The meeting was conducted in a remote format; all the subcommittee, Central Office personnel and the public participants were remote via conference bridge, to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.
Catching up to this, after the fact, yes, but sharing this as a matter of public record. I was unable to participate fully in this meeting on Feb 3 due to the multiple meetings scheduled in competing time slots. You may recall that I chose to cover the Board of Health meeting (5:00 to 5:25 PM - it was short and ended then), the beginning of this meeting (5:30 to 5:43 PM) and left to cover the Economic Development Subcommittee meeting (from 5:45 to 6:50 PM) followed by the Town Council meeting at 7 PM.
I did listen to the recording provided by the Franklin Public Schools to prepare this for sharing. Unfortunately, there is not much to add to what was already reviewed and discussed during the School Committee meeting of Feb 9. In case you did not hear, the School Committee did accept the report and did vote to close the school by a 5-2 vote.
Due to the recording I viewed to make this audio copy, I could not tell how many participants there were. The three members of the committee, Supt Ahern, and Business Manager Miriam Goodman are the voices acknowledged that we hear. At the end of the meeting, Subcommittee Chair Stokes states that they will not take comments as this is their last meeting. So I feel bad for anyone in the public who did participate hoping to get to say something. My two cents would also have been silenced.
The show notes contain links to the meeting agenda.
The recording runs just about 51 minutes. Let’s listen to this segment of the Davis Thayer Facility Analysis meeting of Feb 3, 2021
--------------
Agenda doc
https://www.franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/agendas/agenda_dt_subcom_1.28.21.docx.pdf
Davis Thayer Facility Analysis folder
https://www.franklinps.net/district/davis-thayer-facilities-analysis
Davis Thayer Closing Options memo
https://www.franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/uploads/davis_thayer_closing_options.pdf
The draft of the final report from the subcommittee was what was reviewed during the meeting. The final version of the report and action item for the School Committee discussion on Tuesday, Feb 9, 2021 https://www.franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/uploads/discussion_action_a_-_retirement_of_dt.pdf
Feb 3 meeting choices
https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/02/too-many-meeting-choices-for-wednesday.html
--------------
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
Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/
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"
