Franklin lays out year of moves, repairs and upgrades after district reorganization

Franklin School Committee members on Tuesday heard a sweeping facilities update describing the work done across the district since July 1, 2025 and plans for the coming year.

Operations lead Colin Bair and facilities lead Kevin Horn told the committee the reorganization required three main moving phases and a cleanup pass that ultimately moved 356 rooms and workspaces across five buildings. “We had 356 rooms, offices, spaces moved across the district,” Colin Bair said, noting the scale of furniture, technology and library moves. The work included new exterior signage at every building, access-control and phone-system updates, playground expansions and LED lighting upgrades.

Why it matters: the presentation linked those capital and maintenance efforts to classroom readiness and safety. The district reported substantial, measurable changes since the May update: bus ridership rose across schools (Franklin High from 281 to 329 riders; Franklin Middle from 475 to 544; Lincoln Street from 589 to 663; Washington from 450 to 485). Facilities staff said they processed almost 3,000 work orders in fiscal 2025 versus about 2,000 the prior year, reflecting the extra labor of a large-scale move.

Funding and priorities: the team explained seven funding sources that pay for projects, including local capital, the Community Preservation Act (CPA), state earmarks, donations, and department revolving funds. Horn said Senator Roush had secured a $60,000 FY27 earmark to support Franklin Middle School auditorium lighting. The Franklin Recreation Advisory Board voted to allocate $20,000 from the Fletcher Fund for student-achievement signage at Franklin High School. The bleachers project at the high school was noted as ARPA-funded and seats about 435.

Projects on the horizon include auditorium phase-one work at the middle school (funded by earmarks and donations), a chiller-coil replacement and elevator work, lock and courtyard resurfacing at Lincoln Street, kitchen walk-in cooler and freezer renovations using food-service funds, and lead-fixture replacements in water systems districtwide. Facilities staff said they had identified 60270 fixtures that likely need replacement based on previous testing and remediation work.

Committee questions focused on the consequences if CPA or capital requests are not approved. “If you don't get funding, it's deferred maintenance — and that can make future repairs more expensive,” a committee member said. Facilities staff agreed, emphasizing that many projects are time-sensitive and prices are fluctuating; they are collecting updated contractor quotes before going public with detailed estimates.

The committee also heard details on classroom adjustments made during the reorganization: science lab equipment was made-safe where rooms no longer serve as labs, classroom touch-screen displays were relocated and resized where grade levels changed, and hundreds of lockers were installed at Franklin Middle School. Facilities staff said some high-school lockers are semi-permanent and costly to remove, so relocation is not currently feasible.

What's next: the facilities team will seek CPA and capital approvals during the town budget cycle. They plan to return to the committee with firm contractor quotes and an implementation timeline after funding decisions are finalized.