Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know Today, April 27

Chat with School Superintendent Timothy Farmer.

"Five Things You Need To Know Today" is a Patch column that provides readers with essential, daily information at a glance. 1. See 'The Little Prince' The Sharon High School Theatre Company, in conjunction with the D'VAA Vocal Arts Academy, will present "The Little Prince," A Family Opera, from 7 to 9 p.m.  at Sharon High School. Tickets are $10 and are available online at Brown Paper tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/236948 2. Chat with School Superintendent Timothy Farmer "Five Things You Need To Know Today" is a Patch column that provides readers with essential, daily information at a glance. 3. Go Wii Bowling The Sharon Adult Center and Council on Aging's Wii Bowling league meets from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The cost is $1 …

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Preliminary Sharon School Budget Proposed

The plan includes a 2.13 percent increase from the current budget.

Sharon School Superintendent Timothy Farmer's first preliminary budget request is 2.13 percent above the current budget and includes adding the full-time equivalent of 3.87 staff. Farmer and Assistant Superintendent for Administration and Finance Glenn Brand presented the $36,958,905 proposal to the school committee Wednesday night at the Sharon Middle School. Farmer also credited Business Manager Susan Owen for her work on the proposal. The school board has a Jan. 18 budget public forum planned. The board is scheduled to vote on the preliminary budget Feb. 1. School officials also will present the preliminary budget proposal to the finance committee this winter. Voters will decide the budget at the May annual town meeting. The school …

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Sharon Schools Keeping 1 School St. -- For Now

In the short term, the newly vacant former school will become space for professional development courses, other meetings.

The Sharon School Department will keep the newly vacant former school at 1 School St. -- for now. The school committee voted 5-1 Monday night to keep the site for a purpose that Superintendent Timothy Farmer will determine during the year. Farmer said the building gives school officials the option of holding professional development courses and curriculum review meetings there. Accomodating such sessions now requires closing, for example, a school library, he said. "To have that flexibility, to have that as an option, even for a short period of time, I think would be a wonderful asset," Farmer said. Farmer said the schools would use about half the space. He said he understood the school board wants him to "work with community members that …

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Input Meeting For Sharon School Offices Reuse Set

Study committee hopes to share findings with school board Oct. 5.

The committee exploring the Sharon schools' central office building's potential re-use wants public input at its Sept. 13 meeting. School officials will leave 1 School St. for the Sharon Middle School at the end of September or early October, Superintendent Timothy Farmer told the school committee Wednesday night. A study committee the board created in June is exploring the feasibility of re-using the building, and considering possible options, Farmer said. The study committee also is exploring potential liability issues, he said. "Various groups have been talking" about the building, and one entity has expressed interest, Farmer said.  "I think people are waiting for an opportunity to share their thoughts," he said. The study committee …

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Sharon: Back to School 2011

Sharon Schools Start Year Under New Main(e) Man

New Superintendent Timothy Farmer comes from the easternmost part of the U.S.

Driving east from Sharon would put new Sharon School Superintendent Timothy Farmer in Stoughton. Driving east in his Maine hometown, he'd be in the Atlantic Ocean. Farmer on Wednesday marks his first first day of school leading a district. Students in grades 1 to 12 start class, with Kindergarten starting Thursday. Ask Farmer about his hometown of Lubec, Maine, and one gets a geography lesson. About two hours northeast of Bar Harbor, Lubec is "the easternmost part of the United States. You can't go any further east without jumping into the Atlantic Ocean," he says. "And there's a small bridge connecting my hometown to a Canadian island." Farmer is not new to Sharon, having served as its assistant superintendent for curriculum and …

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Sharon School Officials Prohibit Captain's Practices On School Grounds

Student safety and school liability issues cited.

Sharon school officials have ended a high school sports tradition mere weeks before fall tryouts. Sharon High School captains can't hold unsupervised practices on school grounds anymore, Superintendent Timothy Farmer and Principal Jose Libano say. "We're looking out for the safety of the students as well as the liability of the school district," Farmer said. Sharon High fall sports tryouts start next week, beginning with football and cheerleading on Aug. 22. Farmer said he and Libano discussed the matter recently after it came to his attention during a broader review of the high school athletics program. Libano said he expected the captains to receive a letter from school officials in the mail, likely this past Thursday. "Bottom line, we …

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Sharon's New Cottage Street Team Named

Seekonk principal and a local autism school leader to be mentored by retired East principal.

The Cottage Street School's new leadership team is a Seekonk elementary principal and a local autism school program coordinator. Kevin Madden becomes Cottage principal Aug. 1, after serving the past four years at Seekonk's George R. Martin Elementary School, Sharon School Superintendent Timothy Farmer said Thursday. Meanwhile, Andrew Zides became Cottage assistant principal and part-time special education team leader July 1, Farmer said. Zides has been program coordinator of the League School of Greater Boston, in Walpole. Madden succeeds John Marcus, who served eight years at Cottage's helm before becoming Sharon's director of technology July 1. Zides succeeds Jackie Mann, who served as Cottage's part-time assistant principal and Sharon …

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