New school board members take seats
Published 9:25 am Saturday, August 22, 2009
FRANKLIN—Thursday night’s Franklin City School Board meeting began with a standing ovation because all three city schools are fully state accredited this year, according to preliminary results.
“Although all information is preliminary, we’d like to congratulate S.P. Morton, J.P. King, and FHS and their administration, staff and students,” said Dr. Michelle Belle, superintendent of Franklin schools. Official results will be released in the fall.
The meeting was the board’s first with three new members: Will Councill from Ward 1, Glenn Hopkins from Ward 2 and Edna King, who now holds the at-large seat.
School Board Chairman Bill Scarboro and other board members welcomed the three new members.
“You all are each a great asset to this board, and I certainly look forward to working with you and learning from you,” Scarboro told the new members.
James McKinney, instructional technology resource teacher and the division’s Web site manager, presented what the revitalized Web site will look like to the board members. It will have several new features that will “improve functionality and make it more of a tool for teachers, students and the community,” he said. He hopes to have the new Web site ready “before or on Oct. 1.”
Administrators from all city schools presented their crisis plans to the School Board. Currently, all of the schools have their own individual plans, but they are working toward one uniform crisis plan for next year.
The school division also has a detailed Pandemic Influenza Awareness and Action Plan, should the H1N1 influenza virus, or swine flu, infect students or staff members.
“The goal is not to frighten anyone about what could be coming,” Belle said. “The only thing that we can do is try to be in a position where we can be proactive.”
She said that school officials will be monitoring attendance closely because the virus is expected to spread rapidly once schools open.