Franklin Matters

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Live reporting: to Closing

5. Information Matters
Superintendent’s Report

unified track meet rescheduled to Wed, May 11, 3:30 PM
up coming events with the summer program; band, art, chorus, high school experience and many other opportunities are available
1966 reunion class to participate at the FHS graduation
Transportation letters went out last week, if no letter, call the Central Office; K-6 over 2 miles eligible; middle and high school busses will be filling up
May 25th School Budget hearing at Town Council; how do you measure adequacy? It is usually not adaquite

School Committee Sub-Committee Reports

Policy Sub Committee
more policies coming up for update next meeting

School Committee Liaison Reports
Coffee hours scheduled for various times and places

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

7. Motion to Adjourn

Dr. O’Malley

meeting closed

Live reporting: Calendar discussion and action items

3. Discussion Items

Calendar Committee Decision

Sabolinski updated on meeting with the FEA leadership to review the proposed calendars to discuss the impact

1 - PDD day for Aug 29th, students back on the 30th - move the PDD day to the Friday of that week, less of an impact on students
2 - half day before Thanksgiving, it was transitioned to a day off recently in light of requests for full day off
3 - Feb vacation has biggest impact on staff, looking to tackle the snow day issue with alternatives to make up snows days with days in school

special needs parents as well as others are concerned about the break up of the instructional periods so the kids don't get into a rhythm; the heat was a piece but not a huge issue

the schools are still used during the school breaks so there is no savings from heating
therefor there is no financial impact for the changes to the calendar

it would be so much easier if the State adopted a statewide calendar

DESE has guidelines and Burlington has piloted the process so it would be easy enough to do with a combination of technology and 'blizzard bags', we would propose the plan, have you approve, and then get DESE to sign off on it

Donna Grady - FEA President
why are we changing the calendar, we don't have data that we have an identified problem
some folks are still confused by this calendar being two years out
teachers get frustrated by the choppiness of the school beginning period (Sep-Oct)
what is the impact on instruction going to be?
there are other issues with completing in June 8th, summer camps etc are not yet open

vote on recommendation on one of two calendars
Option 1 - no change to Feb
Option 2 - change to Feb
vote on Option 1 was 7-0

motion to make half day to full day, seconded for the 2017-2018 calendar
vote on this motion was 7-0

motion to move the PDD from Aug 29th to the Friday before the Labor Day weekend
vote on this motion was 7-0

"a sign of the School Committee being responsive to what has been heard"
we have two years of calendars set so people will be able to plan accordingly

4. Action Items
a. I recommend approval of the request of Nancy Schoen to take Middle School Music students to Canobie Lake Park, Salem, NH on Friday, June 10, 2016 as detailed.
motion to approve, seconded, passed 7-0

b. I recommend acceptance of a check for $2,290.00 from Franklin Music Parents for in-house enrichment.
motion to approve, seconded, passed 7-0

c. I recommend acceptance of a check for $190.00 from BJ’s Wholesale Club for district wide in-house enrichment.
motion to approve, seconded, passed 7-0

d. I recommend acceptance of two checks totaling $3,295.00 for the Paul Castelline Memorial Scholarship.
motion to approve, seconded, passed 7-0

e. I recommend acceptance of a check for $435.60 from General Mills-Box Tops for Davis Thayer.
motion to approve, seconded, passed 7-0

Live reporting: School Wellness Advisory Committee (SWAC)

Was the wellness committee

School Wellness advisory Committee Presentation May 10, 2016 from Franklin Matters

It is a standing committee, multiple parties represented

we set goals and have tangible progress each year

Page 4 - role/requirements of group

Page 5 - three goals set in mental health, physical activity and nutrition

the guidance update provided at a prior School Committee meeting reflects some of the details of the goals achieved

over 200 in ski program during winter

expanding implementation of breakfast to all the schools, one at a time
school gardens growing, raised beds at some of the schools

hydroponic garden at Parmenter growing lettuce, chard, and tomatoes

84.5% of the students on grades 6-12 responded to the wellness survey
21.5% of the parents, and 51.8% of the faculty

Key findings, parents are not always aware of what is going on in the schools
need to do a better job of communicating and sharing the information (Page 15)

"While you have spoken to the high number of yeses, there are 25% of the parents are saying there is not enough being done"

sought alternative ways, through partnerships (i.e. Reebok with the BOKS program)

collaboration, Franklin will help train the Y summer staff in some of the 'zones of regulation' so there will be consistent language used

track/field and wrestling are both non-cut sports

trying to meet the needs of kids either in the morning or after school
with different physical activities

Live reporting: FHS Update

Principal Peter Light

FHS Update - May 10, 2016 from Franklin Matters

FHS Math

FHS Math team was first in the division and then qualified to the State meet
compete in five different categories of math topics
team members compete in different categories to work on their strengths
also work in groups to solve problems
goal setting session at beginning of year was to 'win this thing'

Robotics Club

The "Rattle City Robotics" team
new robot required for each school year, needs to be designed and programmed to compete
looking for sponsors
Froyo Party, May 23 20% of sales from 3:00 - 9:00 PM
coupon needed to present to get funding

Computer Science

only in second year
this year less often but have more impactful time
entered code days in Boston
competed twice already this year
24 hours, noon Sat to noon on Sun, no sleep but lots of fun
pitch ideas, form team and then start building a project

1st time, a cowboy game
award for good teamwork
award for creativity

2nd time, a robot revolution game
award for best game

Poetry Out Loud

over 1,000 students read poems in the competition this year
24 past FHS students came in to be judges
once whittled down to 45, semi-final round
final round 12 read

chose poem from the poetryoutloud.org site

Blackberry Picking, Seamus Heaney (read outloud)
http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/181384

Mingus at the Showplace (read outloud)
http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/27402

Panther TV Club

The video was posted earlier
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2016/04/student-produced-video-on-autism.html

Science National Honor Society

successful science night Mar 30, over 300 students came with parents
included additional programing, opened to grades from K up

robotics game was to drive the robot to pop a balloon
the kids loved popping the balloons

video summary of the night

Environmental Club, Recycling Club, Communications Group

Empty Bowls

The empty bowls dinner raised over $6,000 for the Franklin Food Pantry
long history with the empty bowls club, maybe 15 years ago
approx. 50 students participating weekly
engaged with the arts and giving back to the community
about 650 families are served by the Food Pantry

all roads in Franklin lead to the high school so it makes it easy for the collaboration among the schools

"This is a small sample of what is happening at the high school"

"I love hearing the students thank their teachers, it reflects on your parents and family"

(4 and half minute break to let the high school students and faculty_

NEASC - New England Association of Schools and Colleges

accreditation body for the New England area

David Soulard, guidance counselor, co-leader of the team
for the 10-year cycle
(presentation doc pages 23 to the end)

year long effort to evaluate against 7 standards
visitors next March 2017 will come to do an onsite portion of the report evaluation

recommendations lead to a 3-5 year study and remediations where required

teaching and learning standard

core values, beliefs and learning expectations
curriculum
instruction
assessment of and for student learning

multiple surveys to gather information/data from students, faculty and family members

107 faculty members involved with the seven standard areas

over 2100 Endicott Survey responses to be analyzed

Q - What can we do to help you?
nothing at the moment, other than perhaps adding more hours to the day
it will be hard work but we are underway

Q - What have you seen thus far in the gaps?
things are in process, the standards are evolving, the curriculum is also evolving
the primary focus is the framework and the standards, NEASC can be prescriptive in their language, we want to be careful how we approach this

funding down the road, when we look at funding, that is a discussion will be something we have had hear, will we have the funding to replace the chromebooks when they need to be?

it is hard to see what the needs are when everything is new and shiny

Live reporting: School Committee - May 10, 2016

Present: Bilello, Scofield, Bergen, Douglas, O'Malley, Schultz, Jewell
Absent:

1. Routine Business
Citizen’s Comments
Review of Agenda
Minutes: I recommend approval of the minutes from the April 26, 2016 School Committee Meeting.
Payment of Bills Dr. O’Malley
Payroll Mrs. Douglas
FHS Student Representatives

seniors counting the days left, exams then graduation coming quickly
SADD presentation on day of prom (video posted)

Correspondence: Budget to Actual – Miriam Goodman

2. Guests/Presentations
a. MASS Academic Excellence Award

Domenic Narducci
Emily Waite

(photo added later)

Franklin Saving Lives During "Click It or Ticket"

The Franklin Police Department, in partnership with the Highway Safety Division of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Massachusetts State Police, and more than 200 Massachusetts police departments, will take part in the national Click It or Ticket campaign between May 9th and May 23rd. This high-visibility enforcement campaign will promote seat belt use through increased traffic enforcement. The campaign is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

“Our goal is to save lives,” said Deputy Chief Thomas Lynch. “As we kick-off the busy summer driving season, it is crucial that all motorists buckle up every time they go out, day and night – no excuses. Our officers are prepared to ticket anyone who is not wearing their seat belt, including drivers who have neglected to properly buckle their children.”

Franklin Police

The national seat belt usage rate is 88.5% (NHTSA). Massachusetts is falling behind at 74%, with a 3% reduction in usage rate between 2014 and 2015.

In Massachusetts, many fatally injured occupants are unbuckled. According to NHTSA, in 2014, nearly half of the 21,022 passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes across the country were unrestrained.

“While these may just sound like statistics, local police know from personal experience that those numbers represent mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and friends in Franklin,” said Jeff Larason, Director of the Highway Safety Division. “If we increase our seat belt usage rate, we save lives, and that’s why the police are out enforcing this important law.”

As part of the Click It or Ticket mobilization, at 6:00 pm on May 23rd, state and local police departments including Franklin will join law enforcement agencies across the East Coast in mobilizing the “Border to Border” Operation. This initiative provides increased seat belt enforcement at state borders, sending a ‘zero tolerance’ message to the public: driving or riding unbuckled will result in a ticket, no matter what state, no matter what time.