"reduce the mountainous regulatory obligations"

It's about time! The Milford Daily News reports on a new proposal to address the unfunded mandates that school districts are forced to implement. The focus of the article is on Framingham and doesn't reference Franklin. However, this has long been a complaint of the School Committee and district officials here so I am sure that Franklin will be following this closely.

"We need relief," said Framingham School Committee Chairwoman Beverly Hugo, who wrote the original draft and testified at Thursday's public hearing. "Some of these (mandates) are redundant or duplicative." 

While some of the requirements - which in recent years have been introduced to address bullying, teacher evaluations, and school nutrition, among other issues - may be necessary to some degree, she added, "there's no analysis that shows whether these reports (submitted by schools) improve student achievement or services to children in the classroom." 

What is known, Hugo said, is the cost to districts to fill out thousands of pages of paperwork that are required by the mandates. Framingham, for instance, had to hire several vice principals in recent years to keep up with the greater workloads created by the state's new teacher evaluation system.

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x853679261/Bill-takes-aim-at-unfunded-mandates-for-school-districts#ixzz2XbFTz67L



Related posts:

Earlier this month "Area school officials are concerned the mandates, including a new teacher evaluation system, additional training to educate English Language Learners (ELL) and new fingerprinting requirements, are too much, too soon."
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/06/in-news-unfunded-mandates-structurally.html
Reporting on truancy was touted in 2012
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/08/another-unfunded-mandate.html

A listing of state unfunded mandates posted in 2010
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2010/05/state-education-mandates-collection.html

Reporting on bullying was added in 2009
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2009/11/another-unfunded-mandate-coming-down.html

Kids get free ice cream for wearing helmet while riding their bike

The Milford Daily News reports that the Franklin Police Dept has teamed with Rick's to promote helmet use for kids riding bikes.

In Massachusetts, the law states that children 16 or under have to wear a helmet when riding anything with wheels, according to Manocchio. 

The department recently teamed up with Rick’s, 28 West Central St., to promote bike safety through offering a sweet incentive. 

Rick Moore, who has owned the downtown restaurant since 2006, said he too often sees kids riding or skating without helmets. 

"As a matter of fact," he said, "for every kid with a helmet, I think I see three without helmets."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x946747120/Franklin-kids-wearing-helmets-to-get-sweet-reward#ixzz2XbJhDm7J

Rick's in Franklin, MA

Rick's webpage  http://www.ricksinfranklin.com/

and Rick's is also on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/ricksinfranklin

MDN anonymous comment policy change

The Milford Daily News FINALLY got around to addressing their anonymous comment issue.

For some time, we’ve received complaints that the anonymous commenting system we’ve hosted on our online stories does little to enhance the conversation within our community. The criticism has been that some of the comments are hateful and sometimes, downright objectionable. We heard you and we agree.

It was about time. I find it quite interesting that the comments on the Milford Daily News articles have dropped considerably. It is still early as the policy just went into effect on Thursday. It was not uncommon to see posts with dozens of comments.  As a good example, the editorial announcing the change received 50 comments (as of this morning 06/29/13 7:20 AM). And yet the new "Most Commented" section shows posts with a top comment total of 1!

Milford Daily News comment screen shot 6/29/13 7:20 AM

Read the full editorial about the comment change here: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinions/editorials/x853676846/Editorial-Commenting-with-honesty-and-civility#ixzz2XbQyWS67


What is the comment policy for Franklin Matters?
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2007/12/comment-policy.html

One Run for Boston

Fund-raising relay from California to go through Mendon, Upton

A cross-country relay intended to raise money for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings will cross through Mendon and Upton this Sunday.

This relay will also run through Hopkinton, Framingham, Wellesley, Newtown and finish in Boston. Most of these are group stages, so runner can still sign up to run in the group. Additional information can be found on the MA sections here

http://onerunforboston.org/run.asp?state=13#stages

Explore the website here  http://onerunforboston.org/

Follow them on Twitter https://twitter.com/OneRunForBoston

or Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/OneRunForBoston

Farmers Market - Town Common - noon to 6:00 PM

Farmers Market today

HockomockSports Top Student-athlete: Kristi Kirshe

HockomockSports.com has announced:

Franklin High senior Kristi Kirshe has been selected as the inaugural Miss Hockomock, an award given to the top student-athlete of the school year as chosen by the staff of HockomockSports.com. Kirshe captained the soccer, basketball, and girls’ lacrosse teams this past year and will be attending Williams College in the fall of 2013. 

This past fall, Kirshe led Franklin to its first-ever Division 1 girls’ soccer state championship and a near perfect record of 22-0-1. During the winter season, Kirshe was the starting point guard on the Kelley-Rex division co-champions and helped lead the Panthers to their second consecutive South sectional final. This spring, she was a starting defender for Franklin, which completed a perfect 11-0 league schedule and advanced to the sectional semifinal.

Read the full article on HockomockSports.com
http://www.hockomocksports.com/1/post/2013/06/2012-2013-miss-hockomock-franklins-kristi-kirshe.html

MassBudget: The Massachusetts minimum wage - Frequently Asked Questions

MassBudget    Information.    Participation.  Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center    Democracy. Minimum Wage Resources A strong minimum wage helps ensure that Massachusetts workers earn enough to support their families, and it can also help our economy by increasing the amount of money workers have to spend at local businesses. Our new FAQ answers a range of questions about the current minimum wage and includes some of the main findings from our recent minimum wage reports, including: Over the course of a year, a full-time minimum wage worker earns about $5400 less today than he or she would have in 1968 (adjusted for inflation) Raising the minimum wage to $10 would increase the wages of an estimated 581,000 workers--or roughly 1 in 5 workers across the Commonwealth Of those 581,000 workers who would be affected by an increase in the minimum wage, 86 percent are 20 years or older. In addition, we have updated several of our minimum wage tools and factsheets, and made all of our relevant work available through our minimum wage resource page. This includes: What's It Worth?: The Value of the Minimum Wage in Massachusetts Who is Affected by the Minimum Wage? The Minimum Wage and Job Creation Futures of the Minimum Wage - an interactive tool showing the effect of various proposals The Declining Value of the Tipped Minimum Wage in Massachusetts Read THE MINIMUM WAGE: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS See OUR RECENT WORK ON THE MINIMUM WAGE The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts. MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER 15 COURT SQUARE, SUITE 700 BOSTON, MA 02108

Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | 15 Court Square | Suite 700 | Boston | MA | 02108