It was a real grand opening, Big Scissors and all, for “Bean Franklin” at Franklin Middle School in Springfield.
Representatives of the mayor’s office and police and fire departments, as well as the chamber of commerce president, helped special needs students in a “life skills” class celebrate.
Special ed “life skills” teacher Abby Bretz said, “Our district does a really good job of, when the kids get to high school, preparing them for jobs after high school. So that was something that I wanted to do at the middle school level: give them that introductory experience of what a job is and what’s required of a job.”
The kids’ “Bean Franklin” coffee has to be better than the sludge they serve in the teachers’ lounge, right?
“One of the area Starbucks donated all the coffee to get us started, so it’s a little fancier,” said Bretz.