Holiday Calendar
The Recycling Center will be open from 8 AM to 12 Noon on Saturday December 24th and Saturday December 31st.
Originally posted on the Franklin website here
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The town is still looking for two to three members of the public to serve on the committee.
Members appointed to the Master Plan Committee last night were Town Councilors Andrew Bissanti, Matthew Kelly and Jeffrey Roy, Planning Board member John Carroll, Conservation Commission member Jeffrey Livingstone, Public Land Use Committee member Timothy Twardowski, and James Esterbrook from the Department of Public Works.
“It would be nice to get two to three more people, to have diversity on the committee,” Town Administrator Jeffrey Roy said, noting that the various town committees are acceptably represented.
“The grant is going to be used to do a deep examination of our general education curriculum,” said Melissa Read, assistant vice president for academic affairs. “It’s all about the student learning. Are students learning what we want them to and what we believe they need to know in order to prepare for their next step?”
Read said that Dean College begins the process of re-examining its general education courses every five years, and rolls out the resulting changes so that there is continuous progress.
The difference this time around is that the $100,000 grant allows Dean to spend more time debating the advantages and disadvantages of changes, with faculty members as well as administration, and of helping faculty become adjusted to those changes with week-long summer and winter training sessions, called “institutes.”
Food Pantry Executive Director Anne Marie Bellavance, Partnership President Nicole Fortier, and Head Food Elves Cameron and Melissa Piana (left to right) at the Franklin Food Pantry. |
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Andrew Bissanti – Town Council
John Carroll – Planning Board
Jim Esterbrook – DPW
Matt Kelly – Town Council
Jeff Livingstone – Conservation Commission
Jeffrey Roy – Town Council
Tim Twardowski – Public Land Use Committee
Marshfield will borrow up to $53.6 million for the $101 million project, and the Massachusetts School Building Authority will fund the rest.
Roughly 38 percent – 6,756 – of the town’s registered voters took part in the override election. The vote was 4,722 for the project, 2,034 against.
Administrators have until Dec. 1 to submit paperwork to the New England Association of Schools and Colleges to explain why the existing high school should not be downgraded in status. Last month, the accrediting organization notified Marshfield officials that the high school may be placed on probation because of building deficiencies.
The group cited 39 concerns, such as a leaky roof, corroded plumbing and electrical systems in science labs, and inadequate classroom space. Once a school is placed on probation, it has 2½ years to address the group’s concerns; failure to do so can result in a loss of accreditation.
“It’s a great program because it gets people out and walking who wouldn’t be able to, and who don’t walk outside because of the dark and the weather,” said Janice McGovern, office manager of Franklin’s adult education office. “It’s basically all ages.”
The school is open to walkers Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., until April 11. The program will take a hiatus for the holidays, returning Jan. 3.
“The street we live on, there are no sidewalks,” Franklin resident Paula Renkas said as she walked through the high school hallways with her husband, Richard. “It’s hard to get out and walk. It gets dark.”
“I don’t do visual arts,” Franklin Arts Academy student Carissa Provuncher, 17, said of her concentration. “I do singing. You’re expanding your art, what you’re able to do. Even if you’re not that good at it, it’s still fun.”
The academy is part of Franklin High School and functions as a school within a school. Students take a yearlong arts class, several academic courses that integrate art into the curriculum and electives outside the academy.
“There’s really a great energy here,” said Nimmer, who has been holding similar workshops for years in colleges and high schools internationally. “You don’t always get that.”
His workshop is based on his book “Art from Intuition.”