Spruce Pond - Building Blue

The Charles River Watershed Association presentation on Monday evening (May 24) covered a study of the Spruce Pond area in Franklin. Spruce Pond is visible along King St and runs above ground behind Parmenter and portions eventually run in an underground culvert through the Fletcher St fields on their way to Mine Brook and eventually to the Charles River.

Background information on the project can be found on the CRWA page here
http://www.crwa.org/projects/blue_franklin.html

The map above outlines in the yellowish lines the area of the study along Spruce Pond and related streams.

Some of the work scheduled to be done this summer as Wachusetts St is rebuilt will include some waste water treatment on the grounds of the Parmenter School. Some of the run off from the street will flow into a rain garden on the grassy area in front of the school.

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Yes, the meeting was broadcast but the recording failed so it is not available for review. The presentation document is available here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/spruce-pond-building-blue-presentation.html


Franklin, MA

Sir Ken Robinson on education

For something inspiring, view the following video clip:



If you missed the original TED Talk from Ken Robinson, you can find it here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/01/creativity-should-be-priority.html

Franklin, MA

In the News - birthdays

By Ashley Studley/Daily News correspondent

Milford Daily News

Posted May 27, 2010 @ 12:45 AM

FRANKLIN —

Horace Mann Middle School students know a good party when they see it.

From Barbie Jeeps to Hannah Montana concerts, one group of students looked back on their special birthdays fondly yesterday afternoon, and remembered that not everyone is as fortunate.

That's why they raised about $500 for the Birthday Wishes charity to provide homeless children with birthday parties.

"You just threw an entire party," shelter coordinator Rachel Freeman said yesterday. "You just made a lot of kids really happy."

Franklin, MA

Bear seen in Hopedale today

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

Bear seen in Hopedale today

via The Milford Daily News News RSS by Krista Perry/Daily News staff on 5/26/10

A black bear was spotted around 12:30 p.m. today near the intersection of Hopedale and Dutcher Streets, police said.
Police said someone was running in the parklands section of town and spotted the bear near a bath house on the trail near those streets. The runner and the bear startled each other, police said. Police said the bear showed no signs of aggression.
Police are hanging signs in the area and urging residents to take down their bird feeders and cover their trash cans.
Last Friday, a large, adult male bear was spotted on Lynn Court in Bellingham going through backyards, said Franklin and Bellingham Animal Control Officer Tracey Taddeo.
Taddeo thinks there is more than one bear roaming around the area because last Thursday, another bear was spotted in Bellingham, but it only looked to be about a year old. Taddeo said a few Franklin residents called officials about bear sightings Sunday and Monday, and there is no way a bear could get from Franklin to Hopedale in only a few days.
People should keep an eye on their dogs, Taddeo said, because if they approach a bear, the bear will defend itself. Otherwise, the bears are not meat eaters, said Taddeo.
"They aren't interested in eating cats or humans,'' said Taddeo. "They're interested in sweets, bird seed, berries. They'll go through your trash looking for jelly or twinkies or HoHos."
Anyone who sees a bear should contact Hopedale Police at 508-634-2227 or the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at 508-389-6300.

Things you can do from here:

• Subscribe to The Milford Daily News News RSS using Google Reader
• Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites

Frequently asked questions: "Why should I give the town more of my hard-earned money?"

I have heard people criticize the way the town is run. If that’s true, why should I give the town more of my hard-earned money?

Not everyone agrees with every decision made by town and school officials. The facts show Franklin is relatively well run. Our students have excellent test scores and graduation rates, yet we spend below-average per pupil compared to similar-sized communities. Our crime rate and rate of fires are among the lowest in the state. Our recreation programs are hugely popular. Independent rating agencies give the town’s financial management high marks. Our tax rate is the lowest in the area. Our median home price is among the highest. Thanks to great representation on Beacon Hill, we receive well more than our share of state aid. Hundreds of volunteer citizens help keep Franklin a great place to live.


Since 1989, more than 3,500 Proposition 2 1/2 override votes have occurred in communities across Massachusetts. About 40 percent of the time citizens have agreed to raise their own property taxes for the good of their community.


No one likes to pay more taxes, especially in tough economic times, and people can debate any number of town and school decisions and policies. But the urgent issue Franklin faces is whether its voters want to pay about $1 more a day to retain our dispatchers and 2nd ambulance, keep staffing and book budget in place at the library, AND stabilize our educational programs and access to sports and extra curriculars.


Here is what is at stake:

                 

Item	Override Fails	Override Passes
Personnel	Loss of: 7 elementary teachers 8 middle school teachers	Staffing remains at FY10 levels
Fees	Club and activity fees at middle and high school will double to $50.  Athletic fees will increase and move to a tiered system, resulting in fees ranging from $175 to $450 (up from current $125 fee)	No fee increases
Class sizes	Increases in class sizes in grades K-8, up to 30 students in a classroom,  and a shortened school day at elementary schools	No changes
Transportation	Elimination of 3 buses	No change in service
Police	Loss of three police dispatchers; potential implementation of recorded service for emergency call system; less coverage of parking meters and parking enforcement downtown.	No change in service
Fire	Loss of one firefighter; uncertainty on availability of 2nd ambulance; revenue loss from ambulance fees	No change in service
DPW	Needed roadway repairs delayed indefinitely; 3 less employees; slower response times	Road repairs begin
Library	Loss of one employee; reduction in book budget of over $60,000.	No changes

One of a series to address frequently asked questions
http://investinfranklin.weebly.com/faq-part-1.html


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


The special election on June 8th gives Franklin voters the choice:

Increase taxes to continue to provide the services we have this year (and that does not restore any of the services already cut)

Or

Continue to cut municipal services for all and cut educational opportunities for our children

I'll help to provide the information. You need to do two things:

1. Make your choice
2. Vote on June 8th

You get bonus points if you talk with your neighbors about this and get them to vote!


Additional information on the override can be found here:

• http://investinfranklin.weebly.com/index.html
• http://franklinschoolcommittee.wordpress.com/override-page/
• http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/budget-override-collection-fy-2011.html

Franklin, MA

School Committee - 05/25/10

The collection of posts from the School Committee meeting on Tuesday May 25, 2010 can be found here:

• Live reporting - Closing
• Live reporting - Action items
• Live reporting - Discussion only items
• Live reporting - School Committee Budget Hearing
• Live reporting - Latin recognitions
• Live reporting - School Committee Meeting

Franklin, MA

Business After Hours - June 8th

The United Regional Chamber of Commerce will have a Business After Hours at Hampton Inn, 735 Union St., Franklin, on Tues., June 8 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 In addition to the Hampton Inn, this event is hosted by Boston Sports Club, Country Gardens Bed and Breakfast, FASTSIGNS, Harry & David, j. durand Business Solutions, MetLife (Camille DelPadre) and Young’s Caterers, Inc.

The cost for this networking event is $5 for members or $10 for non-members. Register for the Business After Hours by calling 508-222-0801, 508-695-6011 or 508-528-2800.

The United Regional Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit, business support organization serving the communities of Attleboro, Bellingham, Blackstone, Foxborough, Franklin, Mansfield, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, North Attleborough, Norton, Plainville, Rehoboth, Seekonk, and Wrentham.



Franklin, MA

"It's not an automatic, quick decline"

At the middle school, Peri said course offerings have drastically changed in recent years.

"People may not understand when I started in this district, kids were taking (over 500) sessions of a foreign language over three years," Peri said. "Now, it's (just over 100). Things like that are happening all over the place."

Committee member Sue Rohrbach said a frequently asked question is why the shared elementary and middle school buildings don't have a shared principal. 

"The differences between kindergarten and fifth grade and sixth through eighth grades are drastic," Peri said, explaining that students are facing different challenges at different ages.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x88775036/Franklin-principals-say-cuts-have-been-harmful

The full set of reporting from the School Committee meeting Tuesday May 25 can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/school-committee-052510.html


Franklin, MA

Franklin's choice

In response to a comment on a recent Milford Daily News article, I said:

Prop 2 1/2 provides for the voters of Franklin to make a choice. We either are satisfied with the services we receive and vote to maintain these services (police, fire, DPW, Library, etc.), or we are not and as a result we decide to do with less services.

No matter which you choose, make sure you do vote on June 8th. 

Comments don't count on June 8th, only votes do.

In response to a comment on a recent Milford Daily News article, I said:

The money on the museum comes from the 'capital' fund which cant be used for 'operations'. The capital money for the museum was small change made mighty big by contributions from volunteers and other organizations. Tri-County students built the shelves and displays. The move from Washington St to downtown was done by volunteers on a Saturday. The hours the museum is being kept open is staffed by volunteers, no expense to the Town.

The museum is actually a very good case for the creative 'thinking out of the box' approach that the Town has being doing to save us money and provide something to be proud of.

Franklin, MA

MA State Budget Browser

What does the budget look like at the State level? This email from MassBudget helps to dig into the details:

The Senate Ways & Means (SWM) budget proposal addresses a budget gap of close to $3 billion by recommending significant budget cuts and relying heavily on assistance from the federal government.  It does not include the Governor's tax reform proposals, or other new taxes.  Also unlike the Governor's proposal, it does not draw on the state "Rainy Day" fund.  It does, however, rely on some other temporary state revenue sources and some one-time savings. As the state enters the third year of a severe fiscal crisis brought on by the national recession, the SWM budget proposes a third year of serious cuts across state government, including in human services and health care, the second year of deep cuts in local aid, and new cuts in both K-12 and higher education (which had been spared deep cuts in prior years largely because of funding from the federal stimulus law, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA). A new report, Budget Monitor: The Senate Ways & Means Fiscal Year 2011 Budget, examines the SWM budget by program area and describes how the spending levels compare to those proposed by the House and the Governor and to historic and current spending levels.

The full report is available here. See MassBudget's Budget Browser to explore Massachusetts state budgets from Fiscal Year 2001 to the present, as well as current budget proposals offered by the Governor and the Legislature.

Franklin, MA

Chamber to recognize Teacher of Year, Top Local Students

TEACHER OF THE YEAR &
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO BE HONORED

The United Regional Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Spotlight on Education breakfast on Thurs., May 27 at Lake Pearl Luciano's, 299 Creek St., Wrentham at 7:30 a.m. At the breakfast, the Chamber will honor Seekonk High School teacher Linda K. Limperis with its 2010 Teacher of the Year Award.

Many students from the region also will be honored during the event. Eight students will be presented with scholarships distributed through The United Regional Chamber of Commerce. Students receiving the Jacqueline C. Stack Scholarship award will be William Brown of Attleboro High School, Liam Doherty of Bishop Feehan High School and Gabrielle Griot of Barrington High School. Students being presented with Metalor Technologies Scholarships are Jillian Miller of Medway High School and Taylor Briggs of Bishop Feehan High School. Recipients of the Attleboro Area Foremen’s Club Scholarship will be Brianna Medeiros of Coyle Cassidy High School and Tyler Cannon of North Attleboro High School. Accepting the NCAS Learning Center Scholarship will be April Pascucci of Foxborough High School.

Additionally, the top 10 seniors from the schools in The United Regional Chamber of Commerce service area are being honored for their years of hard work and achievement during their high school careers. Those students are:

Attleboro High School - Melanie Thibeault, Tiffany Berard, David Stevens, Marie Larouche, William Brown, Samantha Wood, Alexandra Vitiello, Thomas Cao, Meagan Fuller, Hannah Entwistle

Bishop Feehan High School - William Clerx, Kaila Dion, James McAllister, Anthony Lombardi, Samuel Dodge, Kendra Cheng, Bianca Peixoto, Christina Roberti, Elaine Martin, Anisa Arsenault

Blackstone Millville Regional High School - Ethan Hardy, Melissa Copeland, Julie Signa, Paige Yager, Devyn Oliver, Aline Fleuette, Brigid Thompson, Tiffany Armas, Cailin Boelke, Patrick Murphy

Foxborough High School - Taryn Laubenstein, Laura Herlihy, Jennifer Chalmers, Gina Kackloudis, John Slaby, Katelyn Olsson, Dominique Cammarata, Meghan Lowey, Christopher Kelm, Nidhi Vora

Franklin High School - Kimberly Takahata, Nicholas Melfi, Christopher Anderson, Rebecca Galasso, Kayleigh McGlynn, Sara LaFlamme, Kelly Vail, Susan Jacob, William Ceskavich, Alexandra Lonati

King Phillip Regional High School - Sarah Shipley, Michael Zagieboylo, Joanna Czyzewski, Elizabeth Williams, Elizabeth Allen, Marie Willman, Christopher Woodward, Nathan Kim, Kelsey Rieger, Dahnyoung McGarry

Mansfield High School - Rachel Johnston, Jennifer Giffels, Robert Snyder, Gianina Monestime, Christopher Frederickson, Andrew Calvario, Sangeetha Kavety, Brendan Boyle, Jeffrey Boyle, Kristen Spillane

Norton High School - Julia Marie Ariola, Kaitlyn Baird, Cassidy Gilmore, Alyssa Graham, Carolyn Le, Chad McAuliffe, Bradford McKeen, Priya Patel, Samuel Phillips, Erica Pundt

North Attleboro High School - Robin Armstrong, Ginny Tang, Neha Patel, Barrett Holden, Shweta Kitchloo, Nicole Hurd, MaryLucia Hedberg, Katherine Murphy, Kevin Fernandes, Kelli Brodbeck

Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School - Jeremy Harmon, Nicholas Cokonis, Chou Yang, Kyle Kebler, Elizabeth Braeley, Gregory Mitrano, Ashley Goode, Kristen Scoville, Amanda Furrh, Kimberly Sullivan

The Spotlight on Education breakfast is sponsored by Bristol County Savings Bank, Dean Bank, National College Assistance Services, Middlesex Savings Bank, Fisher College and HarborOne Credit Union.



Franklin, MA

In the News - Memorial Day, golf, museum, Tri-County

Franklin plans Memorial Day Parade

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Staff reports

Franklin Chargers to host golf tournament June 14

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Staff reports

Franklin Historical Museum now open

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Staff reports

School briefs

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Staff reports

Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Closing

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report
a. Backpack Bulletin
b. Principal’s Searches

Tom Morris - Newton Public Schools will take over at Parmenter, will visit School Committee sometime in June

Horace Mann - no decision at this point, started to late in the search process, will get an interim and start again in early October

c. National Honor Society
25% of the junior class qualified for inclusion into this

Mailing Pay-to-ride paperwork, July 9th will be the deadline

Interesting DESE meeting, a preview of a new data tool that they are rolling out

their tool has identified comparable districts, data we did manually will be made easier with this

comparison to ten other districts

School Committee Sub-Committee Reports

Advertising meeting with more information forthcoming

School Committee Liaison Reports
none

New business
thanks to all the vets for this memorial day

FHS Award night ceremony
Senior Class celebration June 3rd
Senior Class graduation June 4th

Annie Sullivan step up ceremony, June 17th
Proud to be An American at JF Kennedy, June 10th, 9:00 AM

No executive session
motion to adjourn, passed 6-0


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Action items

4. Action Items
a. I recommend adoption of Policy JJFG Disposition of Student Activity Account.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

b. I recommend budget transfers as detailed.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $125.00 from the Kennedy PCC for a nurse for the field trip to Southwick Zoo on May 27, 2010.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

d. I recommend acceptance of a check for $500.00 from the Kennedy PCC for buses for the field trip to Southwick Zoo on May 27, 2010.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

e. I recommend acceptance of the donation of a set of basketball hoops from the Recreation Department.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

f. I recommend acceptance of a check for $100.00 from Patricia M. Bishop (Class of 1960) for a FHS Scholarship.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

g. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1000.00 from James M. Betts for a FHS Scholarship.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

h. I recommend acceptance of four checks ($2500.00) from the Guidrey Family for FHS Scholarships

1. Philip & Jennifer Guidrey $500.00

2. Alan Guidrey $500.00

3. Janet Guidrey $500.00

4. Nancy Lovely $1000.00

motion to approve, passed 6-0

i. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1250.00 from the FHS PCC for large screen projectors for Class Day and Graduation.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

j. I recommend approval of the FHS trip for four students to compete in the National Jr. Classical League State Convention at the University of North Dakota from July 26, 2010 to August 1, 2010 as detailed.
motion to approve, passed 6-0

k. I recommend acceptance of a check for $250.00 from Let Us Never Forget for a FHS Scholarship in memory of Shane Cabino.  motion to approve, passed 6-0

l. I recommend acceptance of a check for $543.98 from Lifetouch Pictures for ECDC in-house enrichment.

motion to approve, passed 6-0


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Discussion only items

3. Discussion Only Items
Second Reading – Policy JJFG Disposition of Student Activity Account

no additional input, on for an action item later in the agenda

Budget to Actual / Transfersreclassification of amounts for health costs to the grants that the employee is associated with
on for an action item later this evening


MASC Regional Meeting 
Bill - met with school committees from other towns
basically a discussion/brain storming of common challenges
what can we do about it?
put together a resolution for one of the top points of pain; SPED funding model (purely financial on how they are funded)
recommendation to put together a resolution, to lobby to the state to have the SPED funding directly out of the State funding rather than at the Town's level


would allow the Towns to still provide the services without the fluctuation of funding locally
If the SchCom were to endorse this, MASC would lobby this on our behalf and for other districts on this issue


A great idea, it should go forward
motion to endorse the SPED resolution as drafted, passed 6-0


Proposed Reductions to full day Kindergarten Grant
Proposal in Senate budget to significantly reduce the kindergarten grant
We currently get approx $300,000 from the grant, how much it would be reduced is not known at this time
Good suggestions come right back, Sue to draft letter for committee to send as a group


Franklin, MA