To the Editor:

As a member of the Franklin City Public School Career and Technical Education Advisory Council, I was fortunate enough to be invited to and was able to attend the annual Community Appreciation Breakfast and Opening Convocation held at the Regional Workforce Development Center on Thursday, Aug. 27.

What an exciting — and encouraging — time it was for all in attendance. I know personally just how hard this school system has worked over the past several years to accomplish the milestone of having all three of its schools fully accredited. I have witnessed firsthand many teachers and administrators who have worked tirelessly — and relentlessly — to achieve this goal.

Kudos to the administrators, the teachers, the students, the parents, the staff, the volunteers and the school board for this great accomplishment.

And, if the energy and excitement that was alive and well at this event is any indication of what is yet to come, prepare yourselves. The title of the event was “Change is Coming … Embrace It!” Yes, I do believe from what I saw that we are indeed headed for change in a very positive direction, and I am truly ready to embrace it.

One of the underlying themes of this convocation, however, is that we must all work together as a team to allow positive change to take place. The net is cast fairly far and wide for everyone in the community — individuals and businesses alike — to become actively involved as stakeholders to make this dream a reality.

This day and time, it does indeed take a village to raise a child, and I encourage all citizens of Franklin to step up to the plate and do their parts in taking our school system to the next level and making it one of the best in the state once again.

By doing so, as Dr. Billy K. Cannady, guest speaker from University of Virginia School of Continuing and Professional Studies, so aptly stated, we will not only raise the standards of living for our students and for our city, but also for our state and for our nation.

I look forward to reading great things about Franklin City Public Schools in the pages of this paper over the months to come.

Again, congratulations to everyone and let’s keep up the good work!

Nancy K. Parrish

Franklin

(FHS Class of ’69 and former employee of FCPS)

Editor’s note

A letter to the editor in Wednesday’s Tidewater News (“Reader questions hiring of officers”) failed to disclose that the writer, who lists a Boykins residency, currently is incarcerated in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk.