Tuesday, October 18, 2011

FHS Cabaret!!

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

via Pantherbook on 10/17/11

Get ready folks for a spectacular performance of song, dance, and most importantly, humor by our very own Franklin High students! Cabaret will be 7pm-9pm on both Tuesday the 18th and Thursday the 20th. Tickets will be $5 for students and $10 for adults. What is cabaret all about? Well there's going to be ridiculously fun [...]

Things you can do from here:

"It's not a philosophical difference. It's a funding issue"

The Milford Daily News article on Monday night's Joint Budget Subcommittee meeting reveals:

"I allocated the budget based on that answer," Powderly said. "If that answer was incorrect, I believe that if the chair of the School Committee is present for the question, he has the responsibility to fix the misperception." 
Roy, the chairman, said discussion about potential teacher raises began in January and that he had a presentation, with slides, prepared for the Town Council at that meeting in June, had they asked him that question. 
"I did not hear that question. No one on the School Committee answered that question," said Roy, who quoted the minutes and video of that meeting in saying he did not think the discussion was about the school budget. "No one asked a single question of anyone on the School Committee." 
Roy defended the raises, saying they were swapped for a promise from the union to negotiate without pre-conceived demands in the next contract, and to work on changing the salary table, which drives automatic teacher raises that he said the town can no longer afford.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1876835432/Franklin-Town-Council-says-promise-of-no-raises-was-made#ixzz1b7pO3iW3


My live reporting from this meeting is summarized here and here

Monday, October 17, 2011

What will happen Oct 26th remains unknown

The short version of the Joint Budget Subcommittee meeting held on Monday, Oct 17 (yes, even shorter than what I just published) I'll summarize as

  • both sides shared info
  • both sides learned of stuff they had not known before
  • both sides remain apart, agreeing to disagree
  • both sides have some passion about this topic (the shorter version I already published is sufficient for the "he said/she said" type recap, there is no value add in continuing this)

No one side can win this argument. The sad part is that there is a whole lot of good work on both sides that is now being put aside to make room for this discussion.

Bringing both sides back together to have a regular, civil, and detailed conversation is a must.

Two key points of the meeting:

  • The Town Council approved a budget in June that they did not know contained money for an increase to cover the teachers contract
  • The School Committee at the time of the budget did not have an agreement with the teachers and did not feel likely to have one but did have money in the budget to cover their 'known and anticipated' increases

Several events occurred since June to resolve the teacher contract while little or no communication was formally made between the Town Council and School Committee on this topic. All of which lead to the events of the contract announcement and the Council uproar... and leaves us where we are. Frustrated!

What will happen Oct 26th remains unknown.



Back story: The next Town Council meeting is Oct 26th. In case you missed it, the Town Council has re-opened the Fiscal Year 2012 budget in order to get the School Committee back to the table to talk since they did not show up to the prior Council meeting. At the close of this meeting (Oct 17th) the School Committee did say they would participate in the Oct 26th meeting.


Live reporting - Joint Budget Subcommittee - 10/17/11

Present: S Whalen, J Roy, J Nutting, P Mullen, S Rohrbach, S Gagne, M Goodman, S Winslow, M Sabolinski, C Creedon, E Cafasso, T Powderly, S Mason, J Roche, P McIntyre, A McCall (Milford Daily News)

Absent: (Not completely clear who are the members and who are the other participants)

Scott Mason announced that the meeting is being recorded by the Franklin Matters website.

Jeff Roy opens with a goal to explain what the School Committee has done, folks here to answer questions in detail. To find out what is scheduled for the upcoming budget hearing.

Discussion on the unfair labor practice charge filed on Oct 9, 2009. The charge stemmed from the change made to the high school schedule without the teacher union participation in the agreement. Started negotiations Oct 14, 2009. Grievance filed, budget workshop held. In middle of negotiations with teachers union, full team effort. First time an attorney was used to conduct the negotiations. All conversations were conducted by and through counsel at the table.

Discussion on the most difficult and costly part of the school budget is the contract steps and lanes. 13 rows (years) down one side of the table and several lanes across from Bachelor degree up to Doctoral degree. The table itself is pretty universal across school districts. Until a couple of years ago, the tables were not published. DESE has posted them on line. It is an occasion to review the salary structure. The School Committee posed a table change with 8 levels and bonus criteria in Sep 2010. Negotiations continued and litigation continued. We were not getting anywhere. We were on a path that was not good for the district.

Discussion on negotiation tactics, what could be said, what was legally bound to be 'quiet'. The unfair labor practice was dropped due to the schedule being changed. Settled May 16th. Budget hearing on Feb 11, 2011. Budget hearing to FinCom on May 9, 2011. Jan 18, 2011 started discussion with teachers on increases. The SchCom was cognizant of the folks feeling uneasy about an increase. There was a number of iterations along the way and neither side could come to terms. On Jun 6, 2011 within a quarter of a percent but no movement on either side.

Discussion on the impact of the Jun 16 announcement on fire fighters getting their 7.5% increase to the negotiation status. The fire fighters matched what had already been done for the three prior years. Actually, it was less than others got for the time period. School Committee would have appreciated notice before the announcement. Communication among the boards recognized as room for improvement.

Discussion on the Budget hearing question about whether the increase was in the budget or not. Slides were prepared answering those very questions. Questions were not asked of the SchCom.

Jeff Roy: The fact of getting passed the unfair labor practice, getting the agreement on negotiations around the schedule should get some notice. These are historic. The next deal will be arrived at with interested based bargaining.

Q - If the 1% increase is not a COLA what is it?

Jeff Roy - It is an increase. It is recognition that will less teachers and more students, still performing at a high performance level. It is called "in good faith".

Steve Whalen - One of the themes for interest based bargaining is that there is interest in both sides. While I respect your decision, I can still disagree with it. I don't see how giving the increase for nothing other than an intent to bargain is in the interests of both sides.

Jeff Roy - It was the right thing to do at the right time.

Tina Powderly - To hear these things laid out was good. The policy is in your purview. No question about it. We still have a funding problem. The horse has left the barn and I don't really have a good answer.

Discussion around again on the Town Council budget hearing. Premise on what was being passed from SchCom to Town Council (which wasn't). Clarification about the question on COLA's was answered incorrectly by the Town Administrator and let be answered incorrectly by the SchCom. The School Committee is not coming back to the Budget or the Town Council looking for an increase in funding to cover the contract increase as the money was in the budget that was approved.

The Town Council had a policy and it was acknowledged by the School Committee as a disagreement.

Jim Roche - I'll have to take some blame for the budget. Budget vs. actual should be in the budget book.

Jeff Roy - our packet before each meeting is sent out to those who ask for it. The Milford Daily News gets a copy Franklin Matters gets a copy (and for the record, the packet has not been delivered for several months).

Cafasso - If there is an intent to cut the SchCom budget on Oct 26th, let's it get on the table.

Discussion goes around again. The process has been triggered. There are no 2 councilors who agree on what to do about this, so there is no decision on what will be done.

Jim Roche - questions on special revenue and how the money is used. What are the fund balances? What should be in there?

Jeff Roy - fund balances are part of the packet. The funds are out there and available anytime you want to know. It has taken me seven or eight years to understand the end of year report and I won't profess to be an expert on it.

Jim Roche - Clarification is what is looked for. There are many moving parts. It is a pretty confusing budget.

Jeff Nutting - it is part of every budget in the Commonwealth, it is not something everyone sees or votes on.

Jeff Roy - the reporting requirements are incredible. Getting Miriam Goodman on board has helped tremendously.

Jim Roche - I remember one year where there was one line item for the School budget and I voted 'no' on it cause I couldn't tell what was in it. Things have improved a great deal. We need questions to be raised and answered easily.

Scott Mason - I have asked each councilor to consider the issue and what questions they would have. I will not be getting their input collectively as it would violate open meeting law before the meeting.

Jeff Roy - What would you like to prepare for the meeting? would you like a presentation? SchCom members to answer questions?

Scott Mason - Yes, all of the above. The concern of the Council is "how the increase is going to be funded on a go forward basis?"

No other questions so the meeting has ended.


Weekly summary

There is a weekly summary available. If you want to stay up with the news in one weekly dose, instead of the daily dose, you have this option.


You can visit Franklin Matters Weekly and subscribe via email or RSS feed.

The summary for the past week is found here
http://franklinmattersweekly.blogspot.com/2011/10/week-ending-oct-16-2011.html


In the News - Brunelli, hair salon, NCLB, local aid




Meet the Franklin Candidate: Philip Brunelli, Board of Health


Educators welcome No Child Left Behind reform plan




While no one from Franklin was mentioned in the No Child Left Behind article, we do find the following in an article on the increase in local aid coming from the Commonwealth that was just announced:

Franklin Town Council Vice Chairman Stephen Whalen said snow removal could be a good use for the money. Whalen cautioned that it should not be used for operating expenses or to pay salaries. 
"I kind of cringe when we get unexpected sources of funding from the state or any other entity," Whalen said. "I think it fuels the belief among some voters that whenever there's a shortfall in the operating budget, money will be quote-unquote found. It's very difficult to predict when the Legislature may throw a bone like this to the town."

 Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1876835125/Lawmakers-see-boost-in-local-aid#ixzz1b1wfhQbT

Sunday, October 16, 2011

World Food Day - 2011


"Never before has man had such capacity to control his own environment, to end thirst and hunger, to conquer poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and massive human misery."
~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy, before the UN General Assembly

Jeremy Irons on getting mad



Sign the petition to end hunger here
http://www.1billionhungry.org/


This Sunday, around your table in Franklin, have a conversation on where your food came from.
Join Oxfam America and make this World Food Day, Sunday October 16th, a cause for celebration and action! When we sit down to dinner every day, rarely do we realize that our meal depends on a global system that involves people both next door and across oceans. This World Food Day, Oxfam America is teaming up with allies across the USA and around the globe to encourage people to take a simple yet profound action. We’re asking you and thousands of others to dedicate your Sunday Dinner on October 16th to a conversation about where your food comes from, who is behind its cultivation and how we can make the food system more just and sustainable. Just click on www.oxfamamerica.org/worldfoodday We are all tied to a global food system that is broken. Yet there is a strong and growing movement of individuals and organizations working to repair and improve the system. In a world facing the challenges of the current famine in East Africa, constrained land and water, and an erratic climate, one of the best ways to combat global food insecurity is to invest in farmers and remove the barriers that limit their productivity. Creating this awareness is what a World Food Day Sunday Dinner is all about.


Desmond Tutu for World Food Day 2011 talks briefly in this video:




Join the many in Franklin looking to make a difference locally. Key among the groups making an effort in this area are the Franklin Food Pantry, the Community Gardens, the Farmers Market (Fridays on the Town Common) with help from the YMCA and the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation.
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Watery rain gardens

Yes, the rain gardens did catch some water.

Parmenter: rain garden gets wet!

The Parmenter School had some rain gardens installed as part of the effort to remove phosphorus from the Charles River. By catching the water and filtering it through some natural materials, the intent is to remove the phosphorous before it gets into the tributaries and into the Charles River. Additional rain gardens can be seen along the edge of the parking lot on Wachusett St for the ball fields at Fletcher Field.



Additional photos showing the construction of the rain gardens can be found here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_sherlock/4935285138/in/photostream/

and here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_sherlock/4934685201/in/photostream/

"It isn't something you can do overnight"


"It's good to get new ideas in there," said Sean Donahue, a 23-year-old first-time candidate for School Committee. "You have people who have been there for a really long time. I think it's just good to have new people, coming in with those new ideas." 
The full seven-member School Committee is up for election, with five incumbents running for their seats plus three fresh faces, as is the full nine-member Town Council, which has six incumbents running with six candidates who did not serve on the council in this last, two-year term. 
Three people are running for the two open seats on the Board of Health, only one of whom is an incumbent, all three incumbent constables are vying with two potential newcomers for their positions, and Jim Dacey, who has been the town's treasurer-collector for the past 12 years, has an opponent in former Planning Board member Mark Denommee. 
"There could be so much gained from having a new voice," said Denommee, who added that having someone in a position for such a long time "leads to some sort of complacency. We need a new set of eyes and a new set of ears in the Town Hall of Franklin."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/archive/x1876835019/Vast-field-of-candidates-in-Franklin#ixzz1awYNlGZe

In the News - Aucoin



Meet the Franklin Candidate: Richard Aucoin, Board of Health