BFCCPS: Applications for 2021-2022 school year open and information session videos available

"In a traditional year, BFCCPS hosts information sessions so that interested families can meet us in person, learn more about the school and have a building tour.  As a result of the continuing health crisis, in person meetings will not be possible this year so we’ve adjusted our plans accordingly.

This year, we have arranged for videos featuring our staff, parents, teachers and even a BFCCPS alumna to help you learn more about the BFCCPS Experience. While these videos can’t truly replicate our traditional face to face events we hope that our enthusiasm for the school is evident.

A virtual Question and Answer Session will be held in January 2021. Please stay tuned for details and registration.  If you would like to watch all the videos in sequence, you can visit this YouTube playlist otherwise, you can watch selected videos below. "

Video link = https://youtu.be/FdtGxn5AKS4 

Application available =  http://bfccps.org/about/enrollment/?doing_wp_cron=1611099577.2429950237274169921875

Statement from House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Senate President Karen E. Spilka - Climate Change Legislation

"The ambitious and ground breaking climate bill that we sent with overwhelming bipartisan support from both the Senate and the House meets the urgency of the global climate crisis. Months of work was exhaustively studied by members of the conference committee, and the result was a bill that rejects the false choice between economic growth and addressing climate change. We must combat climate change while also maintaining a thriving economy and expanding the housing stock that will ensure future, sustainable growth.  The legislation sent to the Governor showed how it can be done.

Today, the House and Senate introduce this legislation as written and passed. We are confident that members of the House and Senate will again act with urgency by swiftly sending this bill back to Governor Baker's desk."  

 

and from CommonWealth Magazine articles on the climate change legislation:

Questions on Baker’s $6b climate change cost estimate

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/questions-on-bakers-6b-climate-change-cost-estimate-2/

Debunking Baker’s 6 reasons for climate veto

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/debunking-bakers-6-reasons-for-climate-veto/

Mariano, Spilka take defiant tone on climate change

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/environment/mariano-spilka-take-defiant-tone-on-climate-change/

Mass Cultural Council: Learn about the COVID-19 Relief Fund for Individuals

"Learn about the COVID-19 Relief Fund for Individuals. The program offers grants of $1,500 to people who have lost income derived from their work as individual artists and independent teaching artists/humanists/scientists as a direct result of COVID-19 related cancellations and closures in Massachusetts. 

Mass Cultural Council staff will discuss the application process, then take questions from attendees."

Shared from: https://t.co/2GU6H8MuGm 

Application process: https://massculturalcouncil.org/artists-art/covid-19-relief-fund-for-individuals/

The People's Inauguration - January 21, 2021

 

"On January 20th, we will celebrate the work of democracy as we watch a new President and barrier-breaking Vice President make an oath of office. 

The next day, on January 21st, we will join them in making a commitment to do our part to heal and rebuild America. 

We envision a nation that is anti-racist, equitable, and sustainable. 

Each of us has a role in that labor, and we will only succeed if we lead with love."

Find out more about this virtual event and how to "lead with love"

https://thepeoplesinauguration.org/#1610435353072-9f11905a-dba5

The People's Inauguration - January 21, 2021

S.W.A.N Paint Night; Strength, Wellness & Networking with Amy Adams

Join us for a free community PAINT NIGHT with Amy Adams for our next "Monday Night Masterclass"! No experience necessary!

Need materials? We've got you covered! Free materials for the first 25 participants to register. One ticket per family/computer please! 

Registration is open via Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/swan-paint-night-strength-wellness-networking-with-amy-adams-tickets-137144301297

Follow the event on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/events/239478554418886/

S.W.A.N Paint Night; Strength, Wellness & Networking with Amy Adams

Franklin Downtown Partnership: Updates for January 2021

• Franklin Downtown Partnership (FDP) General Meeting. The first general meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 (8:30 AM). Please mark your calendars.

• Help Support a Local Business

As you know, this has been a challenging year for so many Franklin businesses. If you are a businesses that has remained strong during these times, the FDP would like to offer you an opportunity to support other businesses. Please consider sponsoring the FDP membership of a struggling business that could not otherwise afford it.

    $100 pays for one business

    $200 would support two businesses

The FDP made a commitment early this year that we would continue to support all Franklin businesses. But as a non-profit, we are asking for assistance so we can continue to do this into 2021.

Please see the this form for details and email the FDP if you would like to sponsor a fellow Franklin business. 
 

Shared from the full Franklin Downtown Partnership newsletter
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/FDP-Newsletter--What-s-Happening-January-2021-2-0.html?soid=1120641810412&aid=fXSezpUFo1Y

Find out more about the Franklin Downtown Partnership on their page

https://www.franklindowntownpartnership.org/

Disclosure: I am an individual member of the Franklin Downtown Partnership

Franklin Downtown Partnership:  Updates for January 2021

Tracy Novick: "...regarding in school transmission"

Tracy Novick writes:

"Early last week, I received a lengthy, footnoted letter from a Worcester Public School student, pressing for a return to school buildings.

Let me note first: I do so love getting emails from students! or any contact at all from students! Keep those coming! 

It repeated--not surprisingly, as this has been the main push in much of the press--the idea that schools were safe from COVID transmission. As I haven't done a blog post on that--I just keep tweeting out links to things--I am excerpting here that section of my response to the student letter, for both myself and others who might find it useful."

Continue reading online
http://who-cester.blogspot.com/2021/01/regarding-in-school-transmission.html 

FM #439 Norfolk County RSVP - 01/13/21 (audio)

FM #439 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 439 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares my conversation with Norfolk County RSVP Program Director Robert Pierson. We had our conversation via conference bridge to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

The recording runs about 22 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Robert about Cyber Seniors and the free training available

Audio file = https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/HsG215jS

--------------

Contact information
Robert Pierson, Director
Norfolk County RSVP Volunteer Program     
Phone: 781-234-3445
Fax: 781-326-6480
 
Norfolk County Commissioners' Office
614 High Street
Dedham, MA  02026

PLEASE VISIT US ON FACEBOOK:  www.facebook.com/NorfolkCountyRSVP

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER:   @NorfolkRSVP   https://twitter.com/NorfolkRSVP 

Recent RSVP Newsletter:  https://t.co/BoBNAv2v39?amp=1

CyberSeniors: https://cyberseniors.org/

Info Sheet on Literacy Program
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fAB7FpFomUsJcgy-xTqMLi7L5Y_j8WsQ/view?usp=sharing

Info sheet on Cyber Seniors
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dKo2-A6zOWtLxr5cyacnoks66oxG17Eo/view?usp=sharing

-------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
 
How can you help?

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

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I 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!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters" 

FM #439 Norfolk County RSVP - 01/13/21 (audio)

Franklin Police: Ben Franklin gains his "Canine Good Citizen" certification

"Congratulations to Ben Franklin! Today he earned his “Canine Good Citizen” certification.   

Thank you to MasterPeace Dog Training of Franklin for their continued generous donation of working with our canine companion! 

Officer Mucciarone and Ben will continue to serve the community by brining joy and smiles to all!"

Shared from Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/162770995915/posts/10157348910045916/

Franklin Police: Ben Franklin gains his "Canine Good Citizen" certification

Boston Globe: "private companies can make a killing, legally, if you can’t keep up with your property taxes"

"On Nov. 11, Mark Mucciaccio answered the door at his home in Easton to a woman who said she had been sent by the property’s “owner” to change the locks on the doors.

The woman handed him a “to whom it may concern” letter that said the house, which Mucciaccio, 58, and his brother, Neil, 55, inherited from their late parents many years ago, was now owned by a company called Tallage Lincoln LLC.

The three-sentence letter cited a “final” court judgment giving the company ownership, but said nothing about taxes. Still, Mucciaccio had no doubt it came as a result of the thousands of dollars he owed in property taxes, dating back to 2016."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/18/business/mass-private-companies-can-make-killing-legally-if-you-cant-keep-up-with-your-property-taxes/

Boston Globe: "As the planet warms faster, scientists study controversial ways to lower temperatures"

"As the planet continues to warm at an accelerating rate, scientists are looking into a potential insurance policy, a radical way of curbing climate change by altering the climate system itself.

A team at Harvard University this summer plans to conduct the first of a series of highly controversial tests of what’s known as solar geoengineering, a way to reduce global warming by spreading particles in the atmosphere to reflect sunlight back into space.   

If an advisory board authorizes them to proceed, the scientists plan to travel in June to a remote part of northern Sweden, where they’ll launch a giant balloon into the stratosphere to test whether they can adequately maneuver an instrument-filled gondola suspended below. If all goes well, the team later this year plans for the first time to inject a small amount of calcium carbonate — a common substance found in rocks — into the atmosphere to better understand how the chemical compound might be used to moderate temperatures on the ground."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/17/metro/planet-warms-faster-scientists-study-controversial-ways-lower-temperatures/

"all of the social science shows that if someone really believes a conspiracy theory, it is just about impossible to change their minds”

"President Trump stands as a singular figure in American history for his willingness to entertain conspiracy theories from the Oval Office, and none has been more damaging or far reaching than his unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him. One out of every three Americans believes that there was widespread fraud in the last presidential election, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, despite no evidence to support that view. Two in three Republicans believe so.

The social conditions that brought so many people to believe the falsehoods Trump has told about the election and a litany of other issues took root decades before he became a political figure and will extend far beyond the four years of his administration, according to scholars of disinformation and conspiratorial thinking.

“What’s unique about Donald Trump is that he took advantage of this widespread distrust of government and media to say everyone is lying to you except for me. We have never had a president so devoted to spreading disinformation and trying to overturn an election,” said Kathryn Olmsted, a historian at the University of California at Davis. “The people who stormed the Capitol are absolutely convinced that the election was stolen. They’re not being opportunistic; they really believe this. And all of the social science shows that if someone really believes a conspiracy theory, it is just about impossible to change their minds.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-trump-presidency-was-marked-by-battles-over-truth-itself-those-arent-over/2021/01/18/3bee0050-5750-11eb-a931-5b162d0d033d_story.html

Compost service coming to Franklin, sign up for a plan to begin Jan 25

"We are stoked to be rolling out service in these new towns.  Sign up now for compost collection at blackearthcompost.com starting soon:

• Franklin - Monday, January 25th
• Cohasset - Thursday, January 21st
• Norfolk - Monday, January 25th"

"Compost, Grow, Eat...Repeat. Our mission is to collect food waste, process it into nutrient rich compost, and return it to the community. There it will re-enter the growth cycle in your backyard garden or at a local farm, creating zero waste."

Shared from Facebook:

https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3887942597904221&id=245180832180434

This is not a Town of Franklin service, it is provided by the Black Earth Compost company

Pricing available on the Black Earth Compost page

https://blackearthcompost.com/residential-curbside-compost-pickup/

Compost service coming to Franklin, sign up to pay for a plan to begin Jan 25

New York Times: Fox settles lawsuit over it's lies

"On Oct. 12, 2020, Fox News agreed to pay millions of dollars to the family of a murdered Democratic National Committee staff member, implicitly acknowledging what saner minds knew long ago: that the network had repeatedly hyped a false claim that the young staff member, Seth Rich, was involved in leaking D.N.C. emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. (Russian intelligence officers, in fact, had hacked and leaked the emails.)

Fox’s decision to settle with the Rich family came just before its marquee hosts, Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity, were set to be questioned under oath in the case, a potentially embarrassing moment. And Fox paid so much that the network didn’t have to apologize for the May 2017 story on FoxNews.com.

But there was one curious provision that Fox insisted on: The settlement had to be kept secret for a month — until after the Nov. 3 election. The exhausted plaintiffs agreed."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/business/media/fox-news-seth-rich-settlement.html

NO Trash Delay This Week

NO Trash Delay This Week

For more info and a link to the flyer, visit the Trash and Recycling page

https://www.franklinma.gov/recycling-solid-waste

Shared from the Franklin DPW Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/931498886934582/posts/3799972780087164/

NO Trash Delay This Week

FM #438 SchComm Davis Thayer FA Mtg - 01/14/21 (audio)

FM #438 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 438 in the series.

This session shares the Franklin, MA School Committee Davis Thayer Facility Analysis meeting held on Thursday, Jan 14, 2021.

The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format: some of the School Committee and Central Office personnel were in the Municipal Building, the remainder of the Committee was remote via conference bridge, all to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

The show notes contain links to the meeting agenda and to my notes.

Let’s listen to this segment of the Davis Thayer Facility Analysis meeting of Jan 14, 2021

Audio file = https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-438-schcomm-davis-thayer-fa-mtg-01-14-21

--------------

Agenda doc
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/01/davis-thayer-facilities-analysis.html

My notes from the meeting
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/01/school-committee-davisthayer-facility.html
 

-------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
 
How can you help?

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

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I 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!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters" 

FM #438 SchComm Davis Thayer FA Mtg - 01/14/21 (audio)

FM #437 SchComm Budget SubComm Mtg - 01/14/21 (audio)

FM #437 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 437 in the series.

This session shares the Franklin, MA School Committee Budget Subcommittee
meeting held on Thursday, Jan 14, 2021.

The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format: some of the School Committee and Central Office personnel were in the Municipal Building, the remainder of the Committee was remote via conference bridge, all to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

The show notes contain links to the meeting agenda and to my notes.

Let’s listen to this segment of the Budget Subcommittee meeting of Jan 14, 2021

Audio file = https://www.hipcast.com/podcast/H6bbvfFS

 --------------

Agenda doc
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/01/school-committee-budget-sub-committee.html

My notes from the meeting
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/01/school-committee-budget-subcommmittee.html 

-------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm).

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.
 
How can you help?

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

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I 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!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

FM #437 SchComm Budget SubComm Mtg - 01/14/21 (audio)

Franklin TV: Building Back Better Than Ever!

Looking back, looking ahead – things are looking up. 

by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 01/17/2021

 

A year ago at this time we began worrying about this new virus cum pandemic. Eleven months ago we shut down. Our studios remain closed.  They will likely remain closed well into Spring – perhaps longer. Our TV and radio studios are dark. Painful, but necessary.

Along the way we have had to pivot – shift gears – call it what you will, but this new normal that is still defining itself has forced us to revisit everything that we do. Our technical facilities and operations had to be reworked from the ground up – quickly.

First up – Get the radio station reworked to enable remote operations from homes. Franklin Public Radio relies on volunteers to create our weekly programming heard on wfpr.fm. Since last year our volunteers have risen from 17 to 30, almost double. Their programming has expanded from four days to span the entire week.

Town Chambers required a significant facility redesign to incorporate live remote interaction between residents and meeting officials via Zoom. This was done with permanence in mind, providing greatly valued, very convenient access for all. There are more planned improvements pending through Spring. We have also upgraded our website, adding live streaming in HD for all three of our channels as well as video-on-demand service for our programs and government meetings.

More recently, we have also added live high school sports coverage for parents who can’t attend our Panther games. We are continuing to refine and expand this effort. We are working with neighboring towns to carry the ‘away’ games as well. Like our radio and government efforts, this also is a permanent change for the better.

Change happens. Each and every day we make choices – to have that change affect us as it will, or to drive that change toward a direction of our choosing; converting the daunting challenges of unexpected change into newfound opportunities for growth. Given all that has happened to us in 2020 – and all that we have made happen - and all that we will continue to make happen in 2021 – I am enthused – and grateful. IMHO, 2021 and beyond will be nothing short of amazing – for all of us.

And – as always –
Thank you for listening to wfpr●fm.
And, thank you for watching.

Get this week's program guide for Franklin TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) online

http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf  or for archive purposes https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CoeD9xGfhClRjtc8yyZicUOCb3zO5yB1/view?usp=sharing

 

 

Franklin TV: Building Back Better Than Ever!