Saturday, December 15, 2012

FPS: Family - Educator Resources


A message from FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT

December 15, 2012

Good Morning,

As we all continue to try to comprehend the unspeakable act that happened in a CT elementary school, parents and community members may be asking how school personnel plan to handle this tragedy. Administrators, school counselors and our teaching staff will assess needs at the classroom and individual level. Our counseling staff is comprised of highly trained professionals and they collaborate and function as a team. If a school or classroom needs additional assistance we can assign personnel from other schools to provide support. We have a variety of instructional strategies and tools we use such; as Middle School Advisory, Open Circle, Social Skill groups and individual/group counseling. If you feel your child is struggling with managing their emotions about this incident please contact school personnel Monday morning. Principals and counseling personnel will be ready to assist.

Here are some resources that may help you discuss this tragedy with your child. One of our parents who is a professional in the education field offered these links. We will post on our websites as well. These are challenging conversation to have with a child, especially at a time of year that should be magical for children. Stay well.

Respectfully,
Maureen Sabolinski


School Crisis Guide: Helping and Healing in a Time of Crisis
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.sswaa.org/resource/resmgr/imported/schoolcrisisguide.pdf
This e-mail has been sent to you by FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT. To maximize their communication with you, you may be receiving this e-mail in addition to a phone call with the same message. If you wish to discontinue this service, please inform FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT IN PERSON, by US MAIL, or by TELEPHONE at (508) 613-1777.

A Word from the Chief: Sandy Hook Tragedy



December 14, 2012

In light of today's tragic shooting of school children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut as your Police Chief I thought it important to put some of my thoughts to paper. I would like to begin by sending along my thoughts and prayers to the families of those who lost their loved ones and all of those in Newtown who have suffered as a result of today's tragic event. It will take much more than words and a great deal of time to heal those wounds suffered by these families today. I hope and pray for all of them to heal.

As Police Chief I often times wonder what has happened to us. What has gone wrong? Why do some feel the need to act out their anger and aggression on the innocent? Is it the fact that access to dangerous weapons, i.e. firearms is too easy in our Nation? Is it the fact that we have a generation of young people who spend an inordinate amount of time with violent video games? Is it the violence watched on television or seen at the movies? Some of these factors may surely contribute to such behavior, but I can't help but feel the issue goes much deeper than this. In my 34 plus years in law enforcement I have been witness to innumerable amounts of family violence. Violence that is not only physical but mental in nature. Children who grow up with such insecurity in their lives because of unstable familial relationships with those who are supposed to take care of them. Supposed to protect them. Children who have watched their parents fight and been witness to intoxicated ranting and ravings. Children, who go without, are hungry and cold left pretty much on their own to fend for themselves.

This is a cycle; it is not germane to any one generation. It begins at some time in the family and becomes learned; carried on sometimes generation to generation not by deliberation or design, but this is just what was learned from watching, seeing and being victim to. The end result is a weakness of the mind; an inability to deal with the daily stressors of life in a humane and civil way. The learned response of anger and violence becomes the way to solve the problem. Hence it is a societal issue. One where we fail as a people. We lose care and respect for one another and those closest to us. More over we have no respect in ourselves or our lives and begin to believe that life is cheap, worth nothing.

The underlying issue as I see it is our society's mental health. The inability of us as a people to help those in crisis before violence becomes the answer; before the anger boils over. When law enforcement looks back into the history of those who commit such crimes in nearly every case warning signs were present. These warning signs may have been a lifelong secret, overlooked or dismissed as nothing important, or they may have been improperly diagnosed and/or treated. The fact remains that the unknown variable will always be in the mind of the offender and until we learn how we can accurately read a person's mind we will never be able to say with any degree of certainty that tragedies such as those in Newtown Connecticut today will never happen again.

Stephan H. Semerjian
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FPS: Community Update


A message from FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT

December 14, 2012

Dear Franklin Public School Community

By now you have probably heard about the tragic events in Connecticut. In the days ahead we will all grapple with this human tragedy and the impact on families and the community. Please know that we continually collaborate with the Franklin Police, the Office of the District Attorney, the Franklin Fire Department and Public Facilities personnel to continually revise and update our protocols and procedures in an effort to prevent this type of senseless act. Our collective goal is to assure that your children are safe at all times when they are in our schools. This is one of our core values and we continue to improve communication and collaboration so all our schools are safe.

Please keep the families and victims of Newtown CT in your thoughts and give your children and loved ones an extra hug tonight.

Respectfully,

Maureen Sabolinski
Superintendent of Schools


This e-mail has been sent to you by FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT. To maximize their communication with you, you may be receiving this e-mail in addition to a phone call with the same message. If you wish to discontinue this service, please inform FRANKLIN PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT IN PERSON, by US MAIL, or by TELEPHONE at (508) 613-1777.

Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!

"What you do [to provide better aid is] you shut up. You never arrive in a community with any ideas.” (Ernesto Sirolli)

TEDTalks are great sources of ideas. The speakers effectively deliver their ideas with a story. Ernesto Sirolli tells his story with good humor.




Well worth spending time with (17 minutes).

Accused syringe robber arraigned for third time

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

via The Milford Daily News News RSS by Matt Tota/Daily News staff on 12/14/12

A man, accused of robbing or attempting to rob five  doughnut shops during a single week in October by threatening employees with a syringe, was ordered held on $100,000 bail Friday at his arraignment in Milford District Court.

Things you can do from here:

Friday, December 14, 2012

The Christmas Spirit is alive and well in Franklin!


Over 100 folks enjoyed a dramatic reading of "A Christmas Carol" as performed by Al LePage with musical accompaniment by Rev Diane Carpenter on Thursday evening.


On behalf of the Food Pantry Board of Directors, our sincere thanks to the Historical Commission and to the United Methodist Church for arranging this event. Our special thanks to performer Al Lepage for his significant contribution to make this happen. It was a wonderful performance.

One gentleman as he left the performance checked with Mary Olsson on whether the show had sold out. Informed that there had been about 15 tickets unsold, he said that he would provide a check to ensure that the event had been sold out.

The event raised over $1,300 for the Franklin Food Pantry.

This is the kind of Christmas Spirit that exists in Franklin and for which we are most grateful!


Related post:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/11/tickets-on-sale-christmas-carol-times.html



Dean College "flash mob" (video)

The Dance Group at Dean College did a flash mob at Patriot Place recently



Happy holidays!


Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the video

12 Days of Donating


The Food Elves and the Franklin Downtown Partnership are trying to reach a new goal of collecting 2 tons or 4,000 pounds of food for the Franklin Food Pantry. 
The drive is only 310 pounds away from reaching that goal. 
Also, the Food Elves are trying to surpass last year’s money donations and are only $300 away from meeting that new goal.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1783182947/Food-Elves-extend-12-days-of-donating-in-Franklin#ixzz2F1WQ8ViF

In the News: Tri-County, NationalGrid

Nice work Tri-County!

Tri-County robotics team receives $5,000

St Mary's - Bike collection - Dec 15



St. Mary's Church in Franklin is sponsoring Bikes for Africa on Saturday, December 15th. They are collecting old bikes in the charter school parking lot from 9-2. If you are like us and have all those old bikes nobody rides anymore, this is a perfect opportunity to get rid of them at no cost and help others.

Thanks to Marianne Lonati for sharing this via Facebook!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Ludwick Marishane: A bath without water (video)


This TEDTalk is less than 6 minutes. Ludwick briefly summarizes his motivation and process to develop a waterless bathing solution.



The key for me is his motivation. The second and related key is how he persisted to develop his idea with only his cell phone.

Reminds me of that familiar adage "If there is a will, there is a way!"

Food Elves and FDP trying reach 2 Tons of food for Pantry


A Big Thank You for all of your support on this year's "12 Days of Donating" campaign.

The Food Elves and FDP passed their goal and are now trying to set a New Goal of bringing in 2 TONS (over 4,000 pounds) of Food for the Food Pantry.

We are only 310 pounds away...so please pass the word.

The Food Elves are also trying to beat last year's money donation total and need just $300 more to meet this goal.

The "12 Days of Donating" is extended until this Saturday
...so please send a reminder out to encourage everyone to drop off their donations at one of the following locations:  Franklin Downtown Partnership, Berry Insurance, Chestnut Dental, Dean Bank, Dean College, DCU, East Coast Driving School, Emma's Quilt Cupboard, Janes'Frames, Murphy Business, RE/MAX Executive Realty

Or have them drop off donations at the Food Pantry between 9-1 on Thursday
or Friday and let them know it is for the Food Elve "12 Days of Donating".

Together we are making a difference....

Franklin Downtown Partnership
and the Franklin Food Elves...50 elves and counting...



Tri-County cosmetology students host Family Day

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:

via The Milford Daily News News RSS by Staff reports on 12/12/12

Cosmo Family Day.jpg
Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School juniors enrolled in the Cosmetology career program hosted a Family Day at the school on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Students invited family members into the school's salon for complimentary scalp treatments, haircuts, coloring and blow drying services.

Things you can do from here:

WINTERBLOOM - Holiday Show


Circle of Friends Coffeehouse
Saturday, December 15, 8:00PM


Our Holiday Show
WINTERBLOOM
Songs of the seasons - old and new



featuring Anne Heaton, Antje Duvekot, Meg Hutchinson, & Natalia Zukerman, $25

The Winterbloom webpage can be found http://winterbloom.com/

you can purchase your tickets on the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse webpage http://circlefolk.org/

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

"There was never really any consideration of going far away"


The move is effective Jan. 1. Terracon, located at 5 Boynton Road, has 14 employees. The company will move to a new 18,000-square-foot-facility at 1376 West Central St. in Franklin. 
Company President Rob Jewett said in the press release the move is necessary because of significant growth in the last few years. 
"As our products and solutions have become better known in the industry, demand has risen – and quickly," Jewett said in the release. "Our new office and manufacturing space is 50 percent larger than our previous offices and offers a more efficient layout. It will support our continued growth and expansion, and provide a better work environment for current and future staff."

Read more: Holliston company announces move to Franklin - Franklin, MA - Wicked Local Franklin http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x719504533/Holliston-company-announces-move-to-Franklin#ixzz2EpjSCGRc

You can visit the Terracon web page here   http://www.terracon-solutions.com/