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Message to the members of the Franklin Education Association
 
May 2, 2009Hello, my name is Jeffrey Roy, Chairman of the Franklin School Committee, onwhose behalf I am speaking to you today. We produced this video so that we could speak directly to you -- the most valuable asset of our school district -- to explain our positionregarding the wage freeze issue and to ask you to work as partners with us in resolvingthis situation in the best interests of Franklin students.First, we want you to know that the School Committee shares and respects yoursincere commitment to student achievement. We understand clearly that to moveacademic performance, Franklin needs reasonable class sizes, professional developmentopportunities and highly qualified staff. Those values have been and remain constantfactors in our decision-making.That is why, for the past decade, the members of the School Committee haveemployed every possible device to protect classroom positions. We have reduced andeliminated non-classroom programs. We have increased fees. We have pursued revenue-raising options. We have sought capital funds to pay for textbooks. We have fought forstabilization funds. We have fought for overrides. In short, we have fought for you, for
Jeffrey N. Roy,
Chair  
Paula Mullen,
Vice-Chair  
 Cora Armenio
▪
Ed Cafasso
▪
Matt Kelly
▪
Susan Rohrbach
▪
Roberta TrahanStreet Address355 East Central St.Franklin, MA 02038
PHONE
(508) 553-4819
E-MAIL
jroy@ravechroy.com
WEB SITE
 
http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/fsc/default.htm
FRANKLIN SCHOOL COMMITTEE
 
students and parents, and for our community’s quality of lie.Almost every penny saved or created has gone to protect teaching positions.Many of you have fought those battles alongside us, and we greatly appreciate yoursupport. We are asking you today to partner with us again at a time of crisis for ourcommunity.Obviously, this budget season has proven extremely difficult for both the townand the schools. The initial projected school budget gap of $3.5 million has been reducedthrough additional state and federal revenue and other one-time cost reductions. But alarge gap remains.What we are attempting to do is very straightforward: we are trying to preserveour current level of education resources, for one year, without spending any more money.Like you, we want to stop going backward in our education offering. Like you, we wantthe performance of Franklin students to be at the center of our schools. Preserving allcurrent teaching positions is a top priority, plain and simple. It is the last major piece of this very difficult puzzle. To accomplish that, since December, we have sought a wageconcession from the membership of the FEA.There has been a lot of back and forth publicly and privately about who said whatand when, who communicated, who didn’t communicate, and on and on. As far as we areconcerned, those issues are nothing more than distractions from our mutual goal. Today,we wipe the slate clean. It’s time to focus on the facts.
 
The FEA has proposed to defer the 2.5% wage increase for the 2009-2010 schoolyear and to forgo course reimbursement, conditioned on the following:
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Permanent removal of providing a reason for personal day requests;
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Permanent removal of after-school meetings two weeks prior to report cards; and
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Permanent removal of five floating meetings with principals.The School Committee has carefully considered this proposal:
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We want to protect your course reimbursement funding, because we considerprofessional development one of the cornerstones of your growth and of ouracademic success;
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We have agreed to the union’s personal day request for the 2009-2010 schoolyear;
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We have agreed to the union’s request to not hold meetings two weeks prior to theissuing of report cards for the 2009-2010 school year;
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And, we have declined the union’s proposals concerning eliminating meetingtimes.Let me explain why the School Committee has taken this position. First, the requestfor the wage freeze was made in the spirit of shared sacrifice – not as a signal to re-open
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