Putting a Rumor to Rest in Franklin

Before, during, and after the recent local Franklin election a persistent rumor kept reaching us, most convincingly from a now-former  Town Councilor as well as from two newly elected Councilors.

The story included some variations on a conviction that the Superintendent of Schools, if not in fact the entire School Department, had suddenly and without notice moved out of their administrative offices on the third floor of the municipal building to new digs, either in the former Kennedy School, or perhaps to the Washington Street School,

It cost $70,000, or was it $100,000 to fix up the new office space, the story noted?  And sources claimed to have either seen the new office or to have witnessed the suddenly uninhabited third floor of the municipal building.

We pursued this rumor and asked for comment from the School Committee and the Superintendent, Lucas GIguere and not having heard anything back for 48 hours, we visited the third floor -- and found it still very much inhabited and full of busy people. But someone did say that the Superintendent had 'gone to Pond Street.'  

Ah hah! Confirmation perhaps?  So we visited Pond Street, aka, the old Kennedy Elementary and asked to see the Superintendent.  We were informed that he had no office at that site but was in a meeting....We asked for a call back.

The call back came  30-minutes later from a somewhat puzzled Lucas Giguere who seemed amazed and mystified at the elaborate tales of a department on the move. He confirmed that he and the department continue to reside in the Municipal Building on West Central Street. He did, however, note that he is often out in the district attending to the work of getting a recently reshuffled set of schools running smoothly. And he also noted that his assistant works a number of hours each day at Pond Street due to a shortage of personnel there, perhaps giving the impression of an extended absence...

School Committee Chair David Callaghan called a short time later and echoed the same story.

So, perhaps it is best to close with a comment attributed to Ben Franklin: "Half the truth is often a great lie."