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There is an effort underway in the city of Franklin to transition the method of selecting Franklin City School Board members from appointment by the Franklin City Council to direct election by the voters.

For the transition to happen, it must be voted upon by registered voters, and for it to be voted upon, there must be a referendum on the ballot.

Oxford Languages defines a referendum as “a general vote by the electorate on a single political question that has been referred to them for a direct decision.”

The question that a petition proposes be added to the ballot in Franklin is as follows: “Shall the method of selecting the School Board be changed from appointment by the governing body to direct election by the voters?”

Brenda Peterson is a Franklin resident who has worked for Franklin City Public Schools and also for the city voter registrar’s office, and she has been a leader in the efforts to move the city toward having an elected School Board.

“According to the law, it takes 10% of the registered voters living within Franklin City limits to sign the petition to get a referendum on the ballot,” she said. “After we get our signatures, they are turned into the registrar’s office who verify signatures. Once we hit 600 it will get turned over to Rick Francis, the clerk of the (Southampton Circuit) Court, who will send it to a judge. Then the judge will determine if all is in order. At that point it is sent back to the registrar’s office to be on the ballot this November. This process needs to be completed no later than 110 days before the general election in November.”

She stated that the goal is to have the referendum on the ballot this November.

“Right now, we are in the gathering signatures phase,” she said Monday, March 31, noting that this phase had been underway for about a month. “As the petitions are filled and notarized, they are then taken to the registrar’s office for our general registrar, Mataabea Lawrence, to verify signatures and keep an ongoing count of how many signatures have been gathered. 

“I know we have turned in about 200,” Peterson continued. “How many of those are valid… I’m not sure.”

She said, “We will continue speaking at School Board meetings, City Council meetings, going to ballgames, meeting people in line to pick up their children at school, planning an event outside Walmart to gather signatures, so basically we are in full signature mode.”

Peterson explained how she became involved with the effort to move to an elected School Board.

“I am concerned at the lack of transparency, the lack of communication of decisions that are being made that are supposed to be in the best interest of our children,” she said.

Calls for transitioning to an elected board have gained momentum in connection with protests and public comments from community and City Council members expressing opposition to FCPS’ recent reassignment of longtime Franklin High School Principal Travis Felts.

Felts had been principal at FHS since 2012, and the school division officially announced in a Feb. 10 news release that he was being moved out of that position and being appointed as FCPS’ new director of extracurricular activities, Jobs for Virginia Graduates and virtual programs.

It has been stated that Virginia law stipulates personnel information remain confidential, but members of City Council and the public have expressed frustration that the School Board has not interacted more with the public on the matter of Felts’ reassignment.

“Just speaking for myself, I want an elected School Board because of accountability to the citizens,” Peterson said.

She noted that she believes that the Franklin City School Board does not think it answers to anyone right now.

“They should be focused on doing what is best for students, teachers, staff and citizens,” she said. “If they are not doing a good job, with an elected School Board, they can be voted out. Right now, all they have to do is please at least four of seven council members to be appointed/reappointed.”

She said an elected School Board is part of the democratic process and added that Franklin is one of the few remaining municipalities in Virginia that has an appointed School Board.

Southampton County transitioned to an elected School Board in 2022.