FM #1423 - School Cmte - Policy Subcmte Mtg - 04/08/25

This session shares the Franklin (MA) School Committee Policy Subcmte meeting held on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. All 3 members participated, Chair O’Sullivan, members Callaghan, McNeill.  Supt Giguere, Ops Director Boisvert, and Dr Rogers representing the Central Office.

Quick recap:

• Supt Giguere sets the stage with some background on how this topic has developed during the redistricting efforts first updated in Dec 2024, then in Jan 2025 to act on the notification to Police, Fire, and DESE on the temporary naming of the new schools operating in the buildings that remained operational in the District
• Some members of the community have misunderstood the delay in allowing the new middle school community to work to develop their identity “as the Schools doing away with Horace” which was not or ever the case, however
• Mercer - Horace Mann is a central source of civic pride and if you wrap the district around H Mann then the community will come along
• J Johnston with the story of H Keller and some of the not so good aspects of her background; Remington was president of Thompson Press and a 20 year SchCmte Member along with other committees in service of the community, definitely worthy of remembering. H Mann you know, he was all for total equality and public education, he wanted teachers trained for their position and not just someone who could do it
• Proposal for the 'campus' i.e. all of the complex including the High school to be designated as such to get ahead of the other conversations so that the Town business doesn't get distracted by this naming convention iitem
• Subcmte discussion on approval for the Central Office to move forward with the Horace Mann campus and potentially a committee to foster the honoring as it goes forward. So moved, passes 3-0 via roll call
• Transportation conundrum - previously a bus/busses included a stop on their routes to drop kiddos off at the Y, with the redistricting such could not easily be done; would likely require adding back a bus on a different slot and results in a cost estimated as low as 45K and as high as $85K. Discussion around options but none prevailed and the “conundrum” remained
• Given the timing (needing to close this session to get to the full committee meeting), the topic on a letter to support the alternative funding being discussed within the Legislature was mentioned briefly, Callaghan to add some stats from the Franklin TV deck presented earlier to the draft in hand and review further in another session
• Motion to adjourn, passes 3-0 

The recording runs about 54 minutes, so let’s listen in.

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

The meeting agenda can be found -> https://ma-franklin.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_04082025-1668 

The Town Council memo as discussed -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CCDx8c4zn4ZVUr0EYQy1snpygRVLzxHO/view?usp=drive_link 

My full set of notes taken during the meeting can be found in one PDF ->

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14gUGQ0N6s5bMiGwhbHegsRcxfkZUCirY/view?usp=drive_link 

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

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial. 

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
• And if you have interest in reporting on meetings or events, please reach. We’ll share and show you what and how we do what we do

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/  or www.franklin.news 

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"