Ditch the standards!

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which is appointed by the governor but operates independently, will decide today whether to postpone the vote, state education officials said. Reville said he could not predict if board members would comply with the request.

State education officials have been exploring the possibility of adopting the national standards for more than a year, a controversial proposition for a state known to have some of the most rigorous academic standards in the nation.

The national standards, which Massachusetts officials helped to develop, specify what material should be taught in English and math at every grade level. The voluntary effort was spearheaded by associations representing the nation’s governors and state education leaders and has received the support of President Obama, who is now pushing states to adopt the standards by offering financial incentives.

Read the full article in the Boston Globe here:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/07/21/education_board_urged_to_delay_vote_on_new_standards/

The Franklin School Committee blog posted on this earlier and you can read that here:
 http://franklinschoolcommittee.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/massachusetts-education-chief-supports-national-standards/

Picking up on the creativity idea in Jeff Roy's posting, I encourage you to read through the Newsweek article he references.

I would rather see us ditch the standards, which end up requiring schools to teach to the test and go for more creative approaches. A TED Talk video I posted here in June makes great points on this subject:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/everything-is-possible.html


Franklin, MA

School signs

A couple of the local school signs have been updated with the summer message:

and Parmenter welcomes their new Principal, Tom Morris:

Enjoy!


Franklin, MA

Hopkinton Networking Group - Jul 23 meeting

I'm on LinkedIn, now what?

That will be the subject of an interactive presentation I'll lead at the Hopkinton Networking Group meeting on Friday. I did the presentation before and will update some of the photos to keep the presentation fresh. The text will remain pretty much the same. The delivery and interaction will be up to those participating.


I want to make sure that your questions will be answered. I want to make sure that you'll be able to walk away with something specific to do.


1 - If you want to attend, the meeting details are as follows:  


When: Friday, July 23 from 10:00 AM - Noon
Where: St John's Evangelist Parish Center, 20 Church St, Hopkinton
Cost: $1 donation requested


2 - If you have a LinkedIn question you would like answered, please let me know.



Franklin, MA

In the News - search ends

Search for Franklin man ends

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

Franklin, MA

Engage with your government

The role of government as a service for the people should be an ongoing discussion. The Franklin Charter should be coming up for a decision by the voters of Franklin this November.

Changes to government at the State level impact what happens here in Franklin. Changes to the government at the Federal level also trickle down to impact what happens here. If you want to get involved on the Federal level:

The Federal Communications Commission is holding two dialogs with the public:

• Future of Media Forum – Join in the discussion to help ensure that all Americans have access to vibrant, diverse sources of news and information that will enable them to enrich their families,  communities and democracy.
• Reboot.FCC.gov Forum – Join the discussion to help improve the Federal Communications Commission. Your suggestions, ideas and comments will be part of a public discussion that furthers FCC reform. 

You can view more dialogs with the government at USA.gov.

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More info on the Franklin charter changes can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/07/in-news-charter-changes.html

Additional info will be posted as soon as it is available.


Franklin, MA

Affordable Housing Strategy and Development Plan

The Affordable Housing Plan document has been posted to the Franklin website. You can find it here:
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_Planning/ahs

At the bottom of this page, you'll find a link to the doc and a link to provide feedback on the document.

This document is scheduled for a hearing at the Town Council on Wednesday July 21 and at the Planning Board meeting Monday, July 26.


Franklin, MA

A visible budget cut

One of the budget items cut was weed control. The effects of this cut are now clearly visible along some of the main roads around Franklin.

Since Franklin voters have decided not to pull a few dollars out of their pocket to maintain services, maybe they will be to pull out their individual weed control implement and attack the portion in front of their property. Then there will need to be a "weed day" to attack the portions of the roads along the public spaces.


Franklin, MA