Franklin School Committee News
Edited by Denise Schultz, Vice-Chair
Message from the Chair - Dr. Anne Bergen
Dr. Ahern, with input from stakeholders throughout our community, has put in place a District Improvement Plan with clear, specific goals in four key areas:
- Social Emotional Learning,
- An Engaging and Rigorous Curriculum,
- High Quality Instruction to Meet the Needs of ALL learners and
- Effective Two-Way Communication to Support Student Learning.
Our job as a School Committee is to do all that we can to support the implementation of these goals, especially by providing the necessary funding.
As SC members we fully realize that we are part of the larger community and that it is critically important we work hand in hand with the Town Council and Finance Committee. To that end we will be working with these groups to make sure we are as open and transparent about the budget process as it evolves over the year. We will do all that we can to communicate with ALL CITIZENS about the needs of our schools and what it will cost to maintain what has become among the highest performing school districts in the state. Ultimately, it is always up to the citizens to decide what they want and expect from their schools. The more information we can provide, we hope will be helpful in making those decisions!
We encourage you to attend budget meetings which will be scheduled throughout the year. We encourage your attendance at School Committee, Town Council, and Finance Committee meetings. In addition the Community Relations Subcommittee of the School Committee holds monthly “coffee hours” as a way to promote Two-Way Communication. Your participation in supporting our public schools is greatly valued and appreciated!
Public Schools Advocacy (PSA) and Budget Update - Denise Schultz, Chair of PSA
This subcommittee supports and highlights the work of other subcommittees, including Budget, Community Relations and Policy - so I am including a link here to the state budget overview of Franklin.
Click here for Franklin's Per Pupil Expenditure, per the DESE website.
The School committee has a new website, please familiarize yourself with the new layout here (and it is a work in progress!).
Policy Update from Mary Jane Scofield, Chair, Policy Subcommittee
The Policy subcommittee (Mary Jane Scofield, Denise Schultz, Monica Linden) is continuing to meet regularly with representatives from the administration to ensure that the FPS Policy Manual is current. The subcommittee looks forward to the adoption of a Social Media Policy, after receiving input from several staff members over several months. We look forward to an update on the Homework Policy, which has been in place for over a year. While all policies are important, it's important to note one that was recently developed to address students whose parents serve in the military, and move around the country.
School Start Times Advisory Committee - update from Dr. Monica Linden
Community Relations Coffees!- Update from Gigi Zub, Chair
Carrying on a popular tradition from the previous school committee, our community coffees continue, hosted by Gigi Zub, Chair of the Community Relations subcommittee. There is a year long calendar and planned theme for each coffee, which can be found here.
As school is under way and we come into budget season, school start times discussions as well as a number of other issues related to the education of our kids, we hope you join us for the remaining community coffees in 2018. We so value the communities feedback and engagement!! The community coffees are
11/3 9am TV Studio - social emotional learning
12/5 7 FHS Library - open forum and planning
We will also have a booth at the October Harvest Festival on SUNDAY October 14 11am to 4pm. Please stop by to see us! (New date due to rain)
Hope to see you there!
Monthly Business Meeting Dates - 7 pm, Franklin Town Hall (click title for link)
- October 23, 2018
- November 13, 2018 - Organizational Meeting
- November 27, 2018
- December 11, 2018
Input welcome! To contact us...
Denise Schultz: schultzd@franklinps.net
Full school committee can be reached here: School-Committee@franklinps.net
Email: schultzd@franklinps.net
Website: http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/Pages/index
Phone: 508-612-5950