It is what it is. On the Franklin Public Schools website, it is stated that Superintendent Dr. Steve Patz will be holding a public forum on Wednesday, March 17th. This forum will focus on the upcoming 2010-2011 budget, which is slated to have a $1.6 million shortfall that needs to be remedied. It's great to have a public forum, however I see one huge problem: the forum is on a Wednesday morning from 7:30 to 9am.
While this is just my opinion, I would tend to believe most of you will be taking the kids to school and then off to work around that time. I suppose if one felt it to be a very serious matter they would do their best to find time to show up at the forum, but the odds aren't siding with that idea. Furthermore, the superintendent's public forum comes less than 12 hours after the School Board candidate forum, being held at Franklin High School and hosted by the Franklin Education Association.
I believe the public forum was made with the best of intentions to gauge public input. Unfortunately, I also believe it was scheduled at the wrong place with the wrong time. My suggestion would be to hold the public forum from 5-6:30pm at Franklin High School the night of the candidate forum. That way the district receives the maximum turnout of residents and elected officials likely to be in attendance for the forum will also be able to hear what the taxpayers have to say about the upcoming budget.
