Franklin Today

Saber Spirit Club's calendar raffle supports many programs at FHS

With my desire to share the accomplishments of Franklin organizations, I wanted to congratulate the Saber Spirit Club and its members for generously supporting activities and athletics at Franklin High School via the yearly calendar raffle. Our family joined the Saber Spirit Club this year, and we intend to continue to be members of the organization for many more years to come. Anyone can become a member of the organization, which has a great website with a lot of information.

I recently spoke with Jan Coenen, President of the organization, who told me that the proceeds from the yearly calendar raffle have been posted online. Here are the many groups who were able to benefit from the sales:

School bus in the ditch on Hwy 100

One of the smaller sized school buses is in a ditch along the St. Martins Road portion of Hwy 100, near Elm Court. It is unknown if there were children still on the bus or if anyone was hurt. This adds yet another traffic accident to the books for the portion of Hwy 100 from Loomis to Elm Court/Prairie Grass Way, and is another example of why the State Department of Transportation, which controls Hwy 100, should be focusing on its reconstruction sooner rather than later.

Hwy 100 from Loomis to the Root River is first scheduled to begin reconstruction in late 2014.

Update: WTMJ 4 currently has their news chopper in the sky above the area, and is reporting that there was at least one student in the bus at the time of the incident.

FHS Blockcast

Below is the Podcast recently done by FHS Principal Mike Cady. The entire Podcast is dedicated to answering parent concerns and questions relating to the upcoming block scheduling program, which is set to be implemented in the 10-11 school year.

FHS Blockcast

Mike Cady's Podcast

Make sure to do the school survey!

FranklinNOW is reporting that Franklin Public Schools will begin a series of surveys to the residents of the school district starting next week. They report the first survey will be regarding programs in the district, and later ones will focus on facilities, budgeting, and future initiatives.

It is important that the survey is taken so the school district and School Board are made aware of your intentions as a taxpayer on what direction you'd like to see Franklin Public Schools take.

During my time relaying to you community issues, an issue that never went away is the topic of Franklin High School and what its future should be. While residents rejected what many considered to be a blank check referendum in 2007, they didn't indicate it was a terrible idea to think about what will happen at the high school in the near and long term future. Furthermore, other projects in the area have shown that taxpayers don't have to pick up the full tab for such projects. A recent example can be seen in Hartland, where $4 million is being raised by private donors for an expanded football stadium at Arrowhead High School.

When the surveys arrive in the mailboxes, taxes are the first thing on everyone's mind, and people will vote based on those thoughts. What likely won't be shown is that while taxpayers at this time can't afford additional taxes on their properties, an indication of support for revamped/new facilities or programs doesn't have to mean higher taxes. If the surveys come back and indicate support for one or several items/initiatives by residents, the school district and School Board can use that to their advantage to generate interest in the private sector for contributions and donations towards them. Those that donate or contribute towards these want to know that the people will utilize them once it is built or added to the curriculum or class.

The surveys that will be done in the coming weeks are going to be the barometer of the community for many months and years to come. When you take the survey, remember to keep both your pocketbook and personal thoughts on our schools in mind. What should be improved at our schools? Are they spending too much in a particular area? Should there be facilities constructed to make FHS comparable to the other high schools in the metro area? All of these and more will likely be resting on your shoulders.

The Spring races are official

Here is a summary of the races going on in Franklin for the April elections. There will be no need for a primary in February for any race.

DISTRICT 1 ALDERMAN - Alderman Steve Olson will be facing me

DISTRICT 2 ALDERMAN - Alderman Tim Solomon will be running unopposed

DISTRICT 5 ALDERMAN - Bryan Maersch will be facing Doug Schmidt

FRANKLIN SCHOOL BOARD - Incumbents Debbie Larson & Jeff Traylor will be running, as will Melissa Klein, Hugo Nguyen, and Paul Rotzenberg. 

I don't know if you know this or not, but when you look at the School Board races, ALL the candidates come out of the 4th Aldermanic District. Furthermore, when you look at the School Board as a whole, after April 6th there will be five School Board members from the 4th Aldermanic District. There are a total of seven members on the board. Doing the math, that means 3/4 of the School Board comes from one aldermanic district. I thought that's an interesting tidbit to share!

The #1 Issue: The Great Recession hits Franklin

It doesn’t come to any surprise that the Great Recession would be the #1 Issue that was faced in 2009. There were many setbacks that residents faced during the past year, and everyone felt the pinch. The City of Franklin was impacted in the following areas:

The #2 Issue: Tom Reinke's abrupt disappearance from Robinwood

When the students at Robinwood Elementary School went back to classes this past Fall, they and their parents were surprised to see their principal absent from the main entrance of the school, greeting the kids as they would walk in. It turned out that Reinke had to take leave of the school while the school district performed an investigation on allegations by another employee at Robinwood.

An update on the Spring, 2010 races!

A lot has happened in the past few days that residents should be aware of, especially in the 1st, 2nd, and 5th aldermanic districts. Here are the updates!

A word from SB President Dave Szychlinski on his decision

As I wrote earlier, I contacted School Board President Dave Szychlinski to confirm if what was said about his decision not to run for re-election was true. Here is his response.

School Board President Szychlinski not seeking another term?

I have received information that School Board President Dave Szychlinski made an announcement that he will not be seeking another term in Spring, 2010. I have reached out to Szychlinski in an attempt to directly confirm this. Szychlinski stepping aside would open the doors for residents considering a run for School Board, for there would be only 2 incumbents this Spring, leaving 1 seat open. Furthermore, the number of incumbents might also shrink in the future, since School Board Vice President Debbie Larson and Treasurer Jeff Traylor have not made an announcement if they're seeking re-election or not.