Providing accurate and timely information about what matters in Franklin, MA since 2007. * Working in collaboration with Franklin TV and Radio (wfpr.fm) since October 2019 *
Nearby Franklin also rejected an override in June that would have raised about $3 million for municipal and school expenses. The high school has since increased user fees to $200 from last year's $125, Athletic Director Brad Sidwell said.
"It's like everything in education," he said. "You have costs that are rising, and a lot of them are contractual."
Cross country, indoor and outdoor track athletes in Franklin pay $175 per season.
It was too early to measure this year's participation rates, Sidwell said. The track programs, which cover the students' physical education requirement, are having growing popularity last year.
The percentage of the athletic program's annual budget funded through athletic fees and game receipts "has certainly gone up," Sidwell said.
This is the layout of the booths for the Harvest Festival sponsored by the Franklin Downtown Partnership. The Harvest Festival will be held on Sunday, Sep 26 2010 from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Note: the map is not to scale but is meant to provide a good idea of the layout of the booths and exhibits at the Harvest Festival. You can print a copy to take with you to the Festival.
Greetings Franklin! Did you recognize what type of plant last week's mystery flower belongs to?
If you said "grass" you are correct!
I'm a little embarrassed to say that I'm not sure which type of grass this is. I had thought it was big bluestem, Andropogon gerardi, but I lost the plant tag. Drat. At any rate, it's a native grass that I bought from Garden in the Woods a few years back, and it has been a show-stopper in my garden ever since.
This particular native grass grows into a very tall clump, that, as you can see, is currently almost as tall as me. But native grasses come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, quite a few of which are fun for gardens as well as good for wildlife.
You may not have ever thought before about grass having flowers, but grass is a type of flowering plant. You just have to look closely to see the flowers.
You typically don't see flowers on mowed lawns because the grass needs to reach a taller height in order to produce flowers.
Native grasses aren't typically used in lawns. However, unlike the imported lawn grasses, native grasses handle our native growing conditions far better than their lawn counterparts. The grass I show above, for instance, remained emerald green throughout this summer's drought, even though I hardly ever watered it.
The next time you find yourself in a unmowed area, have a look at the grass, and see if you can't spot the flowers.
Here is next week's native plant:
Here is a hint: the fruit is a lot more interesting than the flowers.
In the first 12 hours of the posting, just over 50 people visited the link, and 25 contributed to the survey. At this point, the survey results are split 13-No, 12-Yes.
New Census data show Massachusetts leads nation in health care coverage; poverty rises nationally while federal assistance softens blow
September 16, 2010
The U.S. Census Bureau today released data on health insurance and poverty rates for 2009. Two new fact sheets by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center examine the data.
Massachusetts Still a Leader in Health Coverage
reports on Census Bureau data indicating Massachusetts health care coverage still leads the nation. Nationally, health care coverage is declining.
Using a multi-year average, the Census data estimate that in the 2007-2009 period, Massachusetts had a health insurance coverage rate of 94.9 percent -- more than any other state in the nation. The closest state to Massachusetts was Hawaii, with health insurance coverage of 92.2 percent. Texas, on the other hand, covered only 74.5 percent of its population during the 2007-2009 period.
The state's insurance rate of 94.9 percent demonstrates the impact of the Massachusetts health reform law implemented in April 2006.
(Today's data are useful for examining national trends. On Sept. 28, the Census Bureau will release data that will allow for more accurate state-level analysis.)
As a result of the Great Recession, the year 2009 saw a significant increase in the national poverty rate. The poverty rate rose to 14.3 percent in 2009 from 13.2 percent in 2008, the Census data show. The poverty rate would have risen even further had it not been for key public benefit programs and the expansions made to them under the 2009 Recovery Act. Unemployment insurance benefits alone kept 2.3 million individuals out of poverty in 2009, the data show.
On Sept. 28, the Census will release the 2009 American Community Survey, which provides reliable, single-year data on poverty at the state level, including for Massachusetts.
See MassBudget'sBudget Browser to explore Massachusetts state budgets from Fiscal Year 2001 to the present, as well as budget proposals offered by the Governor and the Legislature.
MassBudget provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies, as well as economic issues, with particular attention to the effects on low- and moderate-income people.
The Franklin Downtown Partnership has opened a survey to gather input on the proposal to change the traffic pattern downtown from 1-way to 2-way on Main St.
Note: As a member of the Downtown Partnership, I helped to revamp the website. Many thanks to my daughter Allison for her assistance with the website header. The individual photos were taken by Lisa Piana, Terri Frank, and myself. Allison 'magically' put them together with the Partnership logo for us.
Construction on Wachusett Street is currently focused away from King St and the Parmenter School. Be aware of restrictions in the area. The construction crews do move fairly quickly.
For me, the best statement for the impact of class size on educational test results comes from Jane Hyman, the Jefferson Elementary School Principal, in the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Sep 14.
One group of students was in the 3rd grade two years ago. Only three class rooms available for this group resulted in high class size, the MCAS results showed they did not meet the AYP guidelines.
Same group, the next year with four class rooms, they did meet the AYP guidelines (which also increased from year to year).
The same group, this year is back in three class rooms. With a return to large class sizes and the fear is that the AYP will not be met.
5. Information Matters Superintendent’s Report a. Enrollment Update
Davis Thayer - only elementary school with an increase, most data showing moving from town, i.e. relocations
middle schools also lost students
high school did gain, some were returns from private school, others were incoming moves from other area
b. Personnel as mentioned earlier, all positioned filled with exception of special ed at the Parmenter School
Rachel's challenge - Oct 27th at Annie Sullivan from Sheriff Belloti's office
current students at the high school have no recollection of Columbine
School Committee Sub-Committee Reports - none School Committee Liaison Reports - none
6. New Business To discuss future business that may be brought before the School Committee. Cafasso - away at an offsite and will miss the Sep 28th meeting
Trahan - Casino Night coming up in Nov
Glynn - also will miss the Sep 28th meeting
Run for Bob - Oct 2nd at the former Putnam facilities off Washington/Grove Sts
4. Action Items a. I recommend approval of the Elementary School’s School Improvement Plans as detailed. motion to accept, passed 7-0 b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $252.00 from Wells Fargo Community Support Campaign for In-house enrichment at FHS. motion to accept, passed 7-0 c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $252.00 from Wells Fargo Matching Gifts Foundation for in-house enrichment at FHS. motion to accept, passed 7-0 d. I recommend acceptance of two checks, $50.00 from Sylvia Ficco and $500.00 from Georgia D’Errico from the Class of 1960 for the FHS Scholarship account. motion to accept, passed 7-0 e. I recommend acceptance of a check for $50.00 from Martha Akers from the Class of 1960 for in-house enrichment at FHS. motion to accept, passed 7-0 f. I recommend acceptance of a check for $91.43 from Follett Educational Services for supplies for Jefferson Elementary School. motion to accept, passed 7-0 g. I recommend acceptance of a check for $27.74 from Olympia Sports for in-house enrichment for the FHS. motion to accept, passed 7-0
3. Discussion Only Items Update on Opening of School It was eye opening to hear the parental/community feedback to the police on opening day, they were not nice and kids were in the car, the police were doing all they could do Mr Nutting has been helpful in addressing the construction on Wachusett St in particular
Administration getting lessons in making bus passes, person out on an emergency personal leave
Transportation Update (numbers to be added later) bus counts underway, there is a wait list, once the numbers have been finalized, we can try to use the wait list
Superintendent Evaluation Process
propose to have Mullen meet with Sabolinski to go over the goals, etc.
that data then would come back to us for review and discussion
2010-2011 first year not running a language program in the middle schools
primarily due to the unfunded mandate from the State on the bullying requirements
developed the health program to include the bullying initiatives
switched the 3.8 teachers in the middle school from language to health
Issue with the cutting of Latin due to the trouble finding qualified teachers
9 Latin teachers came and went
At the High School
AP French is back after two years without being offered
AP scores have been stable, hovering around 3
last year, the Spanish scores improved to 3.75
French and Spanish saw updated curriculum at the high school
Developed a scope and sequence for the middle school Spanish program during August
Participated in the presentation from Rosetta Stone
ranging from $100/student to approx. $50,000 for the district as a whole
survey underway to assess desire for a Latin Club possibly to use this program
34 high performing districts were identified across MA
data was updated to include the Hockomock league school districts
From the report:
According to the 2010 DESE data: None of the 41* districts currently offer an elementary program. 22 districts eliminated their middle school program since 2008; Decrease of 35.3%. Spanish and French are still the predominant languages offered at the middle level (9 of 12 districts). Latin is offered in 6 of 12 middle schools. Chinese is offered in 1 district. The number of middle school programs offering two or more language studies was decreased by 30.7%, from 26 districts in 2008 to 8 districts in 2010. 90.2% of the districts offer French, Spanish and Latin at the high school level (37 districts); Increase of 13.8%. The number of districts offering four or more language studies at the high school remains stable: 16 districts (39%) vs. 13 districts (38.2%) in 2008. The average 2010 FTE per predominant language: o Chinese - 0.86 FTE, 11 districts o French - 1.98 FTE, 35 districts o Spanish - 4.06 FTE, 40 districts o Latin -1.22 FTE, 24 district
Cafasso - one of the best, most comprehensive report I have seen in my years here, thanks for the effort that went into this. To be able to go back and read this to see what had been happening. If foreign language were an MCAS subject, then perhaps we wouldn't be seeing this.
Sabolinski - we do firmly believe in foreign language, if there is an influx of cash we would restore these program to the elementary and middle schools
Trahan - great job, it will be good for the community to read and review
Mullen - Did I read that level 2 could be offered at Freshman
Sabolinski - it could be, the Charter School is one of our feeder schools with strong French students
Kingsland-Smith - we have had issues with personnel so if we can get the right folks we can do what we would like
Rohrbach - unfortunately our reductions are on pare with what other communities are doing across the state
Cafasso - what are the requirements for elementary, middle and high school?
Kingsland-Smith - content degree in the Classics as well as subject certification in each language
Sabolinksi - We do that, BU is one where we go directly on campus. We go to PC, they have a classic program. BC, Brown.
You can know the subject matter but if you don't know how to reach out to the students, they that doesn't help
HM - 59, AS - 17, Remington - 26
the numbers will change depend upon the day chosen, could it be scheduled at each middle school on different days? to offer the students an option, clearly dependent upon the parent or other transportation provided.
Sabolinski - DESE on a conference call confirmed that there is a trend in finding less qualified foreign language teachers