School calendar survey on line

The School Committee has received a flurry of e-mails expressing interest in changing the current School calendar. In response, we have informed residents that the School Committee will not be reviewing or acting upon the calendar until the spring. We have urged community members to check the agendas which are posted online (you can see them by clicking here) at so that you’ll know when this comes up. The calendar typically comes up as an action item and we have a discussion before taking voting. We have urged community members to participate in that discussion so that their feelings may be communicated to the entire committee.

In addition, the Superintendent of Schools is conducting a survey on the issue. You can take the survey by clicking here. In his message, he noted that building the school calendar is always an adventure. Trying to balance the competing needs of parents, students and school professionals while trying to honor various religious, state and federal holidays, is guaranteed to create some controversy. When you add the inevitable problem of school cancellations due to inclement weather and the mandatory 180-day student attendance requirement, it is inevitable that we will not be able to satisfy everyone’s needs.

It has been quite some time since the school department has collected any data from parents on our school calendar. So, we are asking for your input about some of our most common calendar issues. The Superintendent will use the results of the survey to inform his decision-making as he prepares a 2010-2011 school calendar to present to the School Committee for its approval.

This survey is for parents (sorry kids and teachers). Please complete it just once. The survey link will be open until November 24, 2008 at noon.

While we are on this topic, here is a summary of the rules and regulations regarding observance of religious holidays that the School Committee must consider in establishing the calendar:

State and federal laws require schools to make reasonable accommodation to the religious needs of students and employees in observance of holy days. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151B, section 4 (1)(A) addresses this issue with respect to employees. With respect to students, Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 151C, section 2B reads in relevant part as follows:

Any student in an educational or vocational training institution…who is unable, because of his religious beliefs, to attend classes or to participate in any examination, study or work requirement on a particular day shall be excused from any such examination or study or work requirement, and shall be provided with an opportunity to make up such examination, study or work requirement which he may have missed because of such absence on any particular day; provided, however, that such makeup examination or work shall not create an unreasonable burden upon such school. No fees of any kind shall be charged by the institution for making available to the said student such opportunity. No adverse or prejudicial effects shall result to any student because of his availing himself of the provisions of this section.

Schools may meet their obligation to accommodate students by excusing individual absences for religious observance, or by adjusting the school calendar to provide a school year of at least 180 school days, while taking into account possible days of low attendance due to religious holidays.

Advertising pilot program begins at FHS

The Franklin School Committee has approved a pilot project of advertising in the Franklin High School Field House. The Pilot will operate according to the guidelines below, approved by the School Committee at their October 28, 2008 meeting.

Any individual or business interested in taking part in this pilot should contact the Franklin High School Athletic Department at 508-541-2100 X3040 or e-mail Brad Sidwell for further details.

• The duration of the pilot will be from Nov. 1, 2008 through April 30, 2009;
• The Subcommittee will monitor and evaluate the performance of the pilot and make further recommendations at the School Committee’s May 12, 2009 meeting;
• Any revenue from the pilot must be fully accounted for and deposited in the Franklin School Department’s revolving account for athletics, with such proceeds being used to offset the cost of the district’s athletic programs subject to the consideration and vote of the Franklin School Committee;
• Advertisements placed within the Field House should be executed based on the following specifications;
  • Each will be 4′ x 6′ banner-style ads on vinyl;
  • Each banner must be navy blue with white lettering;
  • The advertising content on each banner must be printed or placed at least six (6) inches from any edge of the banner;
  • Each banner may display a company or organization logo, no larger than 1′ x 1′, in any color;
  • Each banner must have six eye grommets (4 corners, top middle, bottom middle);
  • The promotion of any product related to alcohol, tobacco and illegal substances will be prohibited;
  • Advertising content that is determined to be vulgar, profane or sexually explicit will be prohibited;
  • Advertising content with language or graphics interpreted as being of a harassing or prejudicial nature to any individual or group will be prohibited;
  • The content of a banner must be approved by the Superintendent of Schools or his/her designee, the Franklin High School principal and the chair of the Franklin School Committee before it can be displayed; and,
  • Any advertising content interpreted as being contrary to these guidelines by the Superintendent of Schools, the principal of Franklin High School and the chair of the Franklin School Committee will be prohibited.

   

• The location of each banner placement will occur at the discretion of the Athletic Director and Franklin High School Principal;
• Each advertiser will be responsible for procuring banners that adhere to the aforementioned specifications;
• The Franklin Public Schools will be responsible for hanging/affixing each banner in accordance with applicable safety regulations;
• The cost for displaying one banner will be set at $480.00 per year; with each year designated as the 12-month period from December 1 to November 30;
• A minimum three-month advertising commitment will be required;
• For advertisers who choose to display a banner for less than the one-year period, the cost will be pro-rated at $40 per month;
• Should the Franklin School Committee decide to discontinue the program after the six-month pilot, refunds will be made to advertisers for any excess funds paid, and,
• No single advertiser will be allowed to purchase more than two banners each year.

 

The Policy Subcommittee of the Franklin School Committee shall give its full consideration to the creation of a policy for advertising on and within Franklin Public School property that would give community and regional businesses and organizations the opportunity to respectfully and tastefully promote themselves and the mission of the Franklin Public Schools and/or its academic or athletic programs.

You can view the Milford Daily News report on the program by clicking here.

NY teachers challenge political activity rule

With only weeks to go before the Nov. 4 elections, the United Federation of Teachers filed a federal court lawsuit claiming that a New York City Department of Education policy banning educators from wearing campaign pins in schools violates their constitutional rights to free speech and political expression.

The UFT filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan seeking a temporary restraining order against the policy, which city schools Chancellor Joel Klein urged principals to enforce in an Oct. 1 e-mail message to administrators in the city’s 1,500 public schools — even though it has not been followed for decades. You can read the text of the regulation by clicking here.

The plaintiffs are UFT President Randi Weingarten; Miriam DelMoor, a technology teacher at the George F. Bristow School, CS 134, in the Bronx; Anthony Thompson, a physical education and health teacher at the Wakefield School, PS 16, in the Bronx; Frank Soriente, a common branches teacher at PS 121 in Queens; and David Pecoraro, a social studies teacher at Beach Channel High School in Queens. The named defendants are the New York City Board of Education and Chancellor Klein.

Weingarten outlined the union’s case for reporters during a press conference before she and attorney Norman Siegel and attorneys from the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP filed the papers at the Southern District courthouse at 500 Pearl Street. She noted that the union has operated in the same way with respect to political speech in schools over two decades, carefully balancing teachers’ responsibilities as professionals and as citizens.

The UFT sent an e-mail message to its chapter leaders on Sept. 23 regarding the wearing of political buttons during school hours, the hanging of posters and the distribution of other political materials along with regular union distributions. That e-mail message is virtually identical to that which was sent to chapter leaders in 2000 and 2004.

About two days later, the chancellor’s office contacted the UFT to say that the wearing of campaign buttons and the distribution of political materials is prohibited by Chancellor’s Regulation D-130, which requires all Department of Education staff to “maintain a posture of complete neutrality with respect to all candidates” while on duty or in contact with students. It also prohibits the use of school facilities and supplies, including school mailboxes and even bulletin boards designated for UFT use, to express support for any political candidate except “as an integral part of regularly published staff newspapers or newsletters.” That was followed by the chancellor’s October 1 Principals’ Weekly e-mail notice to administrators.

“The ban on members wearing lapel pins is bad enough,” Weingarten told reporters. “Now the Department of Education wants to restrict the communications between the UFT and its members through the regular channels utilized for such communications such as union bulletin boards and employee mailboxes, both of which are out of students’ view.

“The ‘what if’ scenarios the Chancellor has raised have not happened in two decades,” Weingarten continued. “Why would they create shibboleths now simply to deny educators freedom of expression?”

“It doesn’t matter whether you support Democratic Senator Barack Obama or Republican Senator John McCain,” Weingarten said. “As voters, we all should have the right to express our views. By suppressing political expression, the Department of Education is sending the wrong message to our students. We are just weeks away from a landmark presidential election that is being discussed in classrooms and at dinner tables across the nation. Students can only benefit from being exposed to and engaged in a dialogue about current events, civic responsibilities and the political process.”

Special-education primer

We frequently receive questions concerning the financial aspects of special education. In September, 2008, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s Division of Local Services included a primer on the financial aspects of special education in its City and Town publication. You can view the article by clicking here.

The story goes through the legal requirements surrounding special education funding, sources for funding, the circuit breaker program, local fiscal responsibility, and special-education transportation. It includes a wealth of information on these topics and provides answers to most of the frequently asked questions in this area. The article also serves as good background for citizens who may wonder what our special-education services are all about.

Again, click here to view the article. If you want more information on school finances generally, click here.

Using photographs to stop the worldwide XDR-TB epidemic

Please permit me to go a bit off-topic to tell you about an important event taking place today.

Award-winning photojournalist James Nachtwey is premiering a slideshow on the disease XDR-TB that is the culmination of his wish to share an underreported worldwide story using news photography in the digital age. The story will be spread via an eight-page spread in TIME magazine, a gathering of global activists and leaders, and outdoor screenings around the world and across the Internet in an effort to raise awareness about the disease.

The slideshow is the subject of Nachtwey’s TED Prize wish. The TED Prize is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and granting of “One Wish to Change the World.” In raising awareness about XDR-TB, a virulent, mutated strain of traditional TB existent in 49 countries and responsible for more than 20,000 preventable deaths each year, Nachtwey comments, “Photographers go to the extreme edges of human experience to show people what’s going on. They aim their pictures at your best instincts: generosity, a sense of right and wrong, the ability and the willingness to identify with others, the refusal to accept the unacceptable.”

Nachtwey’s slideshow will be screened in public spaces in cities around the world, including New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Seoul, Hong Kong, and London, on all 7 continents and across the internet starting on October 3, and continuing throughout the month. Paul Simon (singer/songwriter), Larry Brilliant (Google.org), Joanne Carter (RESULTS), Winstone Zulu (survivor), and Marcos Espinal (World Health Organization) will all gather with Nachtwey in New York City for a special event this evening.

Joanne Carter, executive director of RESULTS USA, the medical advocacy group supporting the campaign, says, “We hope that the visibility achieved by the global unveiling of these photos will underscore the danger of underfunding and lack of global attention to TB programs, spur people around the world to demand action, and spur world leaders to act.”

Using haunting images in a digital slideshow, this multimedia campaign will raise awareness about XDR-TB and launch a social action campaign with partnering organizations RESULTS and Demos UK. The TED Prize (given annually at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California) made Nachtwey’s project possible, along with medical technology company BD, TIME magazine, the Streaming Museum, Phantom Galleries, and many other key partners.

To learn more, please visit xdrtb.org and prepare to be shocked and moved. To view Nachtwey’s TED talk on the subject, click here.