"the EPA should come up with the money"

Officials estimate businesses could spend $6,000 to $120,000 per acre on systems used to redirect stormwater.

"The benefits (of cleaning the river) are grossly overstated and do not justify the expense," said Franklin Director of Public Works Robert Cantoreggi.

Cantoreggi argued that legislation should be sought to control sources of the phosphorous, such as lawn fertilizer. He also said "social research" should be conducted to see if there is support within the communities to fund phosphorous control systems.

"Let the people decide where their money goes," Cantoreggi said.

Read the full article on the EPA Stormwater regulations here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/features/x2071994370/Residents-speak-out-against-EPA-mandate


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Closing

School Committee Sub-Committee Reports
School Committee Liaison Reports

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


Trahan - best of luck to all the students for the summer


Glynn - Mendon, Upton, Attleboro and others have adopted the resolution we put forward thus far


7. Executive Session
Contractual Negotiations


motion to go to executive session, not to return



8. Adjourn



Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Foreign language (Latin, Spanish)

5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report
a. Foreign Language


eight Latin teachers hired in last several years, great turnover
one resigned, another indicated intention to resign
leave request from a HS Latin teacher (maternity leave)
currently employing .5 of a Latin teacher, looking for 5 Latin teachers


3 were fully qualified and will be bringing in for interviews
most of the others h ad been interviewed before and were not hired
decision was to proceed with reducing Latin and alleviating part of the problem
the middle school teachers will move to the high school (they are all certified K-12)


Memo to committee May 12th
Memo on June 4th
Discussion on June 8th
and proceeded accordingly


We will be continuing to look at Foreign language overall to see what we are offering, what we could offer
middle school students get 65 sessions during their school year, not enough
we will be pursuing the study more fully in the coming year and coming up with a plan


Mullen - School system suffering the death of a thousand cuts
made a philosophical decision to go with Latin, we are not making a pragmatic decision to remove it from the middle school
My youngest daughter would have taken French but French got cut, so she took Latin
Most communities were offering only one language, Spanish


Michelle Kingsland-Smith
out of 32 districts, 4 of the 32 had an elementary program, only 7 had Latin, and in the middle school


Cafasso - 177 schools teach Latin, 32 middle schools, 140 schools within the state, if that helps
info from the DESE was obtained today and would be forwarded to the Committee and to the administration


Sabolinski - having a license doesn't make a teacher effective, it is step one
There is a way to equalize class size and class instruction; some of the Latin classes were smaller due to less demand, some of the Spanish classes were larger due to demand.


Sabolinski - had intentions to get to three times a week for foreign language but cut it to 2 due to budget, the opportunity to focus on the MetroWest health results (BMI, bullying,etc.) we have requirements to implement with no resources to do so. The current program wasn't enough.


Kingsland-Smith - districts will be required to provide the curriculum in cyber-bullying, they have specifically said curriculum, not a separate program, 


Sabolinski - we (administration team) are going tomorrow to a workshop to review what they are providing 


Cafasso - (pressing issue on an administration decision to go this way and replace the language program with the health effort)


Perry - in terms of recruiting teachers, it is not a selling point, 


Cafasso - there are a lot of kids who are impacted by this, we never asked them, we just announced it on the last day of school. What is the plan to help the students with one year left?


Perry  - we have talked about summer classes, we have talked about online learning, we have talked about a traveling roll. We only have one person and a class size of sixty and you can't collapse the two sections


Wittcoff - We are really here because we lost these Latin teachers, in Math and Science the nation has programs to foster growth in those areas, they are not doing that for Latin. The pragmatic decision is to change the offerings


Perry - what could it look like? all the schools could offer Spanish, with an integration of the subject into other subject areas.


Bergen -  The students who had a chance to try the foundation language, Latin, and then pick up one later. It becomes exploratory because we no longer have the intensive program. Language moved off the core subjects unless we could keep the hour. Can we add an hour to the school day? I don't see that happening.


Kingsland-Smith - due to AYP issues, we focused on the core and made progress. It was at the expense of the language.


Sabolinksi - we are looking at other options, after school clubs, etc. Not this summer though.


Cafasso - to hear tonight that language is no longer a core subject for this district is concerning.


Kingsland-Smith - when we think about a core, a core is an everyday item, the state has defined those four frameworks (math, science, social studies, and ELA) language was once but is no longer.


Douglas - I'd like to see if we could do something for those students that have already have had two years


quick survey of the schools, about 80 at Remington, 40-50 at Keller, and another 70 at Horace Mann. It would be one full-time but two bodies due to the schedule issue amongst the three middle schools


Perry - studies from the 1980 show shortages on the Latin teachers, it is not a new problem


Glynn - have you pursued other languages to compliment Spanish?


Sabolinski - we have not been able to find qualified teachers? we have looked for Mandarin Chinese and Arabic back even when Mr Lucas was here we were exploring programs to bring teachers here


Glynn - have you found anything on the e-learning front, perhaps were several schools could combine? perhaps a rhetorical question


Roy - I have no doubt that we are all desiring to see Latin at the middle schools. As a practicality, I don't think we can.  I don't think we are second guessing the plan or decision.  I support that wholeheartedly, looking at Mr Cafasso's suggestion to examine the whole language program.  Language is a hot topic in my household. NoChildLeftBehind is what defines a core subject, we are not loosing foreign language in Franklin, we are loosing one subject matter. We are in the middle of a set of tough choices. The community spoke and said no, so we need to move accordingly to make tough choices.


Bergen - we have no general music left due to the budget, and elementary music is lost


Mullen - I want to follow up on what is left for those kids who would be going into 8th grade. 


Sabolinski - we did not go at this capriciously, we sat down with Kristy Yankee, the language lead who had actually received the student when we did this with French the last time. It just did not work, it was not an effective instructional model for students. Her plea was to shore up the high school program. We are excited to be offer high school AP Latin for the firs time.


Light - what was the impact on French when we stopped French at the middle schools? We don't have enough French teachers at the high school. In terms of pure numbers, we don't see an impact. We are offering French AP next year due to enough demand for it. How do you come up with a good comprehensive 4-year program?  We are looking to keep the programs competitive. How do we help them come into Latin (after having spent sometime in another language)? Early acquisition skills are what we are looking at.


Mullen - We are in this unenviable position of cutting and we hear you of expanding something, making the best of a lousy situation.


Glynn - don't leave the student out?
Roy - yes, we will let the audience have their say when the committee had completed their questions


Sabolinksi - we have provided a lot of data in our last foreign language report, what else are you looking for?


Cafasso - it has been a discussion for years, as well as a goal of the superintendent to improve the foreign language program. I'd like to see the plan that I have been asking for for five years?


Sabolinski - I have the plan, we have reviewed the plan, but we are not able to fund it.


Cafasso - You have made it clear tonight that this is not a budget decision, this is another decision. The Committee is supposed to set the guidelines. I don't believe we have done so.  It wasn't ever clear that this was a decision, it was just a proposal. It's done. I'd like to see it come back in some formative way. I'd like to see something be done for the students who spent two years studying and won't be getting into Peter's program yet.


Rohrbach - This is the result of budget constraints and unfunded mandates. Thank you for coming here and providing your thoughts.


Texeira - now a sophomore at Northeastern. Youth soccer coach with youth soccer leagues, head through his soccer players, to confirm what has been said tonight. Kids have talked to me in Spanish, French and Latin. Tested out English at college due to his preparation from Franklin HS.  I think it would be a big mistake to cut Latin. I understand you having trouble finding teachers. 


Sabolinski - we have been aggressive in pursuing teachers for the past five years.  


Texeira - I wanted to stress the importance of Latin. It impacted almost everything else we did. It is much better to have students and graduated students with a background in languages is better than being less than competent and capable in languages. Most of the languages are derived from Latin.


b. Interim Principal HMMS
Michael Levine - interim principal, hired today
experienced retired principal, will keep the wonderful things that Dr Bergen has started
he will be scheduled to come to the School Committee sometime during the summer


Cafasso - hat is the gender breakdown at HM?
Bergen - approx. 50/50. 


Cafasso - Why an interim for this position?
Sabolinski - we were not able to find a suitable candidate in the initial search process earlier this year. We started late, did have an number of applicants but weren't able to move quickly enough, a good number ended up going elsewhere. We intend to start again in August.


Cafasso - Curious on your philosophy about the male/female issues being addressed at the middle schools
Sabolinski - one of the new counselors coming to Horace Mann is a female. 
Wittcoff  - there should be a team approach, some students will connect with one or another.


Trahan - I think it is on the student to have a level of confidence with who they can go to


Douglas - I commend you on not hiring a permanent too quickly


Sabolinski - thank you


Roy - general theme tonight has been to go attract the best and brightest






Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Action items

4. Action Items
a. I recommend approval of the Budget Transfers as detailed.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0


b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1,000.00 from Natalie Brunelli for the John A. Brunelli Memorial Scholarship at FHS.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $50.00 from Elaine Costello for the Class of 1960 Scholarship at FHS.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

d. I recommend acceptance of a check for $50.00 from Mary Ann Bertone for the Class of 1960 Scholarship at FHS. recommend to accept, passed 7-0

e. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1,000.00 from the Franklin Country Club for the Franklin Country Club Scholarship / Hall of Fame Award at FHS.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

f. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1,700.00 from the Shayne Cabino Foundation for the Let Us Never Forget LCPL Shayne Matthew Cabino Memorial Scholarship at FHS.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

g. I recommend acceptance of a check for $100.00 from Lonnie Grillo for the Class of 1960 Scholarship at FHS.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

h. I recommend acceptance of a check for $2,000.00 from Franklin Youth Lacrosse for a Space Camp field trip for Horace Mann students.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

i. I recommend acceptance of 3 checks for $50.00 each from Mr. Lima, Mr. Folan and Mr. DiLorenzo for the FHS Scholarship Fund.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

j. I recommend acceptance of a check for $3,000.00 from the Horace Mann PCC for in-house enrichment.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

k. I recommend approval of an increase in athletic fees to $450 for Hockey, $175 for Track, and $200 for all other sports.  recommend to accept, passed 6-1  (Glynn no)


l. I recommend approval of an increase in extracurricular fees to $50 annually.  recommend to accept, passed 7-0

m. I recommend adoption of the FY11 budget of $49,875,000 as detailed.  recommend to accept, passed 6-1  (Cafasso no)


Budget discussion
The foreign language changes are budget neutral. The only significant changes were to the reduction of the collaborative services where we believe we can insource those positions and save money.

There are reductions in the seven elementary and eight middle school teachers, the retirees are factored in in that others were able to keep their positions.

BICO - (BiCounty collaborative) occupational therapy, speech therapists, we believe can hire at a savings, we have hired six OT thus far, we will still need some services contracted out but we can see savings this way. The savings thus far are about $58,000 or the equivalent of another position. The people we have will be working on our schedule.


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - FY 2011 budget

3. Discussion Only Items
FY11 Budget

15 teachers
3 buses cut
Working to shorten the elementary day
If the shortened day does not pass the teachers union, it would require 3 additional teacher positions to balance the budget.

Did discuss a family cap, did not calculate that in the budget, therefore there would be a recommendation to not have a family cap. (hence, all families would pay full for all students in the family).

Pandora's role shifting, one to have Brad Sidwell try and generate some additional revenue
two, to try and build some additional strategic alliances

Cafasso - just because we did not plan this well does not mean we should not consider a family cap. I would consider it but I haven't had access to the budget dollars to see what difference it would make.

Students with free and reduced lunch are exempt from paying the fees
If families are having problems with the fee structure, the family should reach out to the principals and Brad Sidwell who can work out an accommodation.

Franklin, MA Public Schools - FY2011 Overview2

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to view the document attached


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Best Buddies 'Don't Use the R Word'

b. ASMS Best Buddies Officers – “Spread the word to end the R Word”
1. Casey Lazarek, Lindsey Baryluk, Lauren Altobelli, Gabby Kane, Nathalie Loreiro, Maggie Streeter, Alex Wolfe and Marta Versprille. Ashley Monterotti is unable to attend.

The presentation used for this meeting:

Don't use the R word

View more presentations from Franklin Matters.

The presentation is a collection of photos and comments expressing what the Best Buddies and ASMS teachers feel about the "R" word. Quite moving!

Not all the teachers had time to provide a response, during the summer the project will continue to build up what has started. The presentation will be used for the 6th grade orientation in September.

The power of words, civility can make a difference!

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to view the document attached

Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Tom Morris, Parmenter Principal

2. Guests/Presentations
a. Tom Morris - New Principal of Parmenter Elementary

I am thrilled to be coming to the Franklin Public Schools. I am very excited, some of the same work I have been doing in my schools in Newton are being done here. I will learn a lot and be able to contribute here. I am a music teacher in elementary and middle schools. I love teaching music. Has a masters in music education.

I am becoming familiar with the Parmenter community and I am looking forward to getting started July 1.



Franklin, MA

Live reporting - School Committee

Present: Douglas, Cafasso, Rohrbach, Mullen, Roy, Trahan, Glynn
Absent: none

1. Routine Business
Citizen’s Comments - none
Review of Agenda - noneMinutes: I recommend approval of the open session and executive session minutes from the June 8, 2010 School Committee Meeting.  motion to approve minutes, passed 7-0
Payment of Bills Mr. Glynn  motion to approve bills (2 weeks worth), passed 7-0Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives (none at this time)
Correspondence:
1. Packet of 19 letters from Jefferson parents regarding class sizes.



Franklin, MA

Office Hours

Want to talk about Franklin Matters? About what matters to you? About blogging, about social media tools?

Assuming the weather is good, I'll be available on Friday June 25, from 2:00 - 4:00 PM.

I'll be on the Town Common near the bandstand.

Just me, my notepad, and a willingness to listen and talk about what matters.

Bring a chair and join me.



If the weather is bad, I'll update here where the alternate location will be; most likely Cafe Dolce.

Franklin, MA

What gets you going?

There are plenty of choices to get involved this evening. Be active!

Exercise?
Join the Franklin Citizens Rail Trail subcommittee meeting to plan for a fund raising road race.
Meeting at the Y at 7:30 PM

Environment?
The EPA will hold an information session and immediately following a public hearing to solicit feedback on their new storm water regulations.
Meeting at 6:30 PM at Tri-County Regional Voc Tech

Education?
The School Committee holds their second scheduled meeting for June this evening.
Meeting at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers at the Municipal Bldg


Franklin, MA

"forced to eliminate Spanish"

"The elimination of Spanish at the elementary school means that one of our signature programs is now lost, and probably for good. We have resisted eliminating the program in its entirety, because once it is gone, it will be very difficult to bring back. But the budget realities simply could support this effort any longer," Roy said.

The Spanish teachers will move to the middle schools in August, when Spanish will become the only foreign language offered as Latin will be eliminated.

 Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x2071993902/Franklin-to-end-elementary-school-Spanish

The newspaper article is incorrect in that the "School administrators last week announced" when in fact the announcement and discussion occurred during the June 8th School Committee meeting.  The article was likely written earlier and only published now which caused the "last week" inaccuracy.


http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x2071993902/Franklin-to-end-elementary-school-Spanish


Franklin, MA

In the News - Price Chopper starts over, EPA Stormwater

Neighbors not happy with continuance of Price Chopper hearing

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Ashley Studley/Daily News staff

EPA stormwater mandate to be discussed tonight

from The Milford Daily News News RSS by Melanie Graham/Daily News staff

Franklin, MA

Mendon to re-do the vote on override

A two-member Board of Selectmen agreed last night to hold a special Town Meeting July 12 and a special election July 27 to vote again on the town's Proposition 2 1/2 tax override, but at a lower number.

The original override sought $594,000 with $100,000 targeted for town services. The new override eliminates the town portion.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x2071993894/Mendon-to-vote-again-on-override



Franklin, MA

Can social networking help grow my business?

What is digital marketing?

Can social networking help grow my business?

Berry Insurance and the United Regional Chamber of Commerce have joined together to hold a session on June 29th to provide information on how these tools can help. Most of the social media tools are free, hence the ROI on free becomes something to look at.

Details on the event including registration information can be found in the flyer below:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

The Berry Ins website can be found here:
http://www.berryinsurance.com/

and the Chamber website here:
http://unitedchamber.org/

and you can register here:
http://berryinsurance.eventbrite.com/





Franklin, MA

Recycle your old recycle bins

Need to get rid of your old trash and recycling bins?

Now through Labor Day 2010 you can bring your clean trash and recycling bins to the Beaver Street Recycling center for recycling for free.

There is no permit required for recycling only these items until Labor Day. A permit is required for any other materials.

Please no trash in the barrels and must be clean.

Hours:
Tuesday: Noon - 3:00 PM
Friday: 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Saturday: 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM



Subscribe to the Recycling News (and other Franklin, MA newsletters) here
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/subscriber-news

Planning Board 06/21/10

The real-time reporting (via the cable feed) of the Planning Board meeting on Monday June 21, 2010 can be found here:

• Live reporting - 485 E Central St
• Live reporting - Planning Board - general business...

Franklin, MA: Planning Board - 06/21/10 - Agenda


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - 485 E Central St

Continued Public Hearing 
485 East Central St - Franklin Market
Site Plan and Special Permit

Halligan recused himself

closed public hearing, motion to allow withdrawal of plans without prejudice

motion approved

Initial Public Hearing 
485 East Central St - Franklin Market (Price Chopper)
Site Plan and Special Permit

motion to continue to Aug 9th at 7:15 PM
motion to waive reading

due to a glitch in the assessors information, not all abutters were notified properly
initial public hearing will be held on Aug 9th
a brand new hearing, no information from prior will carry forward
all abutters have been notified this time

motion to adjourn, passed 4-0


The agenda document for this meeting can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/franklin-ma-planning-board-062110.html


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Planning Board - general business

Present:  John Carroll, Mark Denommee, Ronald Calabrese, Tony Padula, Joseph Halligan,
Bill Yadsernia, Beth Dahlstrom


A - 81-P for 41 South St, discussion on request for continuance, not signed by attorney
motion to deny continuation, seconded, approved 3-1


B - request for one year extension Greystone Road Subdivision
Motion to accept, seconded, approved 4-0


C - Form G - Valentine Village
apparently certificate of deed not recorded although it was released by the Planning Board
Registrar requires an original copy with signatures, original apparently lost by developed
easier to get new original than to find old, Planning Dept does not keep copy until after it is recorded
motion to approve, seconded, approved 4-0

The agenda document for this meeting can be found here:

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/franklin-ma-planning-board-062110.html

Franklin, MA

Franklin, MA: Town committee openings

Franklin has a number of open committee positions. These positions are all volunteer and non-pay. Someone must care about Franklin and should know something about the area that the committee covers.

Board	Regular Member
Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund	1
Franklin Cultural Council	1
Franklin Disability Commission	2
Library Board of Directors	1
Public Land Use Committee	2
Recreation Advisory Board	1
Zoning Board of Appeals	1

The form to apply for one of these positions is available via the Town Clerk web page here:
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_BComm/request


Franklin, MA

FM #70 - Week Ending 6/20/10

This is #70 in the series on what matters in Franklin, MA. As the week closes, Father's Day, June 20th, let's take about ten minutes to review the week behind and look ahead.

Time: 8 minutes, 50 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes:

This internet radio show or podcast, number 70 in the series for Franklin Matters.

Let's take about ten minutes to review what matters this week as it comes to a close with Father's Day here in Franklin, MA on June 20th.

Last week instead of doing a new session, I re-published the analysis I had done on the split versus single tax rate in December 2009. The topic had come up again during the override discussion. With so many new readers/listening I thought it would be appropriate to bring that piece forward.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/refreshed-tax-rate-and-split-tax.html

The Town Council held their two budget hearings (Jun 9 and 10) after the override results were finalized. The budget with all the cuts as discussed was accepted.

Weds 6/9
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/live-reporting-town-council-fy-2011.html
Thur 6/10
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/live-reporting-town-council-fy-2011_10.html


The Town Council met on the 16th and approved a transfer of $100,000 from free cash was approved to cover for the additional unemployment expenses the town will encounter due to the layoffs of 15 teachers and 3 police dispatchers. The other personnel cuts were from positions that opened due to retirements or folks leaving and while the positions went unfilled, they have now been removed from the roster.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/town-council-061610.html

Of interest was the analysis on the Open Meeting law changes that are scheduled to take effect July 1. Some of the details remain to be determined so it will be interesting to see which way the state proceeds. The intent is to make the town business meetings more accessible and open.

The document Mark Cerel shared with the Town Council can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/mark-cerel-analysis-of-open-meeting-law.html

A great deal of misinformation is still prevalent in the conversations particularly in the comment stream for the Franklin articles in the Milford Daily News.

The task remains to continue to share accurate information and encourage its spread. The PEW Internet and American Life Project published a study that showed:

In a poll conducted at the end of last year, we asked about online connections to communities and neighbors and found that in the twelve months preceding our survey:

• 22% of all adults (representing 28% of internet users) signed up to receive alerts about local issues (such as traffic, school events, weather warnings or crime alerts) via email or text messaging.
• 20% of all adults (27% of internet users) used digital tools to talk to their neighbors and keep informed about community issues.

What becomes relevant for our actions here is their finding that the largest single source of local information was obtained by talking face-to-face.

Overall, physical personal encounters remain the primary way people stay informed about community issues. In the twelve months preceding our survey:

• 46% of Americans talked face-to-face with neighbors about community issues
• 21% discussed community issues over the telephone
• 11% read a blog dealing with community issues
• 9% exchanged emails with neighbors about community issues and 5% say they belong to a community email listserv
• 4% communicated with neighbors by text messaging on cell phones
• 4% joined a social network site group connected to community issues
• 2% followed neighbors using Twitter

The full study document can be found here:
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Neighbors-Online.aspx

Given the majority of information is shared in personal conversations, the opportunity is to continue to share accurate information on what matters in Franklin and encourage you to talk with your neighbors.

The battle of accurate information versus misinformation will be won, one conversation at a time.

What does the week look like?

The distribution of the new trash and recycle bins is scheduled to complete this week. As I ran down Chestnut st Sunday morning, I saw a few houses where they had been delivered but not yet pulled into the yard from street side.

The Planning Board meets on Monday, June 21. Of interest is the continuation of the hearing on the special permit for the Price Chopper proposal as well as opening a new hearing for the same property. I anticipate that what is happening is the original plans are being changed so they will close that hearing (and proposal) and open a new one. We'll find out if this analysis is correct.

The School Committee meets on Tuesday. They will formally accept their budget which will require the reduction in 15 teachers and then approve the increase in sports and activity fees as presented during the override discussion.

The EPA will hold a brief information session on Tuesday at Tri-County regarding the storm water treatment regulation changes they are proposing and then immediately following open a public hearing to take comments on the proposed changes.

The Financial Planning Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday. No agenda is available for this meeting at this time.

A friendly reminder also that there is a poll question open until June 25th. It arose from the discussions amongst the comments on the Milford Daily News. The question can be found on the front page of FM. The story behind the question can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-if-poll-fixed.html

As I close the 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 and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission

I hope you enjoy!

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to listen to the audio podcast.

Downtown Consignment

Updated 5/17/11 - sometime in the past couple of months, Downtown Consignment moved to an unknown location in Plainville. The Franklin Art Association now has a gallery in this location.

Downtown Consignment is open for business. Conveniently located in the Berry Building, the mother/daughter operation provides brand name items for 60-70% less than the original price tag.

They accept the items on consignment for 60 days. Each item must be a brand name and either still new with the tag or gently used.

Sections of the store cover women's, men's children's clothing. They also have shoes, jewelry and designer bags.

Stop it sometime. I found them open during the Strawberry Festival last week and returned to talk with Maureen Parkinson, (the mother) co-owner with Jennifer Connolly (the daughter).

Downtown Consignment are new members of the Franklin Downtown Partnership.

Franklin, MA