Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Live reporting: Information matters through to closing

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report
placement letters scheduled to go out Aug 21
students still enrolling, teachers still be hired

high school students will be in Aspen on the 14th
high school experience, over 300 students this week, the first at the new building
about 90% of the incoming freshmen are participating

Dalton award for the Franklin sports for most winning teams
won it last in 2012

community invite for the presentation by Dr Kelly at the FHS Auditorium
the physiology of addiction
7:00 - 9:00 PM at FHS

Friday the bus routes will be posted
document on how bus stops are chosen, there is a method and detailed criteria, not a 'dart board', will be posted to the website (and linked shared when found)

Rohrbach - any work remaining at Davis Thayer

Sabolinski - sidewalk not complete, working on the lawn
there was one glitch with the fiber line got cut so it was a couple of days dealing with alternative method of communication
hope to have an update on the fencing for the next meeting

facade issues to be addressed

School Committee Sub-Committee Reports
none

School Committee Liaison Reports
none

6. New Business

To discuss future business that may be brought before the School Committee.
Harlem Wizard coming for the FEF fund raiser on Nov 13th

7. Executive Session

Personnel Update
motion to enter into executive session, seconded, passed 5-0 (via roll call)

Live reporting: Action Items

4. Action Items

a. I recommend adoption of the following Policies as discussed:

JT – Electronic Device Policy

JKAA – Non-Violent Physical Crisis Intervention Policy

motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

b. I recommend adoption of the ECDC Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

c. I recommend adoption of the Davis Thayer Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

d. I recommend adoption of the Jefferson Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

e. I recommend adoption of the Keller Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

f. I recommend adoption of the Kennedy Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

g. I recommend adoption of the Oak Street Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

h. I recommend adoption of the Parmenter Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

i. I recommend adoption of the Horace Mann Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

j. I recommend adoption of the Remington Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

k. I recommend adoption of the Annie Sullivan Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

l. I recommend adoption of the Franklin High Handbook as presented.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

m. I recommend elimination of the position Director of Instructional Services.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

n. I recommend creation of the position Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

o. I recommend Joyce Edwards be appointed as Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

p. I recommend acceptance of a check for $2,700.00 from the Oak Street PCC for Field Trips.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

q. I recommend acceptance of a check for $214.29 from the Horace Mann Drama Club to be deposited in the HM student activity account.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

r. I recommend acceptance of a check for $615.84 from Lifetouch for in-house enrichment at ECDC.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

s. I recommend acceptance of a check for $3,370.00 from the Franklin Music Boosters for in-house enrichment at FHS.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

t. I recommend acceptance of the donation of a panther statue from the Graci Family for FHS.
motion to accept, seconded, passed 5-0

Live reporting: Discussion Only Items

3. Discussion Only Items

Policy – Second Reading

JT – Electronic Device Policy

JKAA – Non-Violent Physical Crisis Intervention Policy

no questions or discussions on the policy changes

Re-Organization – Instructional Services

Elimination of “Director of Instructional Services” position
Creation of “Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning” position

Changes to the district and to the demands upon the position

district has doubled in size since position was first created

regulations are more complex

shifted from what we are teaching to how we are teaching

we have no ELL students, now we have 80

this requires a different set of expectations

shifting from a director to an assistant superintendent

Ms Edwards has done a great job and epitomizes the job description of the new role; works collaboratively with the special education department, working with teachers to get the best from all students

peer coaching and mentoring, has been a partner with Sally and I in this effort

I am recommending that we eliminate the Director position and create the Assistant Superintendent and put Joyce in that role

Mullen - I am in favor of this move, we are fortunate to have you

She has been an effective liaison to DESE and has also provided input on PARCC

Franklin Public Schools: Calendar Survey Results

c. Calendar Survey

The results as presented to the School Committee for the meeting on Tuesday, Aug 11, 2015 can be seen in this document.

Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski
the winter of 2014-15 raised lots of questions about the 'last day'
vacation planning

survey sent out to parents and faculty in May
survey designed by K12 Insight

answered for the most part by 2385
81% of the parents answered the survey
staff only represented by 23%
*overall a 55.6% response rate for the survey (added post-meeting)

55% want after Labor Day start, 45% want before Labor Day
getting the teacher professional days in before has been worked where possible
the decision is usually where Labor Day falls in the calendar

question on eliminating non-religious
split is 50/50

52% would do away with the February vacation

Keeping April vacation was overwhelming positive

eliminating both vacations and having a March vacation was an interesting split 55-45; would like to give 2 years notice if this were to be implemented

March is big for college breaks, for spring training, etc.

transportation question to get at the starting time was asked and answered on the last page of the report; no real statistical drive to make the change

if the busing schedule could change, then this might be a better option
would need additional buses and they would cost another $1.1 Million
not a good cost option at this point

Did check with some of her colleagues and they were not able to add buses but did make some changes by switching buses (elementary and high school)

Trahan - i am not surprised at the results, the real world doesn't really allow this to happen though.

Rohrbach - when this was done last time, the split was mostly staff vs. teachers on the start date. were the results available with that split?

Sabolinski - no we did not get the numbers sliced that way, we have been collaborating with the teachers and the real driver for us is when Labor Day falls. Labor Day is so late this year it works out

Rohrbach - if the school year does get extended, what would we do?

Sabolinski - Mrs Winslow took the initiative last year to start the discussion early and we are hoping this year was an anomaly and we won't need to go there. Going to a March vacation would need to be done with more polling especially from our faculty to get their input as they had only participated at 23%.

Douglas - we did have a March vacation 37 years ago and it didn't work. Folks did not like it.

Sabolinski - another unknown piece of data is where is the state assessment going? MCAS was one time, PARC was another. What is the decision and where is the schedule? No word yet.

Sabolinski - we did not get into further detail on slicing the data by school grade or level, we just wanted some quick but valid info

Live Reporting: School Committee - Aug 11, 2015

Present: Douglas, Mullen, Trahan, Jewell, Rohrbach (late due to train)
Absent: O'Malley, Clement

1. Routine Business

Citizen’s Comments - none
Review of Agenda - none
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the July 28, 2015 School Committee Meeting.
motion to approve, seconded, passed 4-0

Payment of Bills Mr. Clement
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives
Correspondence: Budget to Actual

2. Guests/Presentations

a. New Administrators
Peter Light, Principal - Franklin High School

Brenda Redding, 11 years in district, 6 years at FHS; one of the assistant principal
Craig Williams, 7 years at Sullivan Middle School; another new assistant principal

Maria Weber and Lisa Markiesian could not make it tonight and will come to another meeting

Debbie Dickson, new Director of Student Services
here about 30 days here, 30 years experience with special education background in schools
looking to increase equity access to the student services

b. Handbooks
handbooks include policy and need to be approved each year

Sally Winslow, provides an overview
working to have consistent language in the handbooks and maintain some of the individuality to capture the school culture

three sections in the handbook

school information for grade levels (elementary, middle, high schools)
individual school info (arrivals/dismissals, etc.)
school policies

policy updates (including two policies on the agenda tonight)

"Signs of Suicide" program being introduced to middle and high school
setting up a train the trainer process to help spread the word and information throughout the district
required by MA Law to provide this to students
to be implemented in 7th and 9th grades; parents will have the opportunity to opt out

Elementary

basically the lunch process and updates to the policy changes were the major changes

Winslow - it has worked to benefit to have the handbooks as consistent as possible
Sabolinski - the principals are meeting all year so the cross sharing of best practice is done all the time

Question on the building entry policy
the protocols were in place and where some procedures were changed due to the building situation (i.e. Parmenter)

Question on the removal of the modulars?
something new to think about, some parents did meet at the fence and we'll need to re-look at that

The DPW did a tremendous job after the contractors took the modulars down

Trahan - each school has their section will helps to maintain the cultural and yet they are indeed consistent across the district

Middle Schools

a comment from a custodian who had come through Franklin schools, the handbook at that time was one page; folded over with the logo on the front, the flag on the back. Now we have a 90 plus page handbook.

the generational differences are dealt within the district on a regular basis given the nature of the population

High School

Peter Light - not a significant number of changes, did look at the absence policy and attendance; conversations with families on long absences, wanted to clarify the procedures for excessive absences; if on track to miss more than 20%, they will reach out to the family

other than the changes are mostly name changes, the changes are shown in 'green' but some of them are grammatical so they will change before publication

guidance workload is being looked at to adjust, splitting by alphabet was not working as desired, so the housing split will be assigned randomly. There is no impact to the juniors and seniors. Some sophomores will remain with current counselors others will get re-assigned; adjustments to be made within the next two weeks and then communicated out

Any changes to the building?
choosing not to address much at this point due to the change in assistant principals; use of the IDs is not a big deal, the food policy is to be looked at. Academic honesty policy would be looked at to reflect 21st century learning

(two minutes break)

Franklin, MA: School Committee - Agenda - Aug 11, 2015

Vision Statement

The Franklin Public Schools will foster within its students the knowledge and skills to

find and achieve satisfaction in life as productive global citizens.

AGENDA

"The listing of matters are those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which

may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed

and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent

permitted by law."

Franklin Public Schools "the key to learning"

1. Routine Business

Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the July 28, 2015 School Committee Meeting.
Payment of Bills Mr. Clement
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives
Correspondence: Budget to Actual

2. Guests/Presentations

a. New Administrators
b. Handbooks
c. Calendar Survey

3. Discussion Only Items

Policy – Second Reading

JT – Electronic Device Policy

JKAA – Non-Violent Physical Crisis Intervention Policy

Re-Organization – Instructional Services

Elimination of “Director of Instructional Services” position
Creation of “Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning” position

4. Action Items

a. I recommend adoption of the following Policies as discussed:

JT – Electronic Device Policy

JKAA – Non-Violent Physical Crisis Intervention Policy

b. I recommend adoption of the ECDC Handbook as presented.
c. I recommend adoption of the Davis Thayer Handbook as presented.
d. I recommend adoption of the Jefferson Handbook as presented.
e. I recommend adoption of the Keller Handbook as presented.
f. I recommend adoption of the Kennedy Handbook as presented.
g. I recommend adoption of the Oak Street Handbook as presented.
h. I recommend adoption of the Parmenter Handbook as presented.
i. I recommend adoption of the Horace Mann Handbook as presented.
j. I recommend adoption of the Remington Handbook as presented.
k. I recommend adoption of the Annie Sullivan Handbook as presented.
l. I recommend adoption of the Franklin High Handbook as presented.
m. I recommend elimination of the position Director of Instructional Services.
n. I recommend creation of the position Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning.
o. I recommend Joyce Edwards be appointed as Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning.
p. I recommend acceptance of a check for $2,700.00 from the Oak Street PCC for Field Trips.
q. I recommend acceptance of a check for $214.29 from the Horace Mann Drama Club to be deposited in the HM student activity account.
r. I recommend acceptance of a check for $615.84 from Lifetouch for in-house enrichment at ECDC.
s. I recommend acceptance of a check for $3,370.00 from the Franklin Music Boosters for in-house enrichment at FHS.
t. I recommend acceptance of the donation of a panther statue from the Graci Family for FHS.

5. Information Matters

Superintendent’s Report
School Committee Sub-Committee Reports
School Committee Liaison Reports

6. New Business

To discuss future business that may be brought before the School Committee.

7. Executive Session

Personnel Update

8. Adjourn

Franklin Election: Who are the candidates?

The current (as of 3:30PM Aug 10, 2015) candidate listing

NAME	ADDRESS	POSITION
Donna Greenwood	15 Summer St.#205	Assessor
W.Kenneth Norman	18 Daniels St.	Assessor
Philip M. Brunelli	26 James Street	Bd. Of Health
John S. Power	211 Union St.	Constable
Philip M. Brunelli	26 James Street	Constable
Kenneth B. Hiscoe, III	19 Red Gate Lane	School Com.
Kevin P. O'Malley	389 Brenda Lane	School Com.
Rita M. Graci	6 King Philip Road	School Com.
Trevor A. Clement	9 Secret Garden Ln	School Com.
Vanessa A. Bilello	5 Symphony Dr.	School Com.
Diane M. Padula-O'Neill	102 Pine Street	Town Clerk
Elizabeth F. Simon	6 Monterey Dr.	Town Clerk
Paul J. Cheli	6 Pearly Lane	Town Clerk
Teresa M. Burr	27 Brushwood Hill	Town Clerk
Brett S. Feldman	37 Meadowbrook Rd.	Town Council
Deborah L. Pellegri	181 Pleasant St	Town Council
Glenn F. Jones	172 School St.	Town Council
James D. Schultz, Jr.	21 MacKintosh Street	Town Council
Judith Pond Pfeffer	37 Arlington St.	Town Council
Peter E. Padula	14 Fort Apache Dr.	Town Council
Richard W. Power, Sr.	10 Royal Ct	Town Council
Robert D. Dellorco	7 Wilson Road	Town Council
Thomas D. Mercer	14 Mercer Lane	Town Council

Franklin Town Common

The offer to the candidates for an interview can be found here

http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/08/offer-to-candidates-for-franklin.html

The election timeline can be found here

http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/08/franklin-election-who-are-candidates.html

The election 2015 collection can be found here

http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/08/election-collection-nov-3-2015.html

Franklin Community Coalition Event on Wednesday, Aug 12

The next meeting of the coalition is Wednesday, August 12 at 7 p.m. at Franklin High School, featuring Dr.

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S.A.F.E. Coalition meeting on Wednesday

On Wednesday, August 12 at 7 p.m., Dr. John F. Kelly, the director of the Addiction Recovery Management Service at Mass General Hospital, will be the featured speaker at our coalition meeting.

His talk will be followed by a panel discussion and questions from the audience. In addition to Dr, Kelly, the panelists include:

Jonathan Cabezas, Director of Services at Number 16 in Wakefield;
Brooke, a recovering addict dedicated to helping others;
Danny Lynch, CAS, BRI-1, LADC-1, a certfied interventionist and President of Lynch Wellness and Recovery Foundation;
Jenn Rowe, Norfolk ADA and Director of Education & Community Programs

Click here to view the flyer and Facebook page for this event. Please pass it along and let your friends and family know about this important event. We certainly hope you are able to join us for an informative and robust discussion.

Thank you for your continued commitment to this effort and I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, August 12 for our next meeting.

Sept 12 Opiate Addiction Awareness Walk in Milford

Join the first annual Missin' Matt Walk and walk for a couple of miles, listen, learn and be a part of the solution.

This walk is in remembrance of Matthew A. Bertulli, who died on November 3rd, 2012 at the age of 27. His young life was abruptly ended by a heroin overdose. "We walk for Matt, we walk to bring education, we walk to help stop the judgment, we walk to give hope and we walk to help. Our goal is to make a difference in our community." - Kattie Truit, Matt's mom

The walk is on Saturday, September 12, 2015 at Milford Town Park. For more information and registration, click here.

Missin Matt meetings on Wednesdays in Milford

Starting in September, the Missin Matt foundation will host a family support group meeting every Wednesday night in the Milford Hospital. The program will feature a 12 step Big Book workshop for those suffering from addiction.

Look for further details in an upcoming coalition newsletter.

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Healing Hearts meets on Thursday

Healing Hearts has begun meeting on Thursday evenings on the second floor of the Franklin YMCA at 45 Forge Hill Road in Franklin at 7 p.m. The group offers support for families struggling with addiction and recovery. Its preserves anonymity and creates a safe place" for people and families in crisis.

The group will also provide mobile support (in home) for parents and family members who need help but don't want a meeting. And the network will provide opportunities for people to call someone in crisis.

For the group's Facebook page, click here. more information, contact Jennifer Knight by clicking here.

HOPE meets on Monday

Community of HOPE (Healing ourselves, preserving each other) has begun meeting on Monday evenings at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 262 Chestnut Street in Franklin at 7 p.m. The group offers support for families struggling with addiction and recovery. Its preserves anonymity and creates a safe place for people and families in crisis.

HOPE's mission is a peer led support network for families dealing with addiction and recovery. It is striving to become an official Learn to Cope chapter. Until then, it will adopt the Learn to Cope meeting format and bring resources to the table for families in crisis.

The group will also provide mobile support (in home) for parents and family members who need help but don't want a meeting. And the network will provide opportunities for people to call someone in crisis.

The group will meet weekly. At the meeting on Monday, the discussion will begin with comments from Brooke and Ally, two recovering addicts who will share their stories in an effort to help others.

Click here to join HOPE's Facebook page. For more information, contact Jim Derick by clicking here.

Copyright © 2015 Jeffrey.Roy@MAHouse.gov, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you expressed an interest in joining the fight against obioid abuse in our community.

Our mailing address is:

Jeffrey.Roy@MAHouse.gov

State House - Room 527A

Boston, MA 02133

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DelCarte playground currently closed pending repairs the week of Aug 17th

One of the updates tucked into the Town Administrator's section of the Town Council meeting last week was that the manufacturer was late coming to fix the playground equipment at DelCarte.

Jeff Nutting acknowledged that the manufacturer was supposed to be here in July and their schedule changed to due to other commitments. They are now currently scheduled to be onsite during the week of Aug 17th.

DelCarte playground currently closed pending repairs the week of Aug 17th

Other updates from the Town Council meeting on Aug 5 can be found here
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/08/community-takes-exceptions-to-councilor.html

Note: the next Town Council meeting is scheduled for Sep 9.

Franklin Library: Busy Wednesday - "amazing insects" and "stories of the night sky"

The Franklin Library has two events on Wednesday both sponsored by The Friends of the Franklin Library.

Note: the image shows the wrong starting time. It should say 10:30 AM.

stories of the night sky - 1:00 PM

Library sign for this week's events

The event photos were shared from the Franklin Library pages here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/08/blog-post_7.html

and here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/08/blog-post.html

In the News: Medway considering joining SAFE, Solar Challenge coming to an end

The Board of Health, which currently has a member belonging to SAFE Community Coalition, hopes to solicit community members to join the coalition, which seeks to solve the statewide heroin epidemic.

At Monday’s meeting, Board of Health member Jordan Warnick said Rep. Jeff Roy, D-Franklin, asked him to be on the Support for Addicts and Families by Empowerment (SAFE) Community Coalition to “help bring Medway into it.”

“We’re trying to forge a relationship with Franklin,” Warnick said. “Alone, we can’t do it.”

Continue reading about Eco Embrace here (subscription may be required)
http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150810/NEWS/150819440/1994/NEWS

Local officials are encouraging town residents to participate in the Franklin Solar Challenge before the program's Sept. 15 deadline.

Town Councilor Brett Feldman, who coordinates the challenge, said it was based on the state Clean Energy Center's Solarize Massachusetts program, which offers increasing discounts on solar panels as more and more townspeople use them.

"It's based off that, but we did our own to maintain flexibility," he said, noting that such flexibility allowed the town to run its program over a longer time frame. "It started a year ago, and it will end in September."