I'm Starting To Think That The Wrong Person Was Put On Leave

Even though the minutes from the last non-public meeting were due to be released yesterday in regards to the suspension of Franklin High School principal Alice Rogers-Farris, it's been revealed that no minutes were written down for the meeting.

Who was in charge of those minutes? Superintendent Jo-Ellen Divol. Apparently she thinks the people of Franklin are mind readers.

When the Franklin High School principal was suddenly put on paid administrative leave in September, it wasn't for illegal activities, insubordination or incompetence, Superintendent Jo Ellen Divoll said yesterday.

But more information about a school board meeting where Principal Alice Rogers-Farris was re-instated will never be released, despite a unanimous vote by the board. That's because Divoll never took minutes from the meeting - at least not on paper.

Instead, Divoll said, she kept a record of the meeting in her mind. During the meeting, she was too busy explaining why state law prevented her from discussing personnel issues to take notes, she said.

"I'm a terrible minute taker," said Divoll. "I didn't do a very good job."

Because it was a non-public session, only board members and Divoll were allowed in the room, leaving the secretary who normally takes minutes outside.

At the close of the Oct. 9 meeting, the board voted to release minutes from the meeting in 60 days, which was yesterday.

Apparently there was a tape recorder going during the meeting -- which lasted for two hours -- so minutes will be created. But the board had voted to seal minutes from a meeting that they thought they had minutes for, as one board member put it. You can imagine that the board members are not too pleased with this, especially since it violates state law NOT to take minutes of public meetings.

City Approves New Waste Truck

Maybe I'm not understanding something, but where is this money coming from? Especially since the city just bonded $850,000 for a recycling plant that we don't need right now.

Although it delayed the vote to adopt a revised solid waste ordinance until December, the City Council will spend an additional $98,000 on a truck to haul its own construction debris to the incinerator.

The 68000 GVW cab-and-chassis truck will replace a 2000 27000 GVW truck and will also allow the city to pick up its own snow from Central Street.

...Municipal Services Director Brian Sullivan made the recommendation after he learned that the state will not allow new construction debris to be burned in the Wheelabrator incinerators after 2011, meaning the city would have to pay an outside contractor to haul new debris as well as demolition debris.

"The [new truck] is consistent with previous City Council action to control solid-waste disposal costs and to seek out long-term solutions," Sullivan said in his written recommendation.

He said over the past 12 months, the city paid $21,500 to an outside contractor to haul demolition debris and, with the new truck and two additional 30-yard containers, the city could do it for $17,136. In two years, when the city will have to haul clean construction debris as well, he said the cost savings will be even greater.

As part of its projected switch to single-stream recycling by April 2010, the city council also needs to adopt a revised solid waste ordinance.

Rogers-Farris to Return To Work

Sorry I wasn't able to get this up until today (again, looking for guest bloggers!), but it looks like Franklin High School principal Alice Rogers-Farris will be returning to work starting on Tuesday.

And Superintendent Jo Ellen Divoll's answer is so vague, we still don't know why she was put on leave in the first place.

"It is my responsibility to ensure the integrity and safety of our high school," said Divoll. "This required a short administrative leave in order to investigate complaints and ongoing concerns, and create a plan to address them. This has been done."

When I mentioned this to my husband, he said he was sick of having the town take his tax money and not have an explanation of what happened. Especially since all this answer is going to do is fuel more rumors about what happened.

If they are going to put her back in her position, wouldn't it be a good idea to have the facts out there on what happened instead of people speculating and making stuff up?

Franklin Election Results

Citizen story here.

Mayor:

Ken Merrifield -- 759
Clayton Gassett -- 377

Ward 1 City Council: Bob Sharon

Ward 2 City Council: Glen Feener

Ward 3 City Council: Scott Clarenbach

Ward 1 School Board: Bettey Tobey, Kathleen Russo, Karen Grzelak

Ward 2 School Board: This may be a recount situation because of how close the vote is.

Desiree McLaughlin -- 118
Ryan Fairchild -- 117

Ward 3 School Board: Logan Barbosa

Franklin Elections TODAY!

So go out and vote, already!

Again, this site is endorsing:

For Mayor: Ken Merrifield

Ward 1 Council: Marty Russo

Ward 2 Council: Glen Feener

Ward 3 Council: Jeff Whitney

Ward 1 and Ward 3 school board positions are unopposed. Ward 2, I voted for Ryan Fairchild just to get some new blood in there.

Whatever direction you go, though, make sure you vote!

Important Upcoming Dates

1) Franklin City Elections are tomorrow. The Citizen has the details.

2) This Friday, October 9, the Franklin School Board will be holding another emergency hearing on the fate of Alice Rogers-Farris, the Franklin High School principal currently on administrative leave. People still don't know what happened, and I don't know if they are also going to make that issue non-public, but nothing is even leaking for credible rumors. I'm planning on being at this meeting because it might affect me next year, so watch this space.

The Fate Of The Principal

Another bit of news: tonight the Franklin School Board will be discussing the fate of Franklin High School principal Alice Rogers-Farris, who was suddenly put on administrative leave last week.

The meeting is non-public, so I don't know if they are going to eventually give the reason why the action was done. But she's only been in there a short time. The school district here has a lot of problems as it is -- I would think that it would have to be at the level of a previous Laconia middle school principal in order to warrant a firing.

We'll keep an eye on this. In the meantime, if you leave a comment either in support or against Rogers-Farris' firing, make it respectable, please.