Franklin Matters

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Live reporting: Discussion/Action items

Return to open meeting from Executive Session (8:33 PM)

motion to ratify and approve MOA with
7-0 via roll call

3. Discussion / Action Items

a. Elementary School Improvement Plans

I recommend approval of the 19-20 School Improvement Plans for Davis Thayer, Jefferson, Keller, Kennedy, Oak Street and Parmenter Elementary Schools and ECDC as presented and discussed.

motion to approve, seconded, passed 7-0 (move to action while elementary principals were still in the meeting)

b. Policy – First Readings

I recommend moving the following policies to a second reading at the next School Committee meeting as discussed:

BEDB – Order of Business

https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/files/current-bedb

BEDH – Public Participation

https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/files/current-bedh

motion to move to second reading, seconded, passed 7-0

The documents released for this meeting can be found on the School District page
https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/september-24-2019-school-committee-packet

Additional documents will be added to this page post meeting (generally during the business day after the meeting)

Live reporting: School Start Times Update

b. School Start Times Update – Dr. Ahern

part II of the update, part I was done earlier this calendar year after the Advisory Committee completed their work

student and issue of sleep came to our attention, should not lose sight of

Superintendent Ahern making recommendation on school start times to School Committee tonight pic.twitter.com/YzeiAdt7Eb
— Steve Sherlock (@FranklinMatters) September 24, 2019

"I would suggest that we pause on its consideration of start time changes across all schools. However, we NEED to continue to address the health of children including sleep."

there will be challenges with the FY 2021 budget, attention needs to be paid there
comprehensive closing study of Davis Thayer requires attention
all collective bargaining agreements are up for renewal this year

MetroWest survey data just came out to say sleep is not increasing among our students

What will be a measure of success for this yet? A return to 2016? or ??
I would be curious to see what other surveys are reporting

current start and end times changes were to meet current contractual requirements and NOT in any relationship to school start times

Linden - there may be members in the community who won't like the idea of pausing. Start times and sleep deprivation is damaging, our district is damaging your children. There is too much tardiness and absenteeism. I deeply disappointed in this decision.

MJ - the pause will not make this go away

Tim Keenan - appreciation for the work done previously, and to Dr Ahern for her answers, I have done a lot of reading and an author of the key studies. I actually got responses. There is a different between sleep research and start time research. There is nothing compelling about start time. The Sleep research is compelling.

Suggestion to come to the Nov meeting on Sleep

Wants to get to a research article that is compelling on Start Time and have a dialog on it.

Feeley - thanks for the summary

Bergen - there are other issues that are in-front of us that we need to deal with
others who have changed recently have taken time to do it right before making the change

Zub - I think it is the right thing to do, there is no right answer, we want to the the best thing for our students. It may be interesting to see if anything is done at the state, California has one on the governor's desk.

11. Executive Session

a. Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 30A, §21(a)(3) to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with the ESP/LPN unit as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the School Committee and the chair so declares.

motion to go to executive session, seconded, passed 7-0

Live reporting: Elementary School Improvement Plans - school year 2019-2020

2. Guests / Presentations a. ECDC and Elementary Schools – School Improvement Plans

ECDC School Improvement Plan

Kelty Kelly, early childhood education

SEL committee rebooting implementation plans for 'cozy corner' or 'green zones'

added physical development aspects to revision on their report card

what the children should be doing and where they are at the moment

develop a playgroup for parents of children with early intervention (EI) transition process (covered by Federal law for the families in the home through age 3, then covered by schools)

using community garden to help infuse science into the classroom

developing an FEF grant proposal for children with mobility issues

team committed to work developing use of large touch screens effectively in the classroom

2nd year with school council

working on core values, survey to last year and this year, as well as staff

exploring a relationship with Dean College on a new bachelor program in early education

clarification on EI (expanded above)

what is digital literacy for preschool students? that is what they want to explore, use of short video clips integrated into the classwork and enrichment of the material

"all children can"

all the ECDC teachers are special educators

(photo of principals to be added later)
(group presentation document not available tonight, to be shared when available later)

new homework guidelines
professional development opportunities (understanding by design or UbD)

reviewing current special ed practices to ensure meeting needs of students
implement a continuum of enrichment and interventions

2-way communication to further enhance engagement with the schools community and community in general
create clear focus areas for school councils

clarification homework policy, not a change, just spreading the word

passion project tapping into the students interest with a formal structure

are the schools working independently how is the sharing working?
some schools at different stages but the goal is to develop and share across
want to ensure the lessons are complete and vetted before sharing across

are you keeping baseline data on interventions to see what works

The documents released for this meeting can be found on the School District page
https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/september-24-2019-school-committee-packet Additional documents will be added to this page post meeting (generally during the business day after the meeting)

Live reporting: School Committee - Sep 24, 2019

Present: Feeley, Linden, Douglas, Scofield, Bergen, Schultz, Zub
Absent: none

1. Routine Business

a. Review of Agenda
no adjustments

b. Citizen’s Comments

i. In the spirit of open communication, “the School Committee will hear public comment not related to an agenda item at the beginning of each regular School Committee Meeting. The Committee will listen to, but not respond to any comment made. A Committee member may add an agenda item to a future meeting as a result of a citizen comment” – from Policy BEDH

c. FHS Student Representative Comments
none this evening

d. Superintendent’s Report
MCAS results just announced
the full district results will be annouced later
Kennedy - for exceeding their targets
Davis Thayer - from high growth measures

strong results across the district, more details later this fall

Student Opportunity Act in the news
multiple proposals about education review and funding revisions
House and Senate joint committee issued their report
looking to establish a 21st century trust fund
accountability measures built in to the proposal

still early goes to Senate first, then House before possibly getting to the Governor for signature
minimal aid, circuit breaker could be a positive impact (addition of transportation for Special Ed)
charter tuition reimbursement, competitive grants available

preview professional development, half day on Friday
staff work directly connected to goals on the school improvement plans
relationship building and social emotional learning

apology to the high school families
a phone call went out at 6 AM instead of the intended scheduled for 6 PM
an accident and a simple mistake, re-looking at communications guidelines

The documents released for this meeting can be found on the School District page
https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/september-24-2019-school-committee-packet Additional documents will be added to this page post meeting (generally during the business day after the meeting)

The audio and presentation copy for GTE Franklin LLC Community Forum

The audio and presentation copy for GTE Franklin LLC Community Forum held at the Franklin Senior Center on Thursday, Sep 19, 2019. The event was hosted by the SAFE Coalition.

GTE Franklin LLC is the company with a proposal to sell recreational cannabis from Franklin at a location along RT 140 within the area zoned for recreational sale. The application is working its way through the State Cannabis Control Commission process as well the Franklin Planning Board.

Jennifer Knight, President of the SAFE Coalition, closes out the session with an invitation to continue the conversation, ask questions, etc. GTE Franklin LLC can be scheduled for another session. The owners are committed to answering the communities questions. Follow up questions can be sent to gtefranklin@gmail.com

The presentation document:

GTE Franklin LLC Presentation Sep 19, 2019 from Franklin Matters

The audio file:

FM #171

This internet radio show or podcast is number 171 in the series for Franklin Matters.

This recording shares the Community Forum hosted by SAFE Coalition at the Franklin Senior Center on Thursday, Sep 19, 2019. Jennifer Knight, President of the SAFE Coalition, closes out the session with an invitation to continue the conversation, ask questions, etc. GTE Franklin LLC can be scheduled for another session.

The presentation document can be found in the show notes.

Without further ado, here is the audio recording including some of the Q&A session following the presentation (approx 1hour and 20 minutes).

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This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but I can't do it alone. I can always use your help.

How can you help?

Overall:

If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors.
If you don't like this, please let me know.

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements.
Thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes = search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters on iTunes

"By the end of the week, the state will have 28 open recreational marijuana stores"

From the Boston Globe, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Two recreational marijuana shops are opening in Massachusetts this week, adding to the adult-use pot options for consumers in central Massachusetts.

Gage Cannabis Co. in Ayer and Nature’s Remedy of Massachusetts in Millbury each received “commence operations” notices from the state Cannabis Control Commission last week, allowing them to open within three calendar days.

Gage opened Monday, and Nature’s Remedy plans to open Friday.

By the end of the week, the state will have 28 open recreational marijuana stores."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/marijuana/2019/09/23/here-what-know-about-two-pot-shops-opening-mass-this-week/eVl9RjQpMoQPnNW1MSACsL/story.html

The Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) webpage has more info on the application process. The retail operation currently in the application process at the State level and working through the Planning Board for Franklin would be about the 100th by the time it opens.

The CCC has information on the number of applications, by type, by location that you can query https://opendata.mass-cannabis-control.com/stories/s/Applications-and-Licenses/eteq-dp5h