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The Franklin City School Board received an update in late April regarding ongoing work within the school division to address a significant group of Franklin High School seniors who had been in danger of not graduating at the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Franklin City Public Schools Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, HR and CTE Dr. Tanieka Ricks opened her April 24 presentation on the 2024-25 senior cohort by noting that as of March 17, 50% of the senior class had been reported as in danger of not graduating.

She stated that as of April 1, that number had dropped to 45%, equaling 34 of 75 students, and as of April 23, the number had dropped to 25%, equaling 19 of 76 students.

She then presented a slide titled “Senior Cohort Continued Interventions,” which included the following points:

• Approved Verified Credit Committee
• Requesting special permission for Locally Awarded Verified Credit Accommodation (SPALC-A) from the Virginia Department of Education
• Developing a supportive plan to support students with behavior challenges who have been elevated to graduate early without meeting academic requirements
• CPR will be offered again April 24

Ricks said this is “for our seniors that are still missing CPR, which is a requirement.”

• Teachers and curriculum specialists are remediating

Ricks said they are pulling students out of class and doing this remediation work before testing.

• End-of-the-month focus for (Career and Technical Education) CTE: Workplace Readiness Tutoring
• Industry Certification tutoring sessions ongoing
• SOL Academy: Enrichment Fridays for grades 7-12

Ricks indicated that the above list represents the work being done with the aforementioned 19 students.

Ward 4 Board Member and Board Vice Chair Cristina Boone highlighted the third point referring to students elevated to graduate early without meeting academic requirements, and she said, “Please elaborate on that one.”

Ricks said, “Yes, we noticed when we began to dive into the different cohorts that we had students that were being elevated to the next grade level, but they weren’t academically prepared. So we saw deficiencies in their grading, also in their course requirements. So now we’re going back and looking at each cohort, and we’re developing appropriate plans to support them with graduating with their current cohort.”

As an example, she said some students may have been pushed to graduate in 2025 and they still had a year in which they could have been in school.

“So we’re going back and looking at those cases with the student services and (Chief Academic Officer) Ms. (Krystal) Thompkins with the curriculum team, and we’re going back and working through those cases,” Ricks said.

At-Large Board Member Dr. Reid Harrison said that of the 19 students still in danger of not graduating this year, “how many just need CPR, or how many need SOLs? There’s more specific data for each child, correct?”

“Yes,” Ricks said. “We’re looking at it by student based on what they need, and we have put in individual plans. So if it’s a student that just needs CPR, and maybe right now, I think we have just a very low number of students that just need CPR, so we have offered it and said, ‘These are the days that we’re having CPR.’ 

“And also if we need to get that child to the school, we have our parent and family engagement specialists to travel to pick the student up and bring them to school to get the CPR, if we need to,” Ricks added.

Boone asked how many out of the 19 students are receiving the certificate that is not a diploma.

“Out of that 19, there were a total of six students that we submitted to VDOE for the special local credit accommodation,” Ricks said. “The state sent us back some information requesting some additional information, but they are working with us, and we’re going to resubmit that information from our exceptional education department, and they’re working with us to support those students with graduation.”

Boone said, “OK, so when we go beyond graduation, do we just drop (those students)? Are we going to assist them? Do we help them with employment? What do we do, because isn’t that a part of the CTE?”

Ricks said FCPS will continue to support those students. 

“And then you’ll see in my next slide, Camp Scholars, we have a host of those students that are in that program,” Ricks said. “And we also have a Jobs for Virginia (Graduates) program that’s working and monitoring those students post-graduation.”

Ricks said the school division also has a career transition specialist who is helping those students as well.

Ward 3 Board Member LaChanda E. Parker said, “I just want to be clear on something, though. The whole goal for what is being worked on right now is to have these students graduate with meeting the academic requirements. We’re not looking for a complete way around them graduating without having the academic requirements, correct?”

Ricks said Parker was correct. 

Ricks noted that the division did not have an actual policy for early graduation, but she indicated that her administrative team will be working to compose one that is consistent across the board.

“We may have a few (students) that may be ready academically, but that doesn’t mean that they’re ready in terms of leadership, in terms of social or emotional development,” she said. “So we have to look at all those factors when we are pushing a kid to possibly graduate early. And that’s beyond just the academics.”