Silverman To Run For School Committee

Town meeting member Eric Silverman announces his candidacy for Framingham School Committee; there are two seats available in April 2013.

Editor's Note: Under the Framingham Patch election policy, each candidate is allowed to submit a written announcement. The following was submitted by the candidate - Eric Silverman. It is a great privilege to announce my candidacy for School Committee. I know well the challenges and assets of our school system--and the resources and supports necessary to ensure educational success for all students in our dynamic, diverse community. I pledge to harness my extensive professional, personal, and civic experiences to promote academic excellence so we educate our town’s children for an exciting, productive future. Professionally, I have more than two decades experience in higher education as a professor, department chair, program innovator, …

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER: Town Meeting Should Spend $14,000 to Increase Library's Sunday Hours

DeCosta: "Three hours is simply not enough and does not serve the public in an adequate way."

The Framingham Main Library Sunday hours are presently restricted to only 3 hours, between 2 to 5 p.m. This makes it extremely difficult for senior citizens and others to access the public library. Because of limited access to transportation, extended Sunday hours for the public would maximize opportunities for the seniors and others in our population to take advantage of the library facilities and programs. Three hours is simply not enough and does not serve the public in an adequate way.   My request to Town Meeting is to increase the funding to the library for the amount of $14,000 in order to open the library from noon to 5  p.m. on Sundays. This amount is less than 1% of the available $1.7 million that Framingham has received from the…

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Ryan Seavey

12:02 pm on Tuesday, October 16, 2012

How could it possible cost $14,000 to open a library 2 hours early???   more ›

Voting With the Push of a Button

Officials tested out the town's new electronic voting system, which will be used at Town Meeting.

Voting at Town Meeting will be faster and more accurate than ever, thanks to a new electronic polling system that will let residents vote with the push of a button.  Joel Winett, chairman of Framingham's Rules Committee, said the new system will make polling more accurate and less time consuming by giving each voter a handheld remote that will transmit to a computer system "yes," "no," and "abstain," votes.  "We had been researching this technology for six years," Winett said. The town is leasing the technology for a two-year period, at a cost of $11,000 per year. 

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Man Who Made Framingham Better in 2011

Man Who Made Framingham Better in 2011: Herb Chasan

Herb Chasan changed Framingham by advocating for the schools and recruiting new Town Meeting members.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For his one-man campaign to recruit new Town Meeting members in Framingham, helping to fill some seats that had been empty for years, and for his tireless efforts to help rebuild the Framingham Public Schools, Framingham Patch selected Herb Chasan as the man who made a difference in Framingham in 2011. Whether you supported Chasan's causes or not, he was tenacious in his efforts. School Committee Chair Beverly Hugo said she is “thrilled” with the choice of Herb Chasan as the Man Who Made a Difference in 2011. “He’s a true testament of how one person can have a profound effect in a community,” Hugo said. “His affable personality and tenacious perseverance, combined with his good heart and noble intentions, has made our town …

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Jim Rizoli

12:04 am on Sunday, January 1, 2012

I think it's great that people are working to do good in the town, but how many people recognize that a town has to have law and order to function properly. You can have the best schools, best services, the best of the best, but if your town is not safe then what do you have? Of course the police will say things are great, but I say prove it. When a police force manhandles its citizens and in …   more ›

Middle School Planning: Renovate Fuller $40M; Move to Farley $4M [Video]

But the middle school planning issue is more than just a financial one; there is rising enrollments to factor into the equation along with what Mass Bay Community College wants to do with its Framingham campus.

School leadership would like to close Fuller Middle and move into the former Farley Middle School, but much of the Framingham Public School's long-range plan lies on what Massachusetts Bay Community College's long-term plans for its Framingham campus. Saturday morning, school leaders, Town Meeting members, Finance Committee members and various members of other town committees toured the two schools, located next door to each other on Flagg Drive, across the street from McCarthy Elementary School. Framingham Public Schools Business Manager Ed Gotgart in his presentation said Mass Bay Community College's 10-year lease ends in August 2013, but the new president of the college has indicated he would like to extend the lease to 2014, and maybe …

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER: Great Schools Mean Higher Property Values for Everyone

Town Meeting member Herb Chasan writes "Build up the SAGE program to encourage the above average kids and add more social workers for the kids in trouble, so they can learn better; the needs are there."

Open letter to the Framingham School Committee:   Please advocate for the kids. In my humble opinion, that is #1 priority. I know you want to be fiscally responsible at the same time BUT, let us look back on 2010 spring Town Meeting. After you cut $6 million and laid off 50 staff, even the CFO recommended that it was too much and asked that an additional $400,000 be added to your budget, which passed at Town Meeting. That money came from hotel and meals taxes. So, the message is that there is money available and the precedent is there to take some money from the hotel and meals taxes and divert it to the schools.   Another point to remember is that $900,000 was found to fund various town departments for the fall town meeting.    Also, the …

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER: Town Meeting Bail Out Plan Should Still Provide Schools With $350,000

Town Meeting member Herb Chasan writes: "We deserve a full accounting of all accounts, what is available to be spent. We deserve an audit of the books. Why do our school children have to pay for a problem that they did not create?"

The CFO wants to take all of the $608,000 in new state aid plus other money to fix this problem, unless other funds can be used. When we have an unexpected emergency in town, where do we look for funds? Stabilization Fund, Fin Com reserve fund, free cash. There may be many other accounts that can be tapped. We deserve a full accounting of all accounts, what is available to be spent.   We deserve an audit of the books. Why do our school children have to pay for a problem that they did not create? We would like the CFO to please go back and craft a bail out plan that leaves $350,000 in the state aid account to be used by the School Committee. The withdrawal of some funds from the stabilization fund should not negatively affect our bond …

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Social Media Saturday Night

Library's Facebook Page Reaches 200 Fans

This week, we suggest you follow the Framingham Public Library page on Facebook. The page reached 200 fans on Thursday!

Welcome to Social Media Saturday Night. With this new weekly feature, Framingham Patch will highlight what's happening on Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Media platforms in Framingham. We'll also make a suggestion for which organizations or individuals you may wish to like on Facebook or follow on Twitter. This Week's Highlights: As of midnight, Framingham Patch has 618 fans on Facebook and 266 followers on Twitter, with numbers growing every day. Here are some highlights of what took place this week:   Tweets of the week featuring Framingham: * Patrick Urban  tweeted "Off to #amherst. But first a stop in the largest town in the US #framingham, MA." on Saturday, May 21 * Ben Rodriguez tweeted "#Fitchburg apparently anything west of #…

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER: Apology, Objection by Town Meeting Member

Town Meeting member Michael Zimmer says the Finance Committee chair's report to Town Meeting Tuesday night was "very long on attitude and propaganda" and "extremely short on useful information."

First, let me apologize to the Chairman of the Finance Committee and my fellow Town Meeting members for the manner in which I conducted myself this evening. My frustration with the excessively long Finance Committee presentation led me to object several times in a rude manner. However, I strongly stand by the issue I tried to raise several times - the content and tone of the Finance Committee presentation.  It seemed very long on attitude and propaganda for the Finance Committee and extremely short on useful information. As a new Town Meeting member, I was very interested in how the Finance Committee functions and instead watched a 20+ minute presentation that was uninformative, at best, and appeared condescending and preachy at it’s worst…

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Joe Rizoli

6:18 pm on Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Joe Rizoli CCFIILE.com Actually I found the finance committees information very informative, but I think it should have come earlier, maybe somewhere else during the Town Meeting. Bringing up anything after 10PM that is information mostly, pushed some town meeting members to frustration. I think the moderator did his best with the situation but he could have sped up the presentation , after all …   more ›

Letter to the Editor

LETTER: No More Cuts to the Schools

Town Meeting member Renee Faubert says:" a strong school system helps the entire town."

A strong school system helps the ENTIRE TOWN. The fact is, people looking for a place to live, work, and pay taxes will consider the school system as one of the first yardsticks by which to measure a town. If the schools have a good reputation and the town has a reputation for supporting the schools, then that will make the town more desirable in the eyes of a prospective home buyer or even a company looking to set up shop in the area. That in turn will bolster property values and bring in more revenue for the town.  Also, the children being educated in the schools today will be the Framingham citizens of tomorrow. Properly educated young adults tend to make better citizens. They typically have better jobs, they will appreciate the support…

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