 in the series for Franklin Matters.
The winter school break is ending, the Olympics are underway, let's just take about ten minutes to keep current with what matters here in Franklin, MA as the week ends February 21, 2010
In this session I’ll go back to cover the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Feb 10. In particular, their decision to reduce the annual curbside solid waste and recycling fee and implement minor increase to fees for Beaver St and to handle specific large items.
Who would have guessed that reducing the fee to implement a new automated trash and recycling system would generate so much interest?
More than 20 citizens turned out on a snowy evening to participate in the Town Council meeting raising a variety of questions. None of the questions ended up swaying the Council. They voted 5 for – 2 against – 1 abstained (the ninth councilor was absent) to reduce the annual curbside fee from 244 to 233. There is still a proposed action to reduce the fee further to 220 by using some of the solid waste enterprise fund surplus. Per Jeff Nutting, this will come before the Council as part of the regular annual budget discussions.
Franklin Matters contains a number of links around this topic.
The original slide waste presentation of January 20th can be found here:
the questions and answers from the meeting of Feb 10th here:
I summarized my analysis of the pros and cons here:
As I got questions from a couple of Franklin Matters readers, I updated the pros/cons posting to answer those questions (catching a math error of my own in the process):
I also spent time finding information on all the communities referenced in the original DPW presentation on Jan 20th and summarized those links here:
What I'd like to do with the remainder of this update is to walk through the changes that I see my household making when this new system is scheduled to come into effect in July. My household already recycles a good amount. What will need to change is some of the processes around how we currently do our daily activities.
Today's recycling process:
We have a pile for the daily Boston Globe and the weekly Gazette in the family room for ready reference. Sometimes Dolores will see an article that I miss, or I will see one that she'll miss. Having the pile at hand makes it easy to flip back through to keep current. When Saturday morning rolls around, I tie up the bundle with twine and bring it to the garage in preparation for the trash/recycle pick up normally scheduled for Wednesdays.
Dolores also has a box near her desk in her home office for recycling individual sheet paper. I'll add to it with items from the post office delivered mail. A lot of the junk mail and catalogs end up getting recycled. When the box fills, I'll take it to the garage and bundle the papers tying them with some twine.
Cooking tends to generate recyclables. Cereal boxes, 100 Calorie snack boxes, pasta boxes and other cardboard boxes get flattened to go into one of our two recycling containers in the garage. We have the two containers positioned along side the landing for the steps coming from the garage into the house. It has been easy to walk onto the landing, reach over the railing and then drop the boxes into the container below. Yes, you learn to be accurate, otherwise, it is a walk to pick them up.
The same process is used for the yogurt containers, catsup containers, milk jugs, and other plastic or canned goods. For the glass jars and bottles, sometimes I am daring and will attempt a drop (knowing there is something sufficient below to cushion the fall) but most times I do walk down the stairs to deposit them into the container to ensure that the glass does not break.
The kitchen has a trash basket with a plastic bag liner for the remaining trash items. As it fills, the bag is removed, tied up and then deposited into one of two trash barrels in the garage. The barrels are also positioned near the landing. And yes, many times, it is a simple toss of the bag into the barrel with no additional harm or damage done to the contents (or the barrel).
There is an “extra” barrel that we have used for large family parties that currently holds a large black trash bag. It collects the plastic soda bottles that can be refunded for cash. As these bags fill (much less frequently these days as many of us have cut out soda from our diet), they get bound and stacked in the garage waiting for either a bottle drive to contribute to or if the stack gets too large before we find a drive, then one of us will spend some time feeding the bottle refund machines. As the girls were growing up, this was a good thing for them to do and to 'earn' some spending money. Alas, those days are just treasured memories now.
On Wednesday morning, the task of moving the two recycle bins, the bundled newspaper and the trash barrel usually takes at least two trips, sometimes three.
How will the process change with the new automated system?
Not a whole lot fortunately. We'll still pile the papers but I won't have to tie them. Once a week to ensure a good fit into the totter, I'll put the papers in with the other recyclables. Likewise with the box of papers from the home office, we'll save on twine and just add the paper to the totter.
Assuming the totters themselves fit along side the landing in the garage, I'll likely position them there. With the lids up and open (inside the garage there is not much of a risk for wayward animals as the items are already either cleaned or bagged). This will allow for a continuation of the drop over the side process we have for much of the items today. The glass items may still get a walk down to ensure good non-breakable placement.
Come Wednesday morning, it will be two trips, one each with a totter to the edge of the driveway to position them properly. Oh, I”ll also likely need to move one car out of the garage to move the totters themselves. I won't know for sure until I get the real items but given the constraints of the garage as it is, this is likely.
So the Sherlock household will save on some twine purchases (no longer needing to tie the papers together) and will likely have two trips to the roadside instead of three to move the totters down weekly.
I can image those Franklin residents without a garage will need to figure out if the totters will fit in the space their existing trash barrels occupy, or will they require more room?
A recent email also raised the question on how animal proof the totter lids are for those who would be storing them outside, and hence prone to visits from raccoons and other visitors. Maybe the DPW or Recycling Committee has a ready answer for that question.
I think there is still some work to be done to fine tune a “welcome kit” with explanations of each step in the process, there are several good examples from the survey I did of the other the communities.
-
Frequently asked questions, -
the procedure for requesting a different size (either smaller for the potential situation of lower usage) or an additional totter for the larger families. -
The local merchants or locations where the additional trash tickers can be purchased will need to be defined and stocked.
There is plenty of time before the new system is implemented in July. Send your suggestions on how to make this change better directly to the Recycling Committee or to me.
Change can be difficult but with proper planning, change can be managed to provide a good experience.
Looking ahead
The School Committee meets on Tuesday
The agenda has presentations scheduled on the ethics laws, and then the Strategic Plan and district improvement plan update on the school year thus far.
The School Committee also continues it review and update standard policy documents with three more scheduled. The details of each policy to be considered are contained in links on Franklin Matters that will be posted Monday morning with the full SchCom agenda.
.
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don’t like something, 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 the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Trash Research - What the other communities do
In the DPW presentation on Jan 20th introducing the new trash and recycling system, several towns were reflected as implementing a similar system. For your reading pleasure, here are links to each town's information:
Billerica (automated trash, dual stream recycling)
http://www.billericadpw.org/docs/2010%20Billerica%20Recycling%20and%20Trash%20collection%20Guide.pdf
Tyngsborough (no mention of automation in process today)
http://www.tyngsboroughma.gov/government/departments/recycling/
Holden (blue for trash, green for recycling; two options 1 - 65 gallon containers, 2 - 35 gallon containers)
http://www.townofholden.net/Pages/HoldenMA_Trash/trashfees
Mansfield (seems to be the same process and vendor as proposed for Franklin)
recycling http://www.mansfieldma.com/html/recycling.html
trash http://www.mansfieldma.com/html/trash_pickup.html
Burlington (implemented their new system in July 2009)
http://www.burlington.org/dpw/2010Recycle%20pdf.pdf
Tewksbury (unfortunately, the link to the Statistics is broken on their website)
http://www.tewksbury.info/Pages/TewksburyMA_BComm/CO/trcindex
http://www.lowellma.gov/depts/recycle/BIN-Dependence%20Day#Q1
Norwood implemented their system in October of 2008.
Norwood recycling page
Dedham implemented their system November, 2009
http://www.dedham-ma.gov/index.cfm?pid=17334
North Attleboro implemented the new system with 64 gallon trash and 96 gallon recycling totters.
http://north-attleboro.ma.us/recycling/PDF/single%20stream%20recycling%20bins.pdf (PDF)
Fall River is piloting the program with found neighborhoods and plans to expand to the full city during 2010. They are also using the 64 gallon trash and 96 gallon recycling totters for the pilot.
http://www.fallriverma.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=433&Itemid=725
Newburyport is getting their recycle totters in June but already started their ew system in January.
http://www.cityofnewburyport.com/pdf/recycle/2009-2010%20Nbpt%20Health%20Brochure%20FINAL.pdf
Newton advertises that it "takes 2, green and blue" referring to the color of the totters used, green for recycling, blue for trash.
http://www.newtonma.gov/dpw/recycling/ittakestwo/intro.html
Amesbury uses 35 gallon trash containers, 3 per household. They do use a 65 gallon container for recycling. The Amesbury Trash page is here:
http://www.mellodisposal.com/amesbury/
The recycling page is here:
http://www.mellodisposal.com/amesbury/single_stream_recycling.php
Easton posted their 2009 Welcome Kit and 2010 Welcome Kit on their website
http://www.eastondpw.org/dpw/trash/09R4_Easton_flyer_singlpgs.pdf
http://www.eastondpw.org/dpw/trash/Easton%202010%20FINAL.pdf
Attleboro posted their recycling "Frequently Asked Questions" on their website http://www.cityofattleboro.us/recycle/pdf/sspostfaq.pdf
Boston has three brief videos introducing their "Big Blue" carts, 64 gallon bins, the same as proposed for here
http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/recyclingandsanitation/
Woonsocket, RI has a good bit of information on their Trash & Recycling page
http://www.ci.woonsocket.ri.us/RECYCLING.htm
Warwick, RI instituted their automated system in 2003
http://www.warwickri.gov/recycsanit/auto.htm
Middletown, RI also publishes a Welcome kit covering trash and recycling
http://www.middletownri.com/documents/refuse/Middletown%20RI%20WK%20Final.pdf
Prior posts on Franklin Matters
Billerica (automated trash, dual stream recycling)
http://www.billericadpw.org/docs/2010%20Billerica%20Recycling%20and%20Trash%20collection%20Guide.pdf
Tyngsborough (no mention of automation in process today)
http://www.tyngsboroughma.gov/government/departments/recycling/
Holden (blue for trash, green for recycling; two options 1 - 65 gallon containers, 2 - 35 gallon containers)
http://www.townofholden.net/Pages/HoldenMA_Trash/trashfees
Mansfield (seems to be the same process and vendor as proposed for Franklin)
recycling http://www.mansfieldma.com/html/recycling.html
trash http://www.mansfieldma.com/html/trash_pickup.html
Burlington (implemented their new system in July 2009)
http://www.burlington.org/dpw/2010Recycle%20pdf.pdf
Tewksbury (unfortunately, the link to the Statistics is broken on their website)
http://www.tewksbury.info/Pages/TewksburyMA_BComm/CO/trcindex
Results from automated collection show a significant reduction in trash generated and an increase in recycling! Great job!Lowell has a well done Bin-Dependence Day "Frequently asked questions" page outlining their entire process including the smaller bin for Senior Citizens. There celebrate a one year anniversary this March 2010 with the new system.
http://www.lowellma.gov/depts/recycle/BIN-Dependence%20Day#Q1
Norwood implemented their system in October of 2008.
Norwood recycling page
Dedham implemented their system November, 2009
http://www.dedham-ma.gov/index.cfm?pid=17334
North Attleboro implemented the new system with 64 gallon trash and 96 gallon recycling totters.
http://north-attleboro.ma.us/recycling/PDF/single%20stream%20recycling%20bins.pdf (PDF)
Fall River is piloting the program with found neighborhoods and plans to expand to the full city during 2010. They are also using the 64 gallon trash and 96 gallon recycling totters for the pilot.
http://www.fallriverma.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=433&Itemid=725
Newburyport is getting their recycle totters in June but already started their ew system in January.
The City of Newburyport began its new trash and recycling collection contract on
January 2. Overall, the transition has been smooth and we appreciate everyone’s understanding and compliance during this transition.
http://www.cityofnewburyport.com/pdf/recycle/2009-2010%20Nbpt%20Health%20Brochure%20FINAL.pdf
Newton advertises that it "takes 2, green and blue" referring to the color of the totters used, green for recycling, blue for trash.
http://www.newtonma.gov/dpw/recycling/ittakestwo/intro.html
Amesbury uses 35 gallon trash containers, 3 per household. They do use a 65 gallon container for recycling. The Amesbury Trash page is here:
http://www.mellodisposal.com/amesbury/
The recycling page is here:
http://www.mellodisposal.com/amesbury/single_stream_recycling.php
Easton posted their 2009 Welcome Kit and 2010 Welcome Kit on their website
http://www.eastondpw.org/dpw/trash/09R4_Easton_flyer_singlpgs.pdf
http://www.eastondpw.org/dpw/trash/Easton%202010%20FINAL.pdf
Attleboro posted their recycling "Frequently Asked Questions" on their website http://www.cityofattleboro.us/recycle/pdf/sspostfaq.pdf
Boston has three brief videos introducing their "Big Blue" carts, 64 gallon bins, the same as proposed for here
http://www.cityofboston.gov/publicworks/recyclingandsanitation/
Woonsocket, RI has a good bit of information on their Trash & Recycling page
http://www.ci.woonsocket.ri.us/RECYCLING.htm
Warwick, RI instituted their automated system in 2003
http://www.warwickri.gov/recycsanit/auto.htm
Middletown, RI also publishes a Welcome kit covering trash and recycling
http://www.middletownri.com/documents/refuse/Middletown%20RI%20WK%20Final.pdf
Prior posts on Franklin Matters
Aimee Mullins: The opportunity of adversity
What is adversity? What is disabled? What happens with the words we use?
"Come, dance with me!"
Enjoy!
Additional TED Talks by Aimee can be found here
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the video.
"Come, dance with me!"
Enjoy!
Additional TED Talks by Aimee can be found here
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the video.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Two more links to share
Two more sites along the hitchhiking trail on the internet that are worth sharing:
1 - The Future of Education
http://www.futureofeducation.com/
This features interviews with leading folks on education. The archive is rich, the schedule outlook is also rich.
2 - ReadWriteWeb
http://www.readwriteweb.com/
This is more than education, it covers all aspects of the web in today's emerging environment. It makes multiple posts during the day (averaging 15 a day per my Google Reader statistics) so it will be quite busy to try and keep up with it.
Previous post:
Hitchhiking amongst Education Resources
1 - The Future of Education
http://www.futureofeducation.com/
This features interviews with leading folks on education. The archive is rich, the schedule outlook is also rich.
2 - ReadWriteWeb
http://www.readwriteweb.com/
This is more than education, it covers all aspects of the web in today's emerging environment. It makes multiple posts during the day (averaging 15 a day per my Google Reader statistics) so it will be quite busy to try and keep up with it.
Previous post:
Hitchhiking amongst Education Resources
Friday, February 19, 2010
Comments are back!
Updated - comments appear to be fixed now. The "fix" did result in loosing a couple of known ones. How many others there were, I don't know and couldn't tell.
My sincere apologies folks, I was not intentionally ignoring you. I wasn't aware that you made an effort to comment. The blog comment totals did not show any activity.
I'll leave the default Blogger comments enabled for the remainder of this week before implementing another comment service.
Thanks for your patience and understanding!
Steve
----------
I just discovered a few comments on some recent posts that I was not notified of.
My sincere apologies folks, I was not intentionally ignoring you. I wasn't aware that you made an effort to comment. The blog comment totals did not show any activity.
I need to research and fix the template to avoid this in the future.
In the meantime, if you would like to comment, please send me an email. I do get and respond to those.
I will let you know when the comments are "fixed"!
Thanks for your patience and understanding!
My sincere apologies folks, I was not intentionally ignoring you. I wasn't aware that you made an effort to comment. The blog comment totals did not show any activity.
I'll leave the default Blogger comments enabled for the remainder of this week before implementing another comment service.
Thanks for your patience and understanding!
Steve
----------
Doughboy playing at snowboy
The morning after the snow storm, the Town Common was freshly coated with snow glistening in the sunrise.
From the backside
From the backside
In the News - Pulaski Blvd
The DPW announced today the Pulaski Boulevard reconstruction project continues to stay on course with the project bid being awarded to J.H. Lynch & Sons of Cumberland, R.I.
Last month, J.H. Lynch & Sons made an approximate $8.5 million bid on the project, well below the engineers’ estimate of $11 million.
According to the DPW, the construction plan from J.H. Lynch will likely come in at the end of February and the town will have the ability to make suggestions and modifications if needed.
The estimated two year project plans to rebuild 2.3 miles of Pulaski Boulevard, spanning from the Franklin town line to Orchard Street, including work at the Crooks Corner, Lake Street and Center Street intersections.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
Pulaski Boulevard construction project on track
Thursday, February 18, 2010
In the News - stimulus money for solar
Franklin will receive around $99,000 in funding for a similar solar system at Parmenter Elementary School.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x925448837/Bellingham-Franklin-get-stimulus-money-for-energy-projects
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x925448837/Bellingham-Franklin-get-stimulus-money-for-energy-projects
In the News - Franklin Wrestling champs!
The Panthers won the Division 2 championship last year and moved up to Division 1 this year. The result was no different. Last night, Franklin claimed the Div. 1 championship with a 38-20 victory over Springfield Central at Marlborough High.
"It feels better than last year because (Division 1) is supposedly all the top teams," said senior Dan Telhada, who had a key pin at 145 pounds. "Now we're champs in both. It doesn't get any better."
"We have a great group of seniors that go out with a big bang winning Division 1 and Division 2 state titles in their careers," Franklin coach Carmine Colace said. "You couldn't ask for anything more."Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/features/x590377987/Franklin-38-Springfield-Central-20-Double-take
Spilka and Vallee to Hold Office Hours in Franklin; Fri - Feb 19
Senator Karen Spilka to Hold Office Hours in Franklin
Join Senator Spilka and Puja Mehta, Senator Spilka's District and Constituent Services Director, for coffee and conversation. They will update constituents on the latest news and events, and answer any questions you may have.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Franklin: Elizabeth's Bagels and More
10:00 a.m -11:00 a.m.
456 West Central Street, Franklin
----------
Rep. James Vallee, D-Franklin, will hold walk-in office hours on Feb. 19 in Medway and Franklin.
Vallee or a member of his staff will take visitors at the Medway Town Administrator's office on 155 Village St. from 9 to 10 a.m.
From 10:30-11:30 a.m., he or a staff member will be at his Franklin office at 4 West St.
He and his staff may be reached at 617-722-2600 or Rep.JamesVallee@hou.state.ma.us.
Vallee or a member of his staff will take visitors at the Medway Town Administrator's office on 155 Village St. from 9 to 10 a.m.
From 10:30-11:30 a.m., he or a staff member will be at his Franklin office at 4 West St.
He and his staff may be reached at 617-722-2600 or Rep.JamesVallee@hou.state.ma.us.
Harlem Wizards return to Franklin!
The Harlem Wizards, one of the greatest basketball show-team organizations to ever “lace it up and let’em fly”, will play our own Sullivan Rockets. This will be an entertaining night for kids of all ages (and adults too)!
Did you miss their visit last year?
Don't miss it this year!
Date: Friday, March 19th, 2010, 7:00 PM
Doors Open 6:00, Game Time 7:00
Location: Tri-County Regional High School
147 Pond St, Franklin MA
Tickets: Click here to print ticket order form
Contacts: ayotte_k@verizon.net or erinclong@comcast.net
Sponsored By: Annie Sullivan Middle School PCC
 |
| From Franklin Matters |
Did you miss their visit last year?
Don't miss it this year!
Date: Friday, March 19th, 2010, 7:00 PM
Doors Open 6:00, Game Time 7:00
Location: Tri-County Regional High School
147 Pond St, Franklin MA
Tickets: Click here to print ticket order form
Contacts: ayotte_k@verizon.net or erinclong@comcast.net
Sponsored By: Annie Sullivan Middle School PCC
Ben Franklin Classical Charter School - Admission lottery Feb. 24
Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:
via The Milford Daily News News RSS by Staff reports on 2/17/10
The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School will hold its admission lottery for grades K-8 on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 1 p.m., in the school library, 201 Main St.
New this year, the lottery will be shown live on www.ustream.tv. To see this site, visit the school's Web site www.bfccps.org for further instructions.
Applicants do not have to be present at the lottery. Letters to all applicants will be mailed on Feb. 28, indicating whether students have been accepted or wait-listed.
Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School was founded in 1995 and currently enrolls 415 kindergarten through eighth-grade students. The school is offers a challenging core knowledge curriculum with French in K-8 and Latin in grades 3-8, a strong fine arts program, and physical education twice per week.
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