Cha-cha-cha-changes with the School Committee
New District 1 Member | SC Not Happy with Bus Provider | Expanding Early Education | Preliminary Election Day | Upcoming Community Events| The Civic Week Ahead
Today we remember the horrific events of September 11, 2001. It is hard to believe the day that changed everything and everyone forever took place 22 years ago. 17 individuals with ties to Framingham lost their lives that day. May we never forget them.
As we collectively look back, let us not forget how we came together as a country, as a community those 22 years ago. Through pain and sorrow, neighbors helped neighbors, and showed us all that we have more in common with each other than not. It is this spirit of community, I wish, would constantly live on and that we don’t need a tragedy to tap into it once again.
This week: we’re discussing the schools. A lot happened in the past few weeks, including leadership changes and plans for the future.
Have a comment or question? I’d love to hear from you. Email me at mkfeeney@gmail.com
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Barnhill Elected Chair of School Committee
There is a new leader of the Framingham School Committee: Jessica Barnhill of District 8.
The nomination: Priscila Sousa nominated Barnhill, and the nomination was seconded by Adam Freudberg of District 4. The vote was unanimous
Who is Barnhill? Jessica Barnhill was elected to the School Committee in November 2019. She is an educator in the Natick Public Schools, and has a son who attends Framingham Public Schools. She is running unopposed for her third term. Before being elected Chair by her peers, she was the Vice Chair. Barnhill is a major voice for a new southside school and expanding early education for all kids.
Resignation of the Chair: Sousa, Chair of the School Committee since January 2022, announced her resignation as Chair in an email to her fellow members and FPS Head Office on Friday, September 1. The resignation was effective at their next formal meeting on Wednesday, September 6th.
Looking back: In her resignation letter, Sousa cited several accomplishments the School Committee achieved from her term:
Advocated for the purchase of the Bethany property with municipal counterparts as a next step for the building of a much needed Southside elementary school and pre-k facility
Passed two of the largest budget increases in the past decade in Framingham
Oversaw the completion of the Fuller Middle School project with more efficiency than anticipated and under budget
Set an example to other districts across the state by joining the class action lawsuit against JUUL and putting the health students first
Approved and participated in the most comprehensive Diversity Equity and Inclusion training ever presented to an elected body in Framingham
Voted on the establishment of a new School Building Committee for the new Southside elementary school and pre-k facility
Who is the new Vice Chair?: Voting to fill the Vice Chair seat will take place at the next meeting.
Sousa was elected State Representative from the 6th Middlesex District in November 2022. She is finishing her term representing District 5 on the School Committee. Due to local redistricting, Sousa was redistricted out of District 5 for the upcoming election.
District 1 has a New School Committee Member
Ricardo Robles became the newest member of the School Committee after receiving an unanimous vote of support during a joint meeting of the Council and School Committee last week.
Why the vacancy?: Longtime member Beverly Hugo resigned from her seat in late June due to her moving out of Framingham. According to the Charter, any seat left vacant must be filled by an appointment made by the School Committee and Council. Robles will finish the final four months of Hugo’s term.
Who is Robles? Robles is from Guatemala and moved to Framingham because of its diversity. He has four children attending Framingham Public Schools. He is the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.
What he says: "Myself, coming from a different culture, I see myself in the lives of the students that are sitting in the seats here in Framingham. My wife and four kids moved to Framingham about two years ago. We moved here because we knew Framingham has one of the best Spanish immersion programs in the state.”
Robles pulled papers to run for the seat back in July. He is the only person on the ballot for SC in D1.
Welcome to the School Committee, Ricardo! Thank you for stepping up to serve our community!
SC Not Happy with Bus Provider
With no end to school bus woes in sight, NRT - the contracted private provider of buses - came to the School Committee for the first time since February.
And it did not go over well.
How many kids are on the buses?: According to Lincoln Lynch, Executive Director of Finance and Operations, 4880 students are riding a bus. In good years when the district had enough drivers, nearly 6000 students were on buses.
How many drivers do we have? There are 57 drivers at the moment. NRT’s contract says they should provide 77. Since becoming the bus provider for the city, NRT has never fulfilled the number of drivers in their contract.
What is FPS doing?: Lynch said he has spoken to Coach buses and other yellow bus companies, and they are all having the same issues. He is working with a carpool application vendor to bring a program to the district so families can find and coordinate carpooling. Lynch also told the Committee, FPS is holding a job fair and NRT would be participating.
Framingham did not have an increased number of drivers this year, so far. District 2 member David Gordon asked NRT, before they started their brief Powerpoint presentation, why did none of the communities that were close to striking this past spring - Framingham, Marlborough and Westborough - see an increase in drivers?
What he said: “Regardless of what those slides say…what is the relevance of those slides if you still haven’t moved the needle? My point is you're going to show your slides but they serve no relevance because all you are going to talk about are your efforts and your efforts have failed. All you are showing us is paperwork. Presentations are just you sugarcoating the fact that you failed. Your efforts last year failed. Your efforts this year have failed. Your presentations, to me, carry no weight.”
Why the struggle for more drivers? NRT says Framingham is a “difficult market” because of our low unemployment rate at 2.3% (nationally it is 3.5%) and there is an increase of competition among other bus companies. NRT continue to say they are advertising jobs on Indeed and social media, using AI to help with applications, and working with MassHire.
New drivers in the pipeline: NRT has 6 new drivers in various stages of training (which take 6 weeks) specifically for Framingham. No idea when those drivers will be on the roads.
What’s next? Great question. The School Committee is frustrated with NRT, but supportive of all the work being done by Lincoln and his team. There was no big resolution, just NRT saying they are not giving up on hiring more drivers.
Expanding Early Education for all Kids
Lastly, on the school front was the strategic plan for expanding high quality, early education to all kids in Framingham.
The current status of pre-kindergarten in the city: Framingham’s early education program is a collaboration between FPS and private partners. Currently there are about 370 kids in programs at BLOCKS, Framingham State University, MetroWest YMCA and Loving Nest Preschool.
The goal: To offer all four year olds the opportunity for high quality early education within the next seven years. Currently 40% of incoming Kindergarteners have had little to no early education.
Seven years is too long: In public comment, District 8 Councilor John Stefanini spoke about the importance of fast tracking early education in Framingham: “I’d ask you to be a little impatient with yourselves, the system, with us as decision makers, and push the envelope. A seven year implementation plan, on top of where we’ve been and where we are going, is a very long time. Push policy makers, push this body, push the Council, push the Mayor, push all of us to make sure that all 700-800 four year olds in our community get the same equal chance at life. They cannot repeat being a four year old. And if it holds them back for three or four years, they are held back for their entire life and they may never have the same kind of opportunity for advancement in our community. Our community is worse off for it and those kids are worse off for it. All I ask is to be a little impatient, and don’t be afraid to push the envelope.”
Adding new locations: Dr. Tremblay spoke about the collaboration with private providers and that this is a dance between the two, but at some point, soon, the number of private providers who FPS can work with and who have capacity is running out.
The next future site is the Farley Building, followed by Hemenway, Bethany and BLOCKS. With MassBay due to move out of Farley into their new facility on Mt. Wayte, six classrooms in that building will allow 100 more four year olds to receive early ed.
Sousa commented that while it is great to think through programming, we still need to focus on capacity since that is what parents are repeatedly seeking. Adam Freudberg chimed in about buildings and budgets to make new sites possible. Agreeing with Councilor Stefanini, Freudberg asked why isn’t the Committee voting today to fast track the Farley site, knowing MassBay is moving soon. “This is a long process. We have to be more strategic.” Further asking if there is a dual track plan, while the programming continues to be developed that budgets, locations and timelines for facilities be worked on.
Moving ahead: Tremblay said they have drawings and designs ready for Farley. The six classroom build is projected to cost $8 million dollars. He said he will have a presentation ready for the next Finance Committee.
Yes, there is a Preliminary Election on Tuesday
September 19 is the Preliminary Election in Framingham. Yes, you read that correctly.
But it is only occurring in one district - District 9 for Council. Incumbent Councilor Tracey Bryant is facing two candidates - Albert Chimeno and Jose Ferreira.
On the ballot, but not campaigning: Ferreira, a Parks & Rec Commissioner, kinda-sorta dropped out of the race after the deadline to withdraw. In an article in today’s MetroWest Daily News, Ferreira told the MWDN “that he made the decision to drop out after the deadline following an incident in which his wife received a number of racist messages on social media from anonymous posters.”
And if he makes it in the Top 2: Ferreira has not said what he will do if he makes it through the preliminary round. Time will tell.
Voting starts at 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. at Harmony Grove Elementary School. Special thank you to the hard working team in the City Clerk’s Office for all their work running these elections.
Upcoming Community Events
Help Shape Framingham’s Climate Future
Thinking green: Framingham is at the beginning of developing a Climate Action Plan.
What is a Climate Action Plan?: Think of it as Framingham’s map to a more clean, green and sustainable future. It should have goals and strategies to achieve community resilience, combating climate change, and environmental justice.
How you can help: Join the city at a community workshop on Tuesday, September 12 from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm at the Costin Room at the Main Branch of the Framingham Public Library, or virtually over Zoom. Spanish and Portuguese interpretations will be available.
Register: Attendees can register at mapc.ma/framinghamCAP.
Who is hosting this forum?: The Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the regional planning agency supporting the 101 communities in Greater Boston, is providing facilitation and technical support for the project.
If you are unable to attend, share your thoughts in this online survey: mapc.ma/FraminghamFuture.
Framingham Business Association Holds Monthly Meeting
The Framingham Business Association welcomes Mayor Charlie Sisitsky to their September meeting next Wednesday, September 13 at La Cantina (911 Waverly Street). The event is at noon and lunch is provided.
This is a great opportunity for local business owners to network and hear from the Mayor. Membership is open to Framingham business owners.
The Framingham Business Association was created to promote and protect the value, importance and significance of a thriving business community in the City of Framingham, and to ensure that local businesses’ needs are being considered, understood and supported by the residents and government officials.
Celebrate World Clean-up Day with KFB!
World Cleanup Day is celebrated annually on the third Saturday in September and brings together people worldwide to clean up their communities. This year Keep Framingham Beautiful [KFB] will participate from Friday Sept. 15th - Sunday Sept. 17th.
We encourage everyone to contribute by doing a litter cleanup on your own, in a small group or joining the Downtown cleanup on the 17th.
For sign up details visit https://forms.gle/cwPNVWMTwbL8szk59
5th Annual Oktoberfest in Downtown Framingham
Join us on September 17th, at the Downtown Common for an incredible Oktoberfest Fall Festival celebration. The event setup begins at 10:00 AM and continues until 12:00 PM, followed by the main festivities from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. This family-focused event will feature live performances by local artists from various genres and cultures, bringing the community together in a vibrant celebration. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to connect with families, residents, and more at one of our best events yet! Visit DFI’s Facebook page for more information and schedule.
The Civic Week Ahead
Monday, September 11
Tuesday, September 12
Wednesday, September 13
Shana Tovah to my neighbors celebrating Rosh Hashanah. May your year be full of peace, prosperity, and abundance!
See you next week,
Mary Kate
Lot of DEI - not seeing where Framingham rates on Math and Reading.
Bob Draper
Framingham