Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Live reporting - Action items

G. LICENSE TRANSACTIONS
Franklin CafĂ© & Grill – New All Alcoholic Beverages Restaurant License
motion to approve, passed 8-0

H. PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS - none

I. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS - none

J. LEGISLATION FOR ACTION
1. Resolution 11-01: Acceptance of Gifts –Fallen Heroes Signs
motion to approve, passed 8-0
thanks to Rose Turco for putting this together, to Chris Feeley and the Rotary Club for their contributions

2. Resolution 11-02: Acceptance of Gifts – Council on Aging
motion to approve, passed 8-0


3. Resolution 11-03: Acceptance of Gift – Recreation
motion to approve, passed 8-0


4. Resolution 11-04: Acceptance and Grant of Easements: Franklin Center Commons I and Abutting Town-Owned Land  motion to approve, passed 8-0



Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Town Council

Present: Kelly, Jones, Vallee, Whalen, Mason, Pfeffer, Zollo, Powderly
Absent: McGann

A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – December 1, 2010 and December 8, 2010
motion to approve, passed 8-0

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS
The meeting is recorded by Verizon, Comcast and Franklin Matters

C. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS

D. CITIZEN COMMENTS - none

E. APPOINTMENTS
Franklin Recycling Committee, Amanda Costa
Motion to approve, passed 8-0



Franklin, MA

Calling all snowmen!

Mary Olsson sent this to me to share with you.



Thanks Mary! I am looking forward to doing a snow angel. I haven't done one yet this season.

If you get to do a snow angel, take a photo and send the photo to shersteve at gmail dot com. I'll collect the photos of snow angels or snow men and post them here.


Franklin, MA

"half-day or tuition-based program would not save the district money"

"The impact of going to a half-day program would ... lead to a reduction in our foundation budget, which would significantly impact our Chapter 70 money," Goodman said, adding the district's foundation budget for kindergarten is $3.4 million for this school year.
Goodman said it is too early in the budget process to determine exactly how much money Franklin would lose by switching programs.
The district might save money in fiscal 2012 because next year's state aid is determined using October 2010 enrollment, but Franklin would likely lose money in subsequent years, Goodman said.
"This analysis really shows, at least from my perspective, that over the long run financially it's a loser," School Committee member Ed Cafasso said. "The financial evidence is fairly overwhelming that one year of savings would be wiped out every other year." 



Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here

Review the notes from the full School Committee meeting (including the presentation document on kindergarten) here


Franklin, MA

"It's too dense"

Joel D'Errico proposed 10 single-bedroom apartments for the building in November, but told the Planning Board Monday he plans to build eight apartments instead. The new building would supplement an existing 10-apartment building.
The reduction may not appease many neighbors who said the building is still too large for the lot at the corner of Summer and Winter streets.
"It's inappropriate for the neighborhood," said Robert Landry, who has lived on Summer Street for 65 years. "There'd be too many cars. It's too big of a building, and it's not conforming with the neighborhood."
D'Errico said his development is a good fit since 21 of 31 residential lots in the area have multifamily buildings. One of those properties has 28 apartments, he said.
"The neighborhood character is 2-to-1 multifamily," he said. "It's changed. It's not what it was 50 years ago."



Franklin, MA

School Committee 01/11/11

The collection of posts from the School Committee meeting Jan 11, 2011 can be found here:






Franklin, MA

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Live reporting - Closing

There is no school for Wednesday!


5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report

School Committee Sub-Committee Reports

  • Space needs scheduled for Jan 25th
  • Budget workshop scheduled for Jan 29th 8:30 AM to 12:00
  • Policy subcommittee working on the bullying policy

School Committee Liaison Reports

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

  • Trivia Bee - March 10th, general trivia

7.Executive Session
Contractual Negotiations

Motion to enter executive session, via roll call 7-0




Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Action items

4. Action Items
a. I recommend acceptance of a check for $600.00 from the ECDC PCC for supplies.
motion to approve, passed 7-0

b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $1,000.00 from the Davis Thayer PCC for Library books.
motion to approve, passed 7-0


c. I recommend acceptance of two checks ($200 & $50) for the Jacqueline Schaeffer Theatre Arts Memorial Scholarship at FHS. motion to approve, passed 7-0


d. I recommend approval of the request of the FHS Music Dept. to take the Jazz band and workshop to New Hampshire for the UNH Clark Terry Jazz Festival on Saturday, March 12, 2011 as detailed.
motion to approve, passed 7-0


e. I recommend acceptance of the anonymous gift of used books for the Oak Street Elementary School.
motion to approve, passed 7-0


f. I recommend acceptance of a check for $50.00 from the Insurance Store for Keller Elementary School in-house enrichment.  motion to approve, passed 7-0


g. I recommend acceptance of a check for $50.00 from an ECDC parent for supplies.  motion to approve, passed 7-0




Franklin, MA


Live reporting - policy update

Policy – First Reading - BEDA: Notification of School Committee Meeting
updating the policy to account for the recent Open Meeting law changes

motion to move to second reading, passed 7-0



Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Community engagement

3. Discussion Only Items
Community Engagement

Cafasso - antiquated platform needs to be replaced in order to update the website itself
the parent survey from 2005 was in the packet (and published on Franklin Matters)
seek the full committee guidance to update the survey
try to update the survey as faithfully as possible to create valid comparisons to the other survey
gather info on perceptions of topics parents would like to be informed on
Use SurveyMonkey to automate the survey process, web based, easy to use and flexible

New front end to schools website by July 1

Next steps, Ed to draft survey questions for review and input


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Kindergarten

d. Budget Update - Kindergarten

428 students in K, moving to half day would be counted as 214 FTE
enrollment decreases by half, determines the foundation budget
$3.4 million for full day, $1.7 million for half-day or tuition based

Foundation budget - Req'd Local Contribution = Chap 70 Aid
Impact of moving to half-day would not be seen until FY 2013

Shifts the burden of a currently state funded program to the local taxpayers

Cafasso - this is an issue that has been kicked around, the analysis shows over the long run, it is loser. With a working community like Franklin, there would be reputational damage.

Rohrbach - we have batted this idea around a lot. We had two first graders who showed us what kindergarten can do for us.

Roy - the evidence is overwhelming, we just can't do this in a prudent way. Thank you for doing this early in the process. I'd rather know this up front.

Sabolinski - this would create another structural deficit down the road.

Glynn - why does another district do this?
Goodman - they may be starting from nothing and going to half day, where we would be loosing the foundation budget as I noted earlier. Other districts may not be in the same situation


Financial Impact of Half Day or Tuition Based K




Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Health program update K-5

Guests and Presentations
c. K-5 Health Program
Kristen Cerce, Michele Kingsland Smith

Kristen has taken on the leadership role for health and physical ed this year

incorporating aspects of the following programs into the overall health curriculum
HEAT - Healthy Eating and Active Time from Tufts Univ.
Bullying curriculum

"Bone of the week"
difference between strength and cardio-vascular training
allergies and asthma
substance abuse and prevention
mental health, incorporated into many of the units (e.g. dealing with stress)

90/10 health/physical
next year to be 50/50

development time being provided to complete the curriculum

Franklin, MA

Live reporting - Harry Potter re-write

2. Guests/Presentations
b. Harry Potter Re-write – Davis Thayer
Debbie Taylor (Teacher) and students Katie Sumner and Reilly Deforge



Franklin, MA


Live reporting - FHS Girl's Soccer Team

2. Guests/Presentations
a. FHS Girls Soccer Team


Coach Tom Geysen, School Committee Chairman Jeff Roy, and members of the team


Franklin, MA

Live reporting - School Committee Meeting

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

1. Routine Business
Citizen’s Comments - none
Review of Agenda - no adjustments
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the open and executive sessions of the December 14, 2010 School Committee Meeting. motion to approve, passed 7-0
1. Payment of Bills Mr. Glynn  motion to approve, passed 7-0
2. Payroll Mrs. Douglas
3. FHS Student Representatives
4. Correspondence
- Budget to Actual



Franklin, MA