P4 of 5: "There is increasing interest in just-in-time, alternate, or non-formal avenues of education"

2010 Horizon Report: K12 Edition was just released this week. It lists five trends and develops a story around them. You can view the full report here

The fourth trend:

• There is increasing interest in just-in-time, alternate, or non-formal avenues of education, such as online learning, mentoring, and independent study. More and more, the notion of the school as the seat of educational practice is changing as learners avail themselves of learning opportunities from other sources. There is a tremendous opportunity for schools to work hand-in-hand with alternate sources, to examine traditional approaches, and to reevaluate the content and experiences they are able to offer.

As the Franklin community gets into the discussion

1) around the Town budget and the School budget (which is about 50% of the Town budget)

2) on what priorities should be set (classroom instruction vs after school activities, etc.)

let's also consider how our current level service school budget meets the needs of the students. Yes, we are a high performing district. What do we need to do to remain one? (Besides obtaining appropriate funding!)

Franklin, MA

"We're helping the community"

Despite gray skies, a small army of local residents yesterday helped make Franklin and Medway green in honor of Earth Day.

In Franklin, about 100 students, residents, and even non-residents donned rain jackets and boots as they picked up trash and planted flowers at Beaver Pond.

Read more about the Earth Day activities in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x53547818/Franklin-and-Medway-clean-up-for-Earth-Day


Franklin, MA

P3 of 5: "The perceived value of innovation and creativity is increasing."

2010 Horizon Report: K12 Edition was just released this week. It lists six trends and develops a story around them. You can view the full report here

The third trend:

• The perceived value of innovation and creativity is increasing. Innovation is valued at the highest levels of business and must be embraced in schools if students are to succeed beyond their formal education. The ways we design learning experiences must reflect the growing importance of innovation and creativity as professional skills. Innovation and creativity must not be linked only to arts subjects, either; these skills are equally important in scientific inquiry, entrepreneurship, and other areas as well.

As the Franklin community gets into the discussion

1) around the Town budget and the School budget (which is about 50% of the Town budget)

2) on what priorities should be set (classroom instruction vs after school activities, etc.)

let's also consider how our current level service school budget meets the needs of the students. Yes, we are a high performing district. What do we need to do to remain one? (Besides obtaining appropriate funding!)

Franklin, MA

Relay for Life - Franklin, MA 6/11-12, 2010

The Relay for Life in Franklin, MA will be held on Friday/Saturday June 11th and 12th.

More can be found on the Relay for Life page here
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=23347

Franklin, MA: Earth Day April 17th

Franklin, MA: Earth Day April 17th, originally uploaded by shersteve.

Lots of activities planned, help make Franklin a great place!

Symphony Hall, here they come!

The 56-piece orchestra (some won't play because of April vacation) won a gold medal at the Massachusetts Instrumental & Choral Conductors Association concert band festival last weekend - also winning the opportunity to play in Boston's famous music hall.

"I was really surprised by it - not that we're bad or anything, but it's our senior year, and it was a big shock to win the gold and get to go to Symphony Hall," she said.

All seven musical groups competing in the MICA competition last weekend won medals for Franklin. The High School Orchestra won the gold medal. Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
 http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x53547516/Franklin-High-orchestra-to-play-at-Symphony-Hall


Franklin, MA

P2 of 5: "Technology continues to profoundly affect the way we work"

2010 Horizon Report: K12 Edition was just released this week. It lists five trends and develops a story around them. You can view the full report here

The second trend:

• Technology continues to profoundly affect the way we work, collaborate, communicate, and succeed. Information technologies impact how people work, play, learn, socialize, and collaborate. Increasingly, technology skills are also critical to success in almost every arena, and those who are more facile with technology will advance while those without access or skills will not. The digital divide, once seen as a factor of wealth, is now seen as a factor of education: those who have the opportunity to learn technology skills are in a better position to obtain and make use of technology than those who do not. Evolving occupations, multiple careers, and an increasingly mobile workforce contribute to this trend.

As the Franklin community gets into the discussion

1) around the Town budget and the School budget (which is about 50% of the Town budget)

2) on what priorities should be set (classroom instruction vs after school activities, etc.)

let's also consider how our current level service school budget meets the needs of the students. Yes, we are a high performing district. What do we need to do to remain one? (Besides obtaining appropriate funding!)


Franklin, MA

Mansfield 'saves' sports for next year

... the Board of Selectmen voted last night to transfer about $890,000 from town coffers to the school budget for fiscal 2011, which begins on July 1.

In return, the committee will remove a property tax override vote from next month’s Town Meeting agenda. And, Miller said, the committee will reject motions from the public to transfer more funds from the town budget to schools.

The district made headlines this week when the School Committee voted to cut high school sports and clubs to help plug a $3.6 million deficit, prompting an outcry from parents and students in a district where 800 of the 1,500 high school students play at least one sport.

Read the full article in the Boston Globe here
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/04/17/mansfield_will_transfer_funds_to_save_school_sports/

Friday's article in the Boston Globe can be found here
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/15/mansfield_votes_to_eliminate_high_school_sports/

Franklin, MA

Bill Glynn responds

In response to a post from Martinator, I have put my thoughts in context with his original posting below. Please keep in mind that these are my thoughts alone. I do not speak on behalf of the School Committee.

NOTE: I mention specifics when talking about cuts below. Please keep in mind that the School Committee is in the very early stages of creating a list of considerations. We are only in the brainstorming stage and the fact that something was mentioned only means that it was an idea – it does not mean that it has made a short-list or anything. We are casting a wide net and trying to put all ideas on the table before evaluating those ideas.

Short Term

Everyone in town pays a flat fee for Garbage Pick-up.

Would it be possible (legal) for the town to charge an Education Fee to disengage the funding for education from property taxes?

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BILL:

I’m not sure if charging an education fee is legal, but it is problematic. Our country has a long history of providing free public education. If we start charging for certain aspects of that education, we start to head down a slippery slope of wanting to charge more money for those things and establishing fees for more and more things. The concept of paying for full-day Kindergarten (sort of an example of a user fee) was put on the table at our meeting Tuesday night and it will be discussed further as we try and settle on the things we will cut if we have to.

The Academic User fee idea is similar in nature to “impact fees” and the town lost that lawsuit many years ago so I’m not so sure how well this type of fee would stand up in court. I think it has the potential to create legal issues for us, but it’s worth discussing. That would have to be a Town Council issue, but the School Committee can discuss it first and see if it’s something we want to ask the Council to consider.

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Since Everybody in the town benefits from better schools everybody should pay (property values, lower crime rate, and the fact that in 5-10 years the high school students will be our health care providers...).

Maybe this "flat fee" could be a structured flat fee if people balk at it.

Maybe the "flat fee" could help cover the "predictable" portion of the school budget, or maybe just the "unpredictable" portion (Special Ed).

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BILL:

I agree that better schools benefit all but not necessarily in equal proportion. We need to find a way of sharing the burden without bankrupting our seniors (in particular) or forcing them out of town because they can no longer afford the taxes on their house.
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Long Term

I always tell people that the problem with education in this country it that there is a economic disconnect for the demand for educational services, and the money needed to fund those services. Especially with the Prop 2.5 law, which places and artificial cap on the towns ability to raise revenue. It's a "price control" and throughout history, price controls have been proven to have the opposite effect that is intended. But Prop 2.5 isn't going away anytime soon...

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BILL:

I agree there is a major disconnect in the system and proposition 2.5 is one of the problems that prevents us from balancing the school budget. However, there are other factors that are creating the problems to begin with. If prop 2.5 didn’t exist, the tendency would be to continue to raise taxes to pay the bills without addressing the root cause of the problem and that’s not a sustainable model.

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The town needs to find new ways of raising revenue. Franklin is right on 495, has 2 commuter rail stops for Boston, and is central to Boston, Providence, and Worcester. How can Franklin take advantage of these geographic realities and attract businesses and corporate tax revenue (Does Franklin have a separate corporate tax rate?)

Maybe it's not possible to find new revenue streams.

What about costs? This is hard when the school budget is already, I'm guessing, 80-90% of the town budget. The school budget also seems to be cutting more and more into "meat" and less and less "fat".

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BILL:

Yes we are and we have been cutting “meat” for a while now and it is going to catch up with us. More disturbingly, it’s going to catch up with the kids. Raising revenues is one possibility. However, the risk of a split tax rate is that we lose the corporate tax base altogether if they can easily move to some other town and get a better deal and this has happened. The other aspect to consider is that while it is possible and you may be able to retain the companies, is it fair to the small businesses?
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What about consolidating all the regional schools into a larger school district? Why does it have to be "Town-by-town"?

Franklin and Medway are already sharing resources among the rec departments. I think that goes for the libraries also. Would the scale of a larger school district reduce some administrative costs and make the unpredictable costs more predictable?

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BILL:

It doesn’t have to be town by town and there are regional districts in Massachusetts, but they tend to be west of Worcester. Many other states employ regional schools at a much higher rate than Massachusetts. That could save costs, but it does introduce other problems. If you needed to pass an override, do all towns have to agree? What if one of those towns will never agree? Then you’re playing down to the lowest common denominator and then who wants to partner with that town. The flip side is a problem too. What if the override is based upon a majority of voters from all towns and you have towns that always push for and pass an override? Then you’re living up to (perhaps) the most lavish goals of others. Again, you want out. Consider that we don’t have a common viewpoint on overrides and budget, etc. just within Franklin and then imagine introducing 2 or 3 other towns into the mix. I think it’s an idea worth discussing though and we already do some regionalization, such as Tri-County and some of the special education is “regionalized” and shared with other towns.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas.

Bill Glynn

Franklin School Committee 
******************************************************************

Apparently, the comment exceeds the allowed length, hence I am posting this as a full post in response to Martinator's comment.

PHENOM

While on the education bandwagon, the conversation on the Facebook page revealed a group I wasn't aware of: PHENOM.

PHENOM is the leading organization advocating for affordable, well-funded public higher education in Massachusetts.  PHENOM unites students, faculty, alumni, staff, parents and community organizations to do grassroots organizing, policy analysis, and advocacy.

They ask for folks to sign a pledge:

Massachusetts must provide top-quality public higher education and must make it affordable for all. To these ends, the Commonwealth must ensure that per capita spending on public higher education is no less than the national average, and that student costs are no higher than the national average. Significant and measurable progress toward these benchmarks must be achieved by FY 2012.

These are admirable and worthy goals. Higher education (i.e. college and post graduate) can not succeed unless there is a great foundation built by the primary levels of education (elementary, middle school and high school). And with the way the economy and world has developed, education does not stop when you get your degree. It is equally important to maintain a life long learning approach.

So you can read more about PHENOM on their website here:
http://www.phenomonline.org/

I'll bring some other of their writings, events, etc here as makes sense over time.

In the meantime, I'll stay focused on the local level where our individual tax dollars make the most sense, in that we have the most direct control over the results. As the saying goes, "All politics is local". I'll expand upon that and say "all education starts local." It starts at home and is fostered by the local community with a quality primary education.

If we want Franklin to continue to be a worthy place to live, then we need to be mindful of the core values that the School District developed:

Student Achievement

All students are entitled to academic excellence, appropriate facilities and quality materials and instruction.

Social / Civic Expectations

Students will become engaged, responsible citizens who respect the dignity and diversity of all individuals and cultures.

School Climate

Through our words and our actions, we create a culture of civility, thoughtfulness, appreciation and approachability.

School / Community Relationships

An active commitment among family, community and schools is vital to student learning.

Community Resources for Learning

We partner with all members of the community to exchange ideas, solve problems and build a comprehensive educational experience.

The School Committee agenda and individual meetings open with a reading of the Mission and Vision statements from the Strategic Plan. The core values are just as important to repeat.



Note: I was a member of the community wide group that updated the Strategic Plan.

P1 of 5: "Technology is increasingly a means for empowering students"

2010 Horizon Report: K12 Edition was just released this week. It lists five trends and develops a story around them. You can view the full report here

The first trend:

• Technology is increasingly a means for empowering students, a method for communication and socializing, and a ubiquitous, transparent part of their lives. Technology is impacting all of our lives, and especially the lives of students, in new and expanding ways. Once seen as an isolating influence, technology is now recognized as a primary way to stay in touch and take control of one’s own learning. Multisensory, ubiquitous, and interdisciplinary, technology is integrated into nearly everything we do. It gives students a public voice and a means to reach beyond the classroom for interaction and exploration.  

As the Franklin community gets into the discussion

1) around the Town budget and the School budget (which is about 50% of the Town budget)

2) on what priorities should be set (classroom instruction vs after school activities, etc.)

let's also consider how our current level service school budget meets the needs of the students. Yes, we are a high performing district. What do we need to do to remain one? (Besides obtaining appropriate funding!)


Franklin, MA

Attention: Franklin Downtown Partnership

An email from Lisa Piana, Executive Director Franklin Downtown Partnership has the following:

Spring Clean-up Day this Saturday!

This year Downtown Franklin will be added to the list of town sites that volunteers will be cleaning up on Clean-up Day Saturday, April 17th.  If you would like to volunteer please meet at Beaver Pond at 9:00 am and Ryan Jette will provide the appropriate materials including trash bags.

Let them know you are with the Franklin Downtown Partnership.  Adults are needed to help supervise teens.  Community Service Hours forms will be available.

Attention Downtown Businesses and Building Owners:
If you are unable to volunteer, but have a business downtown, please take a few minutes to help clean-up the sidewalk in front of your building. 

Reminder- all flower barrel greens should be removed at this time.


For more details on the Clean-up Day please contact the Franklin Recreation Department or DPW.

    Ryan Jette, Director of Recreation CPRP
    Franklin Recreation Department
    (508) 520-4909  

Franklin, MA

Bill Glynn responds to comments on the override discussion

Bill Glynn, Franklin School Committee, commented on the latest article in the Milford Daily News and asked me to reprint his comment here.

You can read the full article here:
http://www.milforddailynews.com/topstories/x1030872336/Franklin-officials-argue-for-tax-override

Bill's comment:

Not a good place to be, once again. We don’t have the final numbers from the state yet, but we’re looking at close to a $2M deficit in the school budget. Last night we started the brainstorming process of what we might have to cut out of the budget and we’ll be doing more of that at our next meeting. No matter what we cut, we’re taking away from the kids and that’s depressing. I try to read all of the comments written in response to these types of articles and I “get it” and I believe that my fellow Committee members get it too.

 Personally, I don’t want to pay more taxes either. However, I know that every dollar I spend in my local taxes directly benefits me and my neighbors and every dollar we cut out of the town budget impacts me and my neighbors as well. Federal and state taxes more or less fall into a black hole, but my town taxes are much more visible to me and they directly impact my quality of life. So, what do we do?

I’ve seen a few suggestions in the above comments and I’ll share some information that I’ve learned over the past 6 months since I joined the School Committee.

Close a school and consolidate: We just received a report from one of our subcommittees last night on that very topic. In a nutshell, we have some schools that have a bit of room, but we have other schools that are completely full. So, the topic of redistricting was raised. In addition, we have reason to expect student population to grow. We’re looking to get more definitive projections on population growth and building permits, etc., but the recommendation is not to close a school. Even if we had sufficient space to close one today and perhaps sell it off, we would need to build a new school within a couple of years and that would be far more expensive. So, it was researched and the information shows we can’t consolidate.

Why is Franklin always looking for an override? Well, we haven’t been approving them. Let’s take a current example. $1.3M of the approximately $2M budget gap is comprised of increased costs for a single line item called “special education”. This line item includes all of the things associated with providing education for students who have special needs. This budget item includes such things as specialists in the classroom as well as special programs outside of Franklin that we can’t provide in Franklin. These kids deserve an education just like every other kid in town. However, there are some important points to make on this topic. Special education is very expensive. While we have good insight into the mainstream classrooms and we have reasonable control over the associated costs, special education costs are highly dynamic and they are beyond the control of the School Committee and the town. If we have 5 new students enter the mainstream program they can be placed into existing classrooms and wouldn’t have a measurable impact to the budget in terms of costs. However, if we have 5 new special education students enter the school system, the budget impact could be negligible or it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and this has happened. We have no way to plan or budget for such events and we have virtually no control over the costs. Special education is highly regulated by the state and is governed by very specific state laws. The problem is the way special education is funded. It is the responsibility of each town to provide these services. Special education costs need to be paid directly by the state out of a state budget rather than the current system where the state gives each town a lump sum for all education and then bills each town for special education. I’m not saying that the state is necessarily a poster child for program management, but towns are not able to absorb cost fluctuations for programs beyond their control run be quasi-private companies that raise their prices with (arguably) minimal state oversight and control. By the way, the $1.3M increase in special education costs is a 2.5% increase to the school budget and that is a single line item. So, if you eat up the entire allowable tax increase on a single budget line item, it’s not hard to see why override discussions are taking place. The situation is made worse by a decrease in state funding.

Creative ideas? The School Committee and the administration made some very creative changes last year that resulted in some cost savings. There’s more to that story, but I’ll save that for another time. Last night I threw out the idea of a 100% pay to ride (the buses) model, where everybody pays if they ride the bus regardless of how close or far away they live to/from the school. State law says that if you live 2 or more miles away from school, the town must provide free transportation to school. So, my idea is in direct violation of state law. Is it creative? Maybe. Is it foolish? It could be that too. My viewpoint is it won’t matter who pays for the bus if there’s very little value in the classroom once the kids get there and that’s where we’re headed. I’d rather cut (or charge for) buses than cut teachers and directly reduce the quality of education. This is cumulative too. If we mess up a kid’s 3rd grade education, that will impact their ability to perform at a 4th grade level next year and so on.

Some of the other thoughts and ideas that folks have written about in their comments would also violate state or federal laws. So, should we put some extra money into the legal budget and try to fight some of these battles? Many of the problems we need to tackle are systemic and they aren’t under our control, which means that we will have to fight to change them – big fights. Some of them are worth fighting, but we would need your help and support. Are you willing to give us a bit of your time and attention? Are you willing to work with us? What’s your risk tolerance?

I would like to share a lot more information with a larger audience and do it in person. I want to involve others that have more knowledge than me too and I want to listen to your thoughts and ideas as well. So, if I arrange an informal coffee social, are you willing to come and talk? I’ll be watching this comment trail for your answers and I can be reached at bglynnfsc@gmail.com

Franklin, MA

Saturday Plan of Events for Garden Prep and Build

Hi All:

Thank you for your work and support on this event!

Because the ECDC may not have families available we will meet at the Franklin Senior Center at 9 AM.

Please note this is a CHANGE. The pre-built raised bed should be brought here.

All those involved in the building (as lead point people) should arrive at 9 AM to review the build structure, ask questions, gain necessary information to lead your volunteers and team in their build at the alternate sites.

All other sites should instruct their volunteers to meet at their designated sites at 10 AM.

We are lucky to have great sponsors who are dropping off our supplies and soil/fill at EACH site!

The build, fill and possible planting will take ~ 1 hour/1.5 or so.

Please consider joining us after at the Franklin Rail Trail site on Grove Street for a trail clean up (in support of Franklin's Earth Day Clean up)!

Thanks again for all your support and hard work. See you all Saturday (for now Rain or Shine) unless you hear otherwise!

Please pass this along to anyone who may not have made the list. 

Lauren

This is an update to the Franklin raises a garden post

Franklin, MA: Summer St

Let's see how much we can glean from this picture:

The utility poles are in the street.
The sidewalk is breaking up.
The sidewalk doesn't go all the way.
The sidewalk doesn't have a curb.
The road has potholes.

Oh, and Franklin doesn't have a capital budget to have a regular repair program for its almost 200 miles of roads. We are dependent upon the graciousness of State Aid and grants.

Your road may be in worse shape than this.
You can continue to wait and be patient for someday getting to the top of the priority listing of roads to be repaired.
Or you can start advocating for a capital budget for roads and be willing to vote some money towards it.


Franklin voters have a choice. We can do more than complain about the road conditions. We can ask the Town Council to create a capital budget for road repairs.

Your choice.


Photo taken on Summer St heading towards King St from East Central here in Franklin, MA.