Franklin employees forego FY10 salary increases

On their own volition, 51 school administrators and non-union secretaries volunteered to freeze their salaries and forgo any kind of pay increases. The news was announced at last night’s School Committee meeting.

We have known for some time that FY10 is going to be a very difficult budget season. Several weeks ago, we noted that as a community we would all have to dig deeply to come up with a solution to keep the system intact. We were happy to report last night that we have a group of administrators and non-union staff who came together and voted to freeze their salaries and forego any increases for FY10.

That’s 51 employees who took the initiative, stepped up to the plate, and put on the table a solution which involved personal sacrifice. It is a clear case of leadership by example and it sets the right tone as we continue on this difficult budget journey. Our heartfelt thanks and admiration go out to this fine and dedicated group of educators .

For the complete report from the Milford Daily News, click here.

MCAS history exam scrapped by DOE board

The state Board of Education voted today to delay the start of the 10th-grade MCAS history exam by at least two years because of deep budget cuts and financial constraints.

In an 8-2 vote, the board acknowledged that during such tough fiscal times it could not introduce a new test that might cause school districts to spend tens of thousands of dollars to retrain teachers and revamp curriculum. The test had been scheduled to begin as a pilot program this spring and be administered to high school juniors next year, becoming a graduation requirement for the class of 2012.

Mitchell Chester, commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, outlined his rationale for delaying the history MCAS in a letter which can be viewed by clicking here. In part, he wrote: “Even at current funding levels, we will have insufficient funds to maintain our current program and transition our pilot history and social science tests to a fully operational assessment program. While our history and social science tests are part of our state education reform program, unlike reading, mathematics, and science and technology/engineering tests, they are not required by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. If the budget cuts currently projected are realized, there will be additional impacts to the MCAS program, beyond the impact to history and social science assessments.”

To view the Boston Globe report, click here. For the Milford Daily News report, click here.

TIMSS results place Massachusetts among world leaders in math and science

Massachusetts’ fourth and eighth graders outscored the nation, and most of their international peers, in math and science on the world’s largest study of student performance in those subjects. According to the results of the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Massachusetts 4th graders ranked second worldwide in science achievement and tied for third in mathematics; the state’s 8th graders tied for first in science and ranked sixth in mathematics.

TIMSS is an international math and science assessment administered every four years to a sampling of 4th and 8th grade students in participating nations around the world. The test was administered in April and May 2007 to 3,600 students attending 95 randomly selected schools in Massachusetts.

Other findings include:

• Massachusetts 8th graders made significant gains in math and science performance on TIMSS between 1999 and 2007. In math, the state’s 8th graders improved by 34 points, from 513 in 1999 to 547 in 2007. In science, 8th graders scored 23 points higher in 2007 (556) than in 1999 (533). There are no trend results for the state’s 4th graders.
• In grade 8 science, 20% of Massachusetts students met the Advanced Benchmark, behind Singapore (32%) and Chinese Taipei (25%). In math, 16% of the state’s 8th graders scored Advanced, behind Chinese Taipei (45%), the Republic of Korea (40%), Singapore (40%), Hong Kong SAR (31%), and Japan (26%).
• Boys outscored girls in Massachusetts on three of the four tests. At grade 4, boys outscored girls in math (578 to 567) and science (576 to 566). At grade 8, boys outscored girls in science (561 to 551), but the difference was not statistically significant in math (550 for boys, 544 for girls).

TIMSS was developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in Amsterdam to measure trends in students’ math and science performance worldwide. In all, 59 countries and 425,000 students participated in the 2007 TIMSS administration. Massachusetts and Minnesota were the only two states to opt to participate as “nations.”

Additional information on TIMSS is available online at the National Center for Education Statistics’ website (nces.ed.gov/timss/) and the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center’s website at timss.bc.edu/.

Bill Gates on creating great teachers

Bill Gates, through his Gates Foundation, hopes to solve some of the world’s biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate 10 minute excerpt from his February 2009 presentation at TED, he asks us to consider how we create great teachers.

Gates first recognizes that the economy is only providing opportunities to people who have a better education. And he notes that having great teachers is the key thing to providing these opportunities. He also discusses a recent study (which can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here) which demonstrates that top quartile teachers will increase the performance of their classroom students by 10 percentage points. As such, it should be our goal to get top teachers in front of our students.

In his talk, he also refers us to the successful educational programming done at the KIPP School in Houston, Texas. It was refreshing to hear that some of the team teaching approaches utilized in that school are part of the educational programming used here in Franklin. He also referred to the recent book by education journalist Jay Mathews on this successful school entitled Work Hard Be Nice.

It’s an engaging talk and many of the ideas should be kept in mind as we are asked to go down the path reducing expenditures on education in this town and in this country. Rather than cutting in these areas, we should be rewarding and retaining our best and brightest staff members.

To view the video, either click here or click on the image below.

Financial planning committee issues report in Newton

As we await the report from Franklin’s financial planning committee, one interesting read is today’s Boston Globe story on the presentation delivered by a similar group in Newton. For decades, Newton has enjoyed an enviable reputation for good schools, leafy parks, and close proximity to Boston. But the financial committee told residents that their city is not as great as it used to be. To see the full report in the Boston Globe, click here.

From the perspective of the schools, the committee noted that students in Newton are facing the prospect of underfunded technology, higher fees, and larger class sizes. Like Franklin, Newton’s school system is facing a growing financial gap. To maintain services, the district needs to increase revenue by 5.9 percent a year. The city’s revenue has been growing at about 3.9 percent over the last five years. In its revenue report released in November, the group said Newton’s choices are “more profound than simply increasing revenues or reducing costs. Rather we must consider reductions in the historic scope and scale of municipal and educational services.”

The budget issues facing Franklin and many of the communities throughout Massachusetts bear many similarities. And this story from Newton and the report from its financial planning committee is further evidence that we are not alone. In that respect, we anxiously await the report to the citizens of Franklin.

You can get background information, including the mission and charge surrounding the Newton group, by clicking here.  You can read the complete set of City of Newton reports by clicking here.

Full-day kindergarten facing budget axe in Mass

With the economy in decline, the Boston Globe is reporting that several school districts across Massachusetts are rethinking their plans for full-day kindergarten because of the high fees involved, threatening the state’s recent inroads in making a full day of school available to all 5-year-olds.

Franklin has offered a successful full-day kindergarten program for many years, but with the prospect of $3.5 million in budget cuts for FY10, our community will no doubt also be forced to reconsider the financial viability of the program. For the past several years, the School Committee has been forced to look at all options to reduce its budget. In the last few budget cycles, we have trimmed around the edges. But with no edges left, we must look to the core programs.

According to the Globe report, three-fourths of the state’s public kindergarten students are in full-day classes, compared to roughly a fourth a decade ago. The state has been pushing for more full-day kindergarten classes since it established a grant program for full-day kindergarten in 2000.

Cuts to spending on full-day kindergarten run counter to a growing national view among educators and lawmakers that children need more time in kindergarten to be successful in subsequent years. There is no question that this would be a giant step backwards, but the realities of school financing leave us with few other options.

Over the next several weeks, the School Committee will be discussing all budget cutting efforts and we urge you to stay tuned and participate in the discussions. To read the full Globe report on what is happening outside of Franklin, click here.

Practical wisdom is needed now more than ever

Over the next few months, the School Committee will be called upon to make critical decisions about budget matters for the next fiscal year. In the decision-making process, we set guidelines and highlight priorities to assist us in arriving at a budget number. It is unfortunate that during this process, we often lose sight of the need for practical wisdom, a topic not easily susceptible to numeric calculation.

Along those lines, I was drawn to a video on this topic which deserves your review and consideration. In this 20 minute talk, Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for practical wisdom as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.

In his remarks, Schwartz reminds us that kindness, care, and empathy are essential human interactions which are not part of the job descriptions, but are essential parts of every job. He also notes that it is difficult to teach these concepts in standards-based curricula, and that we must rely on the judgment of our teachers to deliver the messages of moral skill and moral will. He further goes on to remind us that you don’t need to be brilliant to be wise, but you must have that combination of moral will and moral skill in order to possess the practical wisdom which is necessary for success.

I urge everyone to take a peek at this video and give consideration to the big picture elements of our education system. The video can also be used as a helpful set of guiding principles for what is important to maintain in our education programs.

Vallee appointed as majority leader

Congratulations are in order for Franklin’s State Representative James Vallee who was chosen to be a key player on the leadership team of House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo. Jim was selected as the Majority Leader. For the complete report from today’s Boston Globe, click here.

Jim has been a consistent and loyal friend of the Franklin public schools and we wish him well in his new position. Thanks to his continued leadership, Franklin has been a generous recipient of state aid to support our educational offerings. He is also a frequent visitor to and supporter of the Franklin schools.

Classic unfunded mandate on musical instruments

What’s an unfunded mandate is a typical question raised, particularly during budget season. A recent bill submitted to the Massachusetts House of Representatives that would require the sterilization of all school band instruments is a classic example.

The bill known as H5176, received initial approval in December 2008 and would require that beginning in January 2010, all public and private schools in the state must sanitize any woodwind or brass instrument (such as a flute, clarinet, trumpet, or trombone) prior to loaning it to a student for use. The committee on Health Care Financing, to whom was referred the report of the Special Commission established (under Chapter 2 of the Resolves of 2007), providing for an investigation and study relative to examining hygienic procedures relative to band instruments (House, No. 5124), reports recommending that the accompanying bill (House, No. 5176) ought to pass. The bill reads as follows:

Any musical wind instrument provided by any school, public or private, to a student in grades pre-K through 12, for any instruction or activity of any nature, shall be thoroughly sterilized prior to issuance to each student who uses such instrument. Such musical wind instruments shall be sterilized through a process destroying all microbial life including, but not limited to, bacteria, fungi, viruses and endspores. The sterilization shall be performed by the school issuer using a certified sterilant approved by the environmental protection agency and the process protocol shall be established by the department of public health. Compliance and enforcement shall be under the jurisdiction of the department of public health.

The bill, if passed, would have far reaching effects on local school band programs. Some have suggested that the costs associated with the sterilization process run the range of $50-$80 per instrument. The bill does not come with any funding for local districts to support this program. What that means is that local communities will have to come up with the funds themselves, despite the fact that they are already facing fiscal catastrophe.

With communities like Franklin facing substantial deficits and being called upon to eliminate or cut programs, including music, we think the focus should be on reducing financial burdens. As some have suggested, the elimination of music and arts programs that are being considered during the budget process may very well solve the alleged public health problem on its own. Rather than a sterilization bill, we would like to hear ways the legislature is looking to help us keep these programs intact; ways that we can ensure that our students are getting educated in the arts as required under the Massachusetts Constitution (Chapter V, Section II, entitled, the Encouragement of Literature, etc.).

No one argues with the intentions of the supporters of this bill. Indeed, keeping instruments free of bacteria is an important goal. However, the bill overlooks the fact that most communities, including Franklin, already take steps to ensure the safety of musical instruments. A bill such as this is an example of overreaction to a problem that may not even exist.

While this bill may be a “stimulus” package for sterilization equipment and supplies manufacturers, it’s nothing but a classic unfunded mandate and burden to financially strapped communities. Accordingly, the bill ought to be swiftly defeated.

Complements to the Franklin staff

There are those occasions when a refreshing letter comes across the desk. Today was one of them.

Assistant Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski shared a letter she received from one of our teachers at Remington Middle School. The letter speaks to the caliber of the staff in the Franklin Public Schools, their commitment to public education, and their dedication to the task at hand. The Paul and Shawn she is referring to are Principal Paul Peri and Assistant Principal Shawn Forton. It is with great pleasure that I share it with you here:

Dear Maureen,

I feel it necessary to email you my thoughts about Paul, Shawn, and Franklin in general. Let me back track a little bit. Before I got to Franklin, I thought I would be potentially entering my last year of being a teacher. The administration and politics at my previous school district burnt me out with their rigid rules on the make-up of the perfect teacher. It allowed me to forget why I went into teaching in the first place-the children. Everything seemed to overshadow my passion for teaching. I found myself saying that I was going to work every day, not school. I even questioned my effectiveness in the classroom.

When I arrived at my interview at RMS, I didn’t know that I would leave the building praying that I would be hired by Franklin. The professionalism of Tim, Paul, Jeff Chaffee, and Shawn during the interview shined. Their vision of finding the perfect fit for RMS was evident. I was offered two jobs before Paul had called me. I bravely asked these two schools to be patient as I was waiting to hear back from another school (RMS). When Paul called me with the offer, I was in Seventh Heaven! Suddenly, my enthusiasm for being a teacher came back! This has only rejuvenated itself working with Paul and Shawn.

Paul welcomed me to the RMS community by offering his assistance from everything from desks to school supplies. Little did I know at the time, that he was stepping into new shoes himself (Do you like that one?). He was dealing with his own transition, but that never got in the way of helping a new teacher find her way around RMS. He has always been very clear that he’s available anytime. I can go into his office anytime, and he’ll drop whatever it is to help/hear me. Paul says what he means, and means what he says. It’s always about the little things isn’t it? Before school started, I received a card from Paul welcoming me to RMS. Since then, I’ve received thank you cards for various occasions such as volunteering at the schools’ “Lock-In.” It’s these little gestures of appreciation that really go a long way. On our Wed Memos, Paul posts “Best Practices.” This spotlights what my colleagues are doing well in their classroom. This builds community and allows everyone to celebrate the top-notch staff. It brings us closer as the family that we are. Paul is a precious gem, a D-Flawless, if you will.

I was so excited to have Shawn as a teammie. Then, he was taken away and promoted to Assistant Principal. Good call!!! Shawn is junior in his position, but this never hindered his ability to make decisions regarding the students. Last year, I stopped sending students to the A.P. because there was no point. I knew that I could give them a better suited consequence. This year, there is never a hesitation. I know that when I send a student to Shawn, he is going to assess the situation and handle it in the best way possible. He’ll consult me either before or after meeting with the student to ensure that it is handled well. I appreciate the respect. Shawn commands respect and gets it. Furthermore, the students always know that Shawn will make a fair decision. One time, Shawn was walking down the hallway and my students had set up their Giver projects. They really wanted him to see them because they value his opinion. He took time out of his busy schedule and visited my classroom to pay his oohs and ahhs to the students’ hard work. They were so thrilled! Shawn is always friendly and approachable.

I wanted to let you know how thrilled I am to go to school, not work every day. Franklin has renewed my love for teaching. My administration, team, and colleagues are second to none. I take the CBJ class on Thurs and have gotten to know teachers working in the other middle schools. Franklin certainly only hires the cream of the crop.

Lastly, I wanted to congratulate you in your new role. May you have fabulous shoes on your first official day on the job!

Julie McManuis, M.Ed.

Remington Middle School

Grade 7: English/Language Arts