Live reporting - Closing

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report
a. Parmenter – Wachusett Street Construction
The front access loop is currently impassible, meeting with DPW and Town Administrator on Wednesday


There are 153 new students in the district, there was a line down the hall at the high school today, students who had been at the private high schools are returning


The bus routes are being posted, 
there were three buses eliminated per the budget discussion to save $120,000
Stops were added other bus routes
Some routes will be longer than last year due to the additional stops

• Remington, bus 29 eliminated, stops added to buses 1, 10, 11, 14
• Horace Mann, bus 30 eliminated, stops added to buses 15 and 22
• Parmenter, bus 5 eliminated, stops added to bus 22 and 23
• Keller, bus 24 eliminated, stops to bus 2 
• Jefferson, bus 21, stops added to buses 15 and 26

middle school buses are at about 95% capacity
elementary buses are at 75% capacity
bus counts will be taken the third week in Sep
bus counts will be taken more frequently
Late bus will be up and running for the middle and high school students


Pay to ride, currently just about where they were last year about 1591, expecting an increase but only where capacity exists.


Cafasso - can we utilize the existing media to communicate to the PCC's? We need to keep the parents aware. I would like to see in Oct.


Ridership mostly middle/high school for the pay-to-ride

School Committee Sub-Committee Reports 
budget subcommittee met to start discussing FY 2012
if there is any input, like to see things different from last year, let Sue know


policy subcommittee continuing to work through the manual
will be bringing forward


School Committee Liaison Reports
none
6. New Business
To discuss future business that may be brought before the School Committee.


Roy - received a book from C Geromini "The Death and Life of the Great American School System"
Trahan - wishing a safe new beginning to the new year to all the students, faculty, etc.

7. Executive Session
Contractual Negotiations


moving to executive session, passed 7-0

8. Adjourn



Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Action items

4. Action Items
a. I recommend acceptance of the Franklin High School’s Handbook as presented at the last meeting.

motion to accept, passed 7-0

b. I recommend acceptance of the District Improvement Plan as presented at the last meeting.

motion to accept, passed 7-0

c. I recommend acceptance of the Horace Mann, Remington and Annie Sullivan Middle School’s School Improvement Plans as presented.

motion to accept, passed 7-0

d. I recommend approval of the Budget Transfers as detailed.

motion to accept, passed 7-0

e. I recommend acceptance of the Middle Schools Handbooks as presented at the last meeting.

motion to accept, passed 7-0

f. I recommend acceptance of the Elementary Schools Handbooks as presented at the last meeting.
motion to accept, passed 7-0


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Discussion only items

Added charge to the Space Needs subcommittee

Have the district changes in population shift the district has seen sufficient to re-district
are the changes sufficient to consider going to a half-day kindergarten

We are talking about a possible re-districting for the next school year 2011-2012

Sabolinksi - The kindergarten committee will be prepared for input to the Space Needs Subcommittee

Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Middle School Improvement Plans

2. Guests/Presentations
a. Middle School’s School Improvement Plans

Annie Sullivan - Principal, Beth Wycoff
a continuation and update of items from prior years, continuing what is going well
adding and adjusting to areas that need to be to continue to make progress
Made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) with hard work, continuing to devote effort to maintain that progress
added the bullying policy to the handbooks and to the objectives

Horace Mann - Interim Principal, Michael Levine
Speaking to the effort although not from direct and detailed exposure due to his new role
Gave thanks to those who helped prepare him for this

Remington - Principal, Paul Peri
Did meet AYP in math subgroups but did not meet AYP in the English areas
There are six performance ratings, all the schools in Franklin are in the highest category
Due to this high category a drop of a few points is not doom and gloom, there is work to be done and efforts are underway to provide the progress to meet AYP

Cafasso - looking at the enrollment for the middle schools, enrollment overall is down at all three schools but there are spikes in specific grades. Can you talk to us about class sizes and where you have concerns? Where are the pain points?

Wycoff- I am concerned about by 6th Grade class sizes. We lost a position so the class sizes are going up to 28-29. That is a deep concern for us. Took every class list and even out the classes manually. I think the other grades are managable but not what we had when I came here. I'd like to get back to the class sizes where we could have 18-22.

Peri - You can get in to the low 30's in the Unified arts classes. We are looking for additional furniture from one room to move to another where needed. We are relying on everyone in the building to come together.

Levine - 32% have class sizes over 25, the bulk in the 6th grade; 26, 27 ... The teachers change their strategies to accommodate the individualized instruction. As this gets to the heart of our success, this is an issue.

Glynn - With the changes in class size, how does this affect the performance?

Peri - there is a correlation between class size and goal performance. The goal is to hit 100% in 2014.
Wycoff - something gives at some point. We have all of these other factors, students in warning but not making progress, are we moving the advanced up as much as we are capable of. At some point, when you have these numbers in the classroom, something gives. We have done quite well here in Franklin. The dam will break but not because there is a valiant effort. To accommodate three extra bodies, you can't understand unless you are in the room with them.
Levine - I'll just add that when I started teaching, this was the discussion. I won't say when I started. There was evidence to suggest that smaller class sizes do create better performance. We need to do as much as we can to decrease class size.

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 - added Space Needs Subcommittee report to Discussion Only Items
Minutes: I recommend approval of the Open and Executive Session minutes from the August 10, 2010 School Committee Meeting. Motion to accept, passed 7-0
Payment of Bills Mr. Glynn Motion to accept, passed 7-0
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives-  none this meeting, next time
Correspondence - none

Franklin, MA

the opportunity is now

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana 

Why am I on this kick about the School Committee/Administration and the District Improvement Plan?

And if by chance, you missed that, I talked about it here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/school-committee-say-it-isnt-so.html

and here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/08/well-take-money-thank-you.html


I worked with wonderful folks on the Steering Committee to develop the Strategic Plan for the Franklin Public Schools. That overall strategy plan is now being further detailed with specific actions and follow up items to bring us toward the vision of what the schools should be.

The history of Franklin voters funding education is terrible. One operational override has passed of the seven offered. The one that passed was clearly a town-wide effort to save operations across the board (fire, police, Library and schools). Each one that failed was essentially for the schools. Although there were other departmental effects, the bulk of the funding for the six failures was for the schools.

Hence, one could argue that Franklin doesn't fund the schools.

Hence, given the opportunity to put together the details for the strategic plan, one would expect a considerable focus on communications, outreach, etc.

As I have outlined already, the bulk of the work on the District Improvement Plan is there. The issue is relatively minor in that the parents, the PCC organizations were left out of the District Improvement Plan in the key section to increase awareness of the school funding priorities. The community is included in the high school renovation project. It had better be. The community is excluded from the budget process and that is where I raise the issue.

Given the history of Franklin funding education, given the methods the School Committee and Administration have used to communicate, something needs to be changed.

Hence the George Santayana quote.

The time for change is now.


Franklin, MA

We'll take the money, thank you

As a follow up to the School Committee's action item on the District Improvement Plan, I went back through the agendas for the calendar year 2010. (Yes, the calendar year as opposed to the school year.) The PCC donations to the School Committee resulted in 22 separate actions for a total of $49,549.85.


The full listing of the 22 donations according to the published agendas for the period from Jan 1, 2010 through Aug 24, 2010 can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1WPDUuqdM2Aa5etpgqRKkNIxGUljx7vYIwwmPpYxat_A&hl=en#


Will the School Committee/Administration modify the District Improvement Plan to include the parents, especially the PCC organizations? Come to the meeting, or at least tune in to see what happens.


The School Committee meets Tuesday, Aug 24th at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers at the Municipal Bldg, East Central St.


You can tune into either Comcast or Verizon to see the cable broadcast or from your PC follow this link to view the broadcast.


Franklin, MA

In the News - Brendan Rigby, water ban lifted

No summer off for Franklin grad

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

Franklin water ban lifted

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

Franklin, MA

Survey reminder

Friendly reminder that the current survey or poll question is still open for your input until Friday August

WOULD YOU PAY APPROX. $70 TO PUT THE UTILITIES UNDERGROUND?

You can find the survey question on the top of Franklin Matters and in the center column above the calendar.

Franklin, MA

Real time reporting - Planning Board - 8/23/10

Hockomock Y addition
The Hockomock YMCA at Forge Park is looking for a limited site plan and approval for an addition of approx. 1300 sq ft on the first floor and another 2500 sq ft on the second floor. The additions are meant to expand the teen and wellness programs. The Y has already made four or five "limited site plans" over the years so there is an issue as to whether they should come forward with a full site plan. There is also an issue and discussion on the parking available. There are only 202 parking spaces available and parking for some periods finds space along both access roads creating a safety hazard.

Me: if they have lost membership (a decline from 12,000 to approx 10,500 since 2007) part of the reason could be the economy but part of the reason could be the hassle getting to the facility (i.e. parking). Getting a competitive program should address parking as much as it should the programs offered.

The Board did approve that the Y could proceed with a "limited site plan" and the Y will return in two weeks with additional information.

Item D/E
D'Addario Hardware - Board approved moving forward with a limited site plan for adding a temporary storage container.
Ryan Development - related to D'Addario as they own the property, this limited site plan is for the paving of the land to accommodate the container for D'Addario. Both limited site plans were approved.

Item F
Franklin Place Senior Village - permit extension approved

(to be continued)

Note: headline (title) was adjusted to reflect my own policy of using "live" to reflect when I am in the room and "real time" when I am reporting while it happens but via the cable feed. My reporting got interrupted so I'll catch the remainder when the video replay is available.


Franklin, MA

In the News - school food

Keeping up with tastes of Franklin students

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

Franklin, MA

School Committee - say it isn't so!

The School Committee reviewed the District Improvement Plan at their last meeting on August 10. As one of the contributors to the Steering Committee that developed the Strategic Plan, it was good to see the mission, vision, and values fleshed out with detailed action steps and follow up status points.

There is one significant omission. It was also noticed by one of the eagle eye readers here as well so I wasn't the only one to catch it.

The District Improvement Plan: The last goal statement was built on the core value that the community provides resources for learning. Resources in this case is not just funding and the Strategic Value was worded carefully:

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

From this value, the goal statement is worded as:

GOAL STATEMENT: The community will collaborate to provide the financial resources to support the educational program.

This gets to the heart of the matter. For whatever reason (economic times, lack of trust, or just 'no more', etc.) the Franklin voters have spoken to deny the schools the funding the School Committee/Administration claims is required for the education of our children. One would expect that this issue, how to better engage the community, would receive a high priority and fortunately it does with the Value and Goal Statement as shown.

For this goal statement, the plan lists two learning objectives:

• Administrators will collaborate with School Committee to develop and implement a budget
• The FPS Administration will collaborate with town and community to address FHS facility needs

What is the omission?
Where are the parents? Where is the Parent Communication Council (PCC)?

Don't you think that the parents should be involved in the process? Shouldn't the parents (especially in their role as voters) be involved in the planning and communications around the educational priorities?

Shouldn't there be an objective to reach out to the parents (and other groups in the community) to improve the information and awareness of the school budget and priorities?

Is it just me or is the School Committee/Administration missing the boat?

Why is this an issue?
The School Committee agenda for Tuesday, August 24 has an action item:

• I recommend acceptance of the District Improvement Plan as presented at the last meeting.

The operative wording is "as presented" and not "as modified based upon feedback from the presentation and discussion". And if the action item was just written incorrectly but the document had actually changed, that could be considered a typo or oversight. But the document as distributed with the School Committee packet did not change.

Say it isn't so!


The action item and District Improvement Plan can be found here:

SchCom_20010824_ActionB

The 'final' Strategic Plan
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/live-reporting-strategic-plan.html

Strategic Plan Steering Committee
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/01/live-reporting-steering-committee-for.html

Strategic Plan presentation to Town Council
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2009/04/slidecast-strategic-plan-overview-audio.html


Franklin, MA

Franklin, MA: Planning Board - 08/23/10 - Agenda

The current agenda for the Planning Board meeting scheduled for Aug 23, 2010.

Franklin, MA: Planning Board Agenda 08-23-10



Franklin, MA

Woodrow L. Abbott Field House

Let's reach out and draw from your memory banks on this one:


Apparently, the high school field house was once named the "Woodrow L. Abbott Field House" and then about 10 years ago (or so) the sign was removed and hence referred to as the Franklin High School Field House.


Who was Woodrow L Abbott?


Why was the change made?


You can send me an email or respond in the comments.


Thanks!



Franklin, MA

Catch basin does its thing

Coming down Upper Union St to the newly redesigned corner at King St, the catch basin (or rain garden?) is doing its thing along the side of the road.

MassHighway, now a Division of MA DOT is responsible for this construction which won't be completed until Summer of 2010. You can find out project status on the MA DOT website here


Franklin, MA