Let's get something straight. The weaponization of the term "woke" by the political right is not a joke. Far from it. It provides a window into the low regard (to say the least) these people have for human rights, empathy, and the truth. You can see the self-satisfaction, if not outright glee, as they appropriate a term that began as an aspirational notion of justice for Black activists and their allies into a slur hurled right back at the community from which it came. The fact that "woke" "originated in African American English" (according to Merriam-Webster) only increases the joy of those who spit it out with derision. This is saying, in effect: "Try to come get it and feel your powerlessness." The latest example comes courtesy of the mean-spirited oration of Ron DeSantis, Republican governor of Florida:
 The Hill @thehill August 20th 2022 721 Retweets3,215 LikesIf the sentence constructions sound familiar, you might be remembering the famous World War II speech by Winston Churchill that included these stirring lines:
Texas activist Olivia Julianna recognized the similarities — and the important difference.  Olivia Julianna 🗳 @0liviajulianna August 21st 2022 6,736 Retweets28,056 LikesReturning to the dictionary, it defines "woke" as "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)." So, in other words, a positive. But the dictionary also mentions that while the term came to prominence in 2014 with the Black Lives Matter movement, "By the end of that same decade it was also being applied by some as a general pejorative for anyone who is or appears to be politically left-leaning." If you watch Fox News, some has now become many. That imbalance in the two definitions above gets to the heart of the issue. On the one hand, we have a way of thinking, an approach to gaining a better understanding, a grappling with "important facts." To be "woke" is to be aware. On the other hand, to be "woke" is to be a type of person, one to be shunned, stigmatized, and vilified. It makes you wonder, when the crowd cheers DeSantis' incitement, whom they picture in their minds. Is it a Black mother marching in the street for racial justice? I can already hear the hackles of rationalization rising from the "anti-woke" crowd. They will say that they don't demonize all Black people, or gay people, or Jewish people, or librarians. And there are undoubtedly some members of these groups who are themselves fueling this assault on "wokeness." But it is more complex. In the eyes and objective analysis of many people, the political right is using "woke" to attack "the other," or basically anyone who has the temerity to not agree with them. To be sure, there are some examples of actions under the banner of "woke" that in my opinion go too far. Are there excesses on the left? There are excesses in any group on the planet. Does some of it get ridiculous? I think so. You can cherry-pick people, moments, and situations that seem absurd. But doing so does not invalidate the general thrust of what "woke" was originally meant to convey. It is about a core truth: that the U.S. has a long way to go to turn our perception of ourselves as a nation of freedom and justice into reality for all citizens. Americans' life experiences are vastly different. We need to grapple with our history, even when it is ugly. We should not become inured to imbalances of power. We are more resilient when we challenge our own assumptions. The truth can be elusive, but that makes the journey toward it all the more urgent. The rants of DeSantis are thus an assault on the very notion of truth and all who seek it. His behavior cheerleads a malignant ignorance that utterly dismisses the lived experiences and aspirations of large swaths of society. It is an assault on science, on reason, and on the impartial rule of law. Historically, many on this path have followed it to very dark destinations. Thinking of DeSantis and the "anti-woke" crusades, my mind turned to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I had the great fortune of covering Dr. King in the early days of the civil rights movement. But in recent years, I find myself thinking more about the end of his life and how he was viewed at the time of his murder — something we wrote about here in commemoration of his birthday:
With this in mind, I tweeted out the following:  Dan Rather @DanRatherAugust 21st 2022 14,939 Retweets111,055 LikesThe tweet has received over 100k likes, and many agreed, including Dr. King's daughter:  Be A King @BerniceKingDan Rather @DanRather Make no mistake, if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be stigmatized as "woke" and attacked accordingly.August 22nd 2022 1,061 Retweets4,934 LikesFrom musician John Legend:  John Legend @johnlegendDan Rather @DanRather Make no mistake, if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be stigmatized as "woke" and attacked accordingly.August 21st 2022 314 Retweets2,106 LikesBut not surprisingly, the tweet also garnered attention from people with MAGA in their Twitter bios. There was a fair amount of expected derision. But there were also a lot of claims that I had it all wrong, that Dr. King was, in fact, "anti-woke." People selectively quoted his writings and suggested that because Dr. King preached about seeing past racial divisions, that he would oppose the political left today because it promotes mindful recognition of race's role in our society. Some responses went so far as to claim that if Dr. King were alive today, he would vote Republican, as in the party of Donald Trump. The absurdity of this historical revisionism is almost beyond belief. Except I think some people actually do believe this craziness. It's all the more reason we need the history taught in our schools that they would dismiss as "woke." Politicians like DeSantis, however, know better. They take another lesson from the civil rights era, that attacking the "other" can be a path to power. But maybe they also need a refresher course. Time and time again, demagogues have risen up in American history. And time and time again, they have been defeated because America "woke" up. Thanks for subscribing to Steady. This post is public, so please feel free to share it. © 2022 Dan Rather |
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Dan Rather: Blowing the "Anti-Woke" Dog Whistle
Franklin TV and wfpr.fm schedule for Wednesday, Aug 24, 2022
- wfpr.fm or 102.9 on the FM dial = Wednesday
9:00 AM 12:00 Noon and 6:00 PM Franklin Matters Radio/FPS Voice – Steve Sherlock
Franklin and its local government, services and events (repeats Saturday at 9 AM)
- This slot features a replay of my conversation with Councilor Cobi Frongillo back in May 2022 => https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/05/conversation-with-town-councilor-cobi.html
10:00 AM 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM The Wonderful World of Wine – Mark Lenzi, Kim Simone All about wine, its culture, lore and finer points
11:00 AM 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM Franklin Matters Radio – Steve Sherlock
Franklin and its local government, services and events (repeats Saturday at 3 PM)
This hour features Part 2 of the 3 part DPW Water Series, all about the water supply from well head to faucet. #589 in the Franklin Matters podcast archives. https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/08/fm-589-franklin-ma-dpw-water-series.html
- Franklin All Access TV - Our Public Access Channel (Comcast 8, Verizon 26) = WEDNESDAY
7:30 am It Takes A Village: 40 Percent Club
8:30 am Lessons For Littles
10:00 am Care For Ukraine
12:00 pm Brook'n'Cookin: Scones
12:30 pm Sandhya: Homemade Cheez-Its
1:00 pm Norfolk County Prevention Coalition: Repeat Offenders
1:30 pm Pizzapalooza: White Pizza
2:00 pm New England Candlepins: Fall 2019 Show 8
3:00 pm Candlepin New Generation: Spring 2019 Show 2
3:30 pm Veterans' Call: Dale Kurtz
4:30 pm ArtWeek: Ed Iannuccilli
6:00 pm Cooking Thyme: Grillin'
6:30 pm 4th of July 2022: Backyard Swagger
9:30 pm Concerts on the Common: Northeast Groove
- Franklin Pride TV - Our Educational Channel (Comcast 96, Verizon 28) = WEDNESDAY
7:00 am Public School Concert: Lifelong Music Pt. 2 05-14-19
8:30 am FHS Oskey 2022
10:00 am SAFE Coalition: Youth Sports
11:00 am Public School Concert: FHS Spring Jazz '22
1:00 pm FHS Girls Varsity Soccer: v Milford 10-25-21
3:00 pm Battleship Cove: 3D Print Lab
3:30 pm Public School Concert: MICCA Showcase Pt. 2 03-14-18
5:30 pm FHS Boys Varsity Soccer: v King Philip 10-06-21
7:30 pm Public School Event: Concert Hour Day 2
9:30 pm FHS Varsity Field Hockey: v Central Catholic 11-09-21
- Franklin Town Hall TV - Our Government Channel (Comcast 11, Verizon 29) = WEDNESDAY
8:00 am Town Council 08-17-22
2:00 pm Town Council 08-17-22
Get this week's program guide for Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) online http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Annual Report Of The Human Resources Department - FY 2021
Note: FY 2021 is last year (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021). The report was prepared to cover the business for the FY 2021 period. This year’s report FY 2022 (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022) is in preparation now and is normally available for distribution at the polls for the November election.
When last reporting in the 2020 Annual Report, the Town had just finished contract negotiations with our seven (7) different unions. We spent some time in FY21 reorganizing these contracts and making them easier to read. Human Resources and department heads worked closely with the Department of Public Works and the Fire Department to consolidate the old contracts with the new MOUs and clean up typos and irrelevant language. We now have fresh, clean copies for 4 of the 7 contracts and are just working to do some adjustments for the Facilities Maintenance union, Police Patrol and Police Sergeants. We hope to have these completed by the end of calendar year 2021. This will be done just in time to start preparing for the new contract negotiations, since our current contracts expire on June 30, 2022!
Fiscal Year 2021 was another busy year in terms of recruiting and hiring. Between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021 we hired 18 full-time employees and a number of part-time employees. New full-time employees included: Water/Sewer Superintendent Doug Martin, Assistant Town Engineer Brook Cotta, Heavy Motor Equipment Operators at the DPW (3), Water Pump Station Operator at the DPW (1), Assistant Treasurer Marina Malamud, Deputy Town Clerk Dyan Fitzgerald, 7 new Firefighters, and 3 new Police Patrol Officers.
The Town lost a lot of institutional knowledge with some high level retirements this year, but they provided a great opportunity for long term employees to step up into new roles! Karen Alves retired as the Senior Center Director at the end of August 2020 after 19 years of dedicated service.
Erin Rogers was promoted into this role and has kept the Senior Center running seamlessly. Deacon Perrotta retired from his role as Deputy Director of Operations for the DPW in September 2020 after 10 years of service to Franklin and a lifetime of public service in DPW and Water positions. We reviewed the staffing levels and funding and decided to split Deacon’s job into 2 new superintendent positions by promoting Tony Brunetta and Jake Standley. Long- term employee Megan Woodacre left her position as Deputy Director for the Recreation Department and we were able to convert some part-time positions into full-time positions to fully support Ryan Jette’s active Recreation Department.
We continue to deal with the rising cost of employee benefits, especially health insurance. The Town continues to offer three different health insurance plans and we are seeing more and more employees shift from the standard HMO plan to the High Deductible HMO plan. Over the course of the year, we continued to have virtual meetings with the Insurance Advisory Committee (IAC) to attempt to keep our insurance costs down. This past spring, Harvard Pilgrim came to us saying that we were about to face a 12% rate increase. We were able to work with our broker NFP and Harvard Pilgrim to get a final quote of 8.95%. We will continue to work with our IAC to try to keep costs down for future health care renewals.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen M. Bratt
Human Resources Director
The full Annual Report for 2021 can be found
The collection of Annual Reports can be found online
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| Annual Report Of The Town of Franklin - FY 2021 |
ICYMI: Talk Franklin with Jamie Hellen in May 2022: "The journey rather than the destination is a hiking theme through much of this episode (audio)
In case you missed this episode, we'll turn the clock back to May and replay this session of my "Talk Franklin" conversation with Town Administrator Jamie Hellen. We had our conversation via the Zoom Conference Bridge.
Conversation around the following topics with a common thread of peaks and valleys, journey more important than the destination:
Welcome back
Friday 13th
So much good happening
Fire dept ISO Class 1
Clean audit report
AAA bond rating
DPW water conservation award
Where do you go from here? The challenge is greater to maintain this
Budget through Finance Committee
Next up Town Council (May 25, May 26)
MAPC forum and recommendations
The recording runs about 38 minutes, so let’s listen to my conversation with Jamie as we “Talk Franklin”.
Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-798-talk-franklin-05-13-22
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Town of Franklin meeting calendar -> https://www.franklinma.gov/calendar
Town budget page -> https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget
Franklin For All -> https://www.mapc.org/resource-library/franklin-for-all/
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| The journey rather than the destination is a hiking theme through much of this Talk Franklin episode (audio) |
Reminder: Order your rain barrel now, pick it up Sept 14
Reduce your water bill by utilizing a rain barrel to collect rainwater. When it rains you SAVE!
The Fall Residential Rain Barrel Program is currently open to residents - residents can order directly from The Great American Rain Barrel Company.
The deadline to order is September 5 and pick up will be at the DPW on September 14 from 4-6 PM.
Learn more about rain barrels here => https://www.franklinma.gov/stormwater-division/pages/rain-barrels
Note: while it has not yet determined how much of a credit, a rain barrel is an example of a credit against the future storm water fee. The storm water fee is expected to be implemented for July 2023.
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| Order your Rain Barrel before September 5, pick it up September 14 |
Franklin TV and wfpr.fm schedule for Tuesday, Aug 23, 2022
- wfpr.fm or 102.9 on the FM dial = Tuesday
9:00 AM 12:00 Noon and 6:00 PM Jazz Journey – with Pamela Hines
2 hours. An insightful tour of Jazz Greats in a golden era
2 hours. An insightful tour of Jazz Greats in a golden era
11:00 AM 2 PM and 8:00 PM SAFE Radio– Jim Derick and Dr. Anne Bergen Addressing issues of Drug Abuse Disorder
- Franklin All Access TV - Our Public Access Channel (Comcast 8, Verizon 26) = TUESDAY
7:00 am Care For Ukraine
9:00 am It Takes A Village: 40 Percent Club
10:00 am Frank Presents: Eric Lesser
11:00 am Senior Connection: COVID Updates
12:00 pm Brook'n'Cookin: Scones
12:30 pm Sandhya: Homemade Cheez-Its
1:30 pm Pizzapalooza: White Pizza
2:00 pm New England Candlepins: Fall 2019 Show 8
3:00 pm Candlepin New Generation: Spring 2019 Show 2
3:30 pm FAA: Art From The Heart
4:30 pm Extended Play Sessions: Season 10 Show 6 - Swinging Steaks
5:30 pm Physician Focus: Too Much Medicine?
6:00 pm Arts Advocacy Day: Marketing
7:30 pm Once Upon A Town: Gas Stations
8:30 pm Electric Youth: Bon Voyage Show 1
- Franklin Pride TV - Our Educational Channel (Comcast 96, Verizon 28) = TUESDAY
7:00 am Public School Event: Concert Hour Day 2
9:00 am Public School Concert: Lifelong Music Pt. 2 05-14-19
11:00 am Battleship Cove: 3D Print Lab
12:00 pm Public School Concert: FHS Spring Jazz '22
2:00 pm It Takes A Village: 40 Percent Club
3:00 pm Cultural District: Brent Selby
6:00 pm FHS Boys Varsity Soccer: v King Philip 10-06-21
8:00 pm FHS Girls Varsity Soccer: v Milford 10-25-21
10:00 pm FHS Varsity Volleyball: v Lynn Classical 11-05-21
- Franklin Town Hall TV - Our Government Channel (Comcast 11, Verizon 29) = TUESDAY
8:00 am School Committee 08-09-22
2:00 pm School Committee 08-09-22
7:00 pm School Committee: LIVE, Chambers, 840 9692 9085 Code: 277017
Get this week's program guide for Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) online http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf
Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm)
Monday, August 22, 2022
Reminder: Franklin.TV Open Board Meeting & Block Party - Aug 27 - 3 PM
It’s Happening. August 27 at Our Studio
by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 07/24/2022
Join us, Saturday, August 27 at 3:00 PM.
If you plan to attend, please RSVP by August 15 to: info@franklin.tvIt’s open to all Franklin businesses and residents. We’ll meet-and-greet and enjoy the day starting at 3:00 PM. Come hungry and enjoy some great food and music. You can also tour our studios and learn about Franklin●TV and wfpr●fm. We’ll also review our progress during the past year and discuss plans for the future. At our meeting you may cast a vote for new and/or renewing board positions.
Excerpt from FCCA bylaws: (Available on our website.)Section 15. Election of Director by the Membership (a) Members shall be notified by the Clerk of the election of a director by the Membership at the Annual Meeting. Said notice shall be in accordance with the notice provisions of Section 4 of this Article IV. (b) Any eligible voting Member may be nominated for election to the position of Director by:(i) Written notification to the Clerk no later than seven (7) days prior to Annual Meeting; or (ii) By nomination from the floor of the Annual Meeting made and seconded by no less than three (3) eligible voting members.
Thanks to our board members who contribute their time and energy to help make Franklin●TV all that a public access studio can be. If you would like to become involved either as a volunteer or to create your own TV or radio programs at Franklin●TV and wfpr●fm, just send an email to: info@franklin.tv with your contact information. You can also call us to discuss and explore your ideas. 508-541-4118.
Please join us at our Franklin●TV event. Again, it’s Saturday, August 27th starting at 3:00 PM. Our brief open board meeting begins at 4:00 PM. Come meet, greet, and learn all about local TV and radio in Franklin.
See you then.
And – as always –
Thank you for listening to wfpr●fm.
And, thank you for watching.
Thank you for listening to wfpr●fm.
And, thank you for watching.
Annual Report Of The Recreation Department - FY 2021
Note: FY 2021 is last year (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021). The report was prepared to cover the business for the FY 2021 period. This year’s report FY 2022 (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022) is in preparation now and is normally available for distribution at the polls for the November election.
The Recreation Department is located at 275 Beaver Street, Franklin MA 02038. The Recreation Department offers Franklin residents a variety of programs and activities for youth and adults, as well as coordination of youth sports organizations field use. The department operates and schedules activities for Beaver Pond (beach and turf field), Fletcher Field, Dennis Pisani Softball Field, Henry “Ski” Faenza Tot Lot (Nason Street Tot Lot), King Street Memorial Field (including the pickleball and basketball courts), Dacey Community Field (including disk golf course), and the Meadowlark Lane fields. The department is also responsible for scheduling the use of all school athletic fields with coordination from the Franklin High School Athletics Department. Our department works closely with the various town youth sports organizations and Athletic Director, Tom Angelo and his assistant Susan Jacobson to schedule all youth sports activities around the high school team practices and games.
Chilson Beach
Chilson Beach was open from June 19-August 20, 2021 with a swim at your own risk policy. No lifeguards were on duty. However, we staffed the beach with gate guards to check for residency as the beach remains Franklin residents only. The pond was home to canoeing, kayaking, swimming, fishing, and hiking.
For information on Chilson Beach and our water testing results, please visit:
At the above website, residents can check the water quality and E-coli levels as we run a water quality check every week throughout the summer to make sure it is safe for swimming.
On the turf field at Beaver Pond, we continue to permit soccer, field hockey, flag football, and boy’s lacrosse. The turf field was used for the Franklin Recreation Department’s NFL Flag football program under the direction of Jack Geromini (program coordinator), Franklin Youth Soccer, and Franklin youth boys lacrosse, as well as yoga for senior citizens, tai chi, boot camp, and many other recreational activities. A portable recycled plastic walkway is on site for handicap accessibility to the water edge and playground area. The Franklin High School soccer, lacrosse and field hockey programs play all of their home games on the turf field as well. The turf field was recently resurfaced in 2017 and the field is cleaned, decompacted and tested for GMAX annually.
Recreation Programs Summer Camp
An eight week summer camp was held at King Street Memorial Field from June 29-August 22, 2020. The program hours were Monday-Friday from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm daily. Registration was limited to 50 campers due to COVID-19 restrictions. Activities included: organized games, arts and crafts, water activities, sports, and weekly field trips. The 8 weeks featured camp shirt tie dye on Tuesdays, field trips were canceled this summer, but we continued the fun having a giant slip and slide/water slide every Thursday, and Pizza day Fridays. The Franklin Summer Camp Directors this year were Jonathan Geromini and Tim Shannon. The Franklin Summer Camp staff included: Sasha Arias, Danny Angermeier, Alana Portesi, Danny Brecht, Jared Cain, Jason D’Valentine, Joe Clark, Julia DiGiacomo, Julia Hogan, Tony Calderone, Will Conley, Halle Atkinson and Kelsey MacCallum.
Pre-Season Flag Football Camp ran again under the supervision of Jack Geromini. Jack lea a 3 day camp from 9:00am-12:00 noon for all interested Flag Football Athletes to help them prepare, practice and get excited about the upcoming Fall Flag Football Season.
Youth Basketball Program
The Youth Basketball program was not able to run for the first time in over 30 years due to COVID-19. School gymnasiums were not available to the Rec. Department
Pee Wee Baseball
The Pee Wee Baseball program is an introductory baseball program for children ages 4-6 years old. It was created in 1999 by Director, Ryan Jette. The program was reduced to 150 kids in 2020 as a result of COVID-19.
Track and Field
The Recreation Department’s track and field program numbers have increased drastically. On top of offering our annual Winter Track and field program to over 75 athletes ranging from Kindergarten to Eight grade, we are now offering Spring, Summer and now Fall track programs. These running programs are coached by Stacey Federico and she also receives help from High School track athletes.
NFL Flag Football
The Recreation Department teamed up with the NFL to bring this non-contact flag football league to kids aged 6-14 years old. Program numbers saw a dip in 2020 down to 240 kids. The program was run each Tuesday & Thursday evening at the Beaver Pond Turf Field. Reversible NFL game jerseys, playbooks, belt/flag setup and access to the NFL Kids website gives kids the opportunity to follow their favorite player or team. Players learned the fundamentals of throwing, catching, running and teamwork. This program continues to be one of the best programs the Recreation Department runs and its because of our program coordinator, Jack Geromini who has been supervising this program for 19 years.
Girls Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse program has grown from 28 girls to over 150 girls. In 2020, our teams did not participate due to COVID-19. However, we typically participate in the Founders League. This league provided better competition for our growing players. There were 2 teams at the 1st-2nd grade division. There were 3 teams at the 3rd & 4th Grade division. There were 3 teams at the 5th & 6th Grade level. And there were 2 teams at the 7th & 8th Grade level. All levels play in 8 regular season games. Franklin Girls Lacrosse is one of the largest girls’ lacrosse programs in the area.
NHL Street Hockey
This summer, our street hockey program was very popular with over 110 kids and 8 NHL teams represented. We hold a skills clinic for the first four sessions to evaluate the player skills. Then, we break them up into equal teams so that games will be fair and fun for all. Teams play twice a week, Monday and Wednesday’s. Jack Geromini is the league coordinator with the help of FHS hockey team players. Our Street Hockey program participated at the new Fletcher Field rink.
Girls Field Hockey
Franklin Recreation offers girls youth field hockey in many formats throughout the year. The fall (August- October) are usually the months that the field hockey leagues We work closely with the FHS Assistant Coach, Kim Carney to coordinate clinics, field usage, games. The K-2 division, an in house program features practice sessions and some in house small sided games. The 3rd & 4th grade team will play some scrimmages/games against area teams (probably 4-6 games). The 5th & 6th and the 7th & 8th grade teams will play in the Commonwealth League with 8 games vs. surrounding towns. 100+ girls comprise eight teams for the fall Field Hockey League.
Golf Lessons
The Recreation Department expanded the golf lessons offered into the summer months, by offering a full or half day camp in the summer. The Recreation Department, in conjunction Maple Gate Country Club, offered Adult and Junior Golf instruction. The lessons covered all aspects of the game of golf (putting, chipping, bunkers, irons, and woods). Registrants met one day a week for 6 weeks to practice their skills. Lessons were offered during the summer and fall season for over 50 residents attending. Express 2 day lessons were offered over April Vacation. Participants enjoyed playing the course following the six-week lesson to see what they learned.
ArtVenture Afterschool Studios
Art instructor; Kerry LeBlanc has flourished our arts department. With over 100+ children ranging from Pre-k to Middle School have signed up to take one of the many diverse art programs. ArtVenture Afterschool Studio, Artventure Preschool Studios, Art Summer Camp. All art programs are held at the Recreation Department.
Preschool Programs
Our Preschool classes are held in the mornings from 9:00am to 11:30am. The Recreation Department has two certified preschool instructors on staff; Nicole Nesbit and Emily Dandurand. Nicole and Emily teach our First Friends programs; Exploration Station, First Friends, First Friends Lunch Bunch and More Fun with Friends. They hold class’s Monday through Thursday and yearly roughly 440 children sign up to take their programs.
Preschool Science Programs taught by Christina Tocci and Christina Burkeholder. These programs explore the environment in which we live in, the human body and much more.
Children’s Programs
Our children’s programs vary from Rocketry and Engineering classes to Girls on the Move, Home Alone Safety and Social Netiquette classes. We have a core niche of students who enjoy working with their hands during our Robotics, Robotics II, Robotic Arm and Rocketry programs. We also offer a female only running program where goal setting is the primary focus along with nutrition and running. Home alone safety and social netiquette classes teach children the ways to stay safe home alone and when they are using the internet.
Rec Gym Programs
With the addition of our new Recreation Gymnasium, we were able to implement an extremely popular sport, played by many around the United States; Pickleball. We offer this program three out of the four season inside at our new gymnasium where we have 2 full pickleball courts. During the summer months we offer pickleball outside our new courts at King Street Memorial Field. We also acquired 2 indoor batting cages for baseball training for youth baseball teams to utilize. Some other popular programs for middle school athletes that utilize the new gymnasium are volleyball, speed & strength, street hockey, tennis, indoor field hockey, to name a few.
Parks and Playgrounds
Other Recreation Department initiatives included the coordination of Eagle scout projects for trail maintenance and kiosk construction. The department coordinated the Community Gardens at King Street Park. Vendetti Motors donated a brand new playground at Beaver Pond in memory of Joe and Mary Vendetti.
King Street Memorial Park
We also worked on a capital project to renovate the King Street Memorial Park by building pickleball courts, basketball court, baseball field, scoreboard and batting cages, as well as install new components at the playground.
Disc Golf
Our Disc Golf course located at Dacey Field off of Lincoln street has become a popular destination for many out of town and even out of state players. In 2010, Director of Recreation, Ryan Jette and Assistant Town Engineer, Jay Mello were the energy behind the building and engineering of the Disc Golf Course. This 18 hole course is over 100 acres behind a multi-use town park. Many events take place at Dacey Field Disc Golf course to instruct and teach new players the popular growing sport.
For more information, visit:
The full Annual Report for 2021 can be found
The collection of Annual Reports can be found online
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| Annual Report Of The Town of Franklin - FY 2021 |
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