FRANKLIN
Franklin’s city council voted unanimously to accept the resignations of all seven members of Franklin City Public Schools’ school board during a special called meeting held Wednesday evening after a brief discussion in closed session.

The council did not take any action to appoint any interim management of the school division while they seek nominations for new board members. However, Franklin Mayor Frank Rabil said that council is working closely with the Virginia Department of Education on this matter.

Franklin’s interim superintendent, Kelvin Edwards Sr., attended the meeting, and, according to City Attorney H. Taylor Williams IV, has been working closely with the council to discuss various “what if” scenarios. According to Williams, the absence of a school board in the interim should not have any adverse affects on the schools’ day-to-day activities.

“The interim superintendent is authorized to take care of the day-to-day operations of the schools,” Williams said. “The board’s main purpose is policy and oversight. It’s not like we have a deadline approaching on the budget or another action that only the school board can take.”

The council will likely discuss a schedule for appointing new school board members at its regular scheduled meeting next Monday at 7 p.m., and will likely schedule a public hearing to accept nominations for Nov. 28. According to Williams, council’s goal is to have all seven seats filled by the second week of December.