Boulter was one of about 35 students who explored the pros and cons of solar panels, geothermal heating, green roofs and ways to improve bathrooms with low-flush toilets, automatic hand driers and motion-activated faucets at an event at the school yesterday.
"All of these things we're seeing on projects," said Christopher Alles, a project manager at the School Building Authority, mentioning the school's coming upgrades. "This gets students thinking about green design."
Students rarely take such an active role in researching such ideas, Alles said, with parents, town officials and administrators normally proposing them.
While concepts such as geothermal heat may not be possible in Franklin, project designers are considering some of the students' proposals, including making bathrooms more environmentally friendly, Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting said.I love this collaboration. This is a great practical educational opportunity. Read more about the student work in the Milford Daily News here
After this week's bills are tallied, Franklin Department of Public Works Director Robert "Brutus" Cantoreggi said he expects the town to have spent $500,000 to $550,000 of its $750,000 snow removal budget.
"I am concerned," he said. "It hasn't been a good winter to save money. ... We've had over 43 inches of snow in Franklin, and that's what we normally get in a year."
Cantoreggi experimented with only applying salt to main streets and hills earlier in the season to reduce costs. But 50 residents called with complaints about slippery patches in other areas. Public works crews then salted those stretches, he said.
The entire town needed to be salted for Wednesday's storm because the snow was heavy, making it difficult to scrape the roads clear with plows, he said.
