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The Franklin City Council formally voted on Monday, June 16, to appoint two new members to the Franklin City School Board — Wydia Bailey to the Ward 2 seat and Kent Grant to the Ward 5 seat.

The appointments followed a public hearing in which two members of the public spoke, one vouching for Grant’s character and speaking specifically in favor of him, and another speaking generally in favor of both Grant and Bailey. 

Bailey’s appointment came via a 6-0 vote, and Grant’s appointment came via a 5-0 vote.

The vote tallies did not reach seven in either instance because Ward 3 Councilman Gregory McLemore was not present for the meeting. The vote on Grant featured only five votes cast because Ward 6 Councilwoman Jessica G. Banks abstained in order to avoid even the appearance of personal favoritism, as Grant is her father.

Two seats on the School Board were up for appointment this year. Ward 5 School Board Member Danyelle Hunt is reaching the end of her partial term, which runs from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, and Ward 2 School Board Member Arwen Councill is reaching the end of her term, which runs from July 14, 2022, through June 30, 2025.

The council voted 6-1 on March 24 to send a letter to the Franklin City School Board requesting that all seven members of the board step down.

The request came in connection with protests and public comments from community and council members expressing opposition to Franklin City Public Schools’ 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.

The concerns expressed by community members about current FCPS leadership have grown more varied since February, with some citizens now contending the presence of significant salary increase inequities, data misrepresentation and nepotism.

During the public hearing on June 16, William Rose was the first to speak, noting that he wanted to talk about Grant, having been a next-door neighbor to him for the last 46 years.

“I’ve seen him grow from a very young man to a grown man now,” Rose said, “and I can say that he’s a very fine young man of good character, very good integrity, and I feel that his appointment to the Franklin City School Board would be a very worthy addition.”

Brandon Lilley spoke second, noting that he wanted to speak on behalf of both candidates.

“I think it is a phenomenal job that City Council has decided to give us some fresh ideas on the School Board, and I just wanted to commend them and put my endorsement behind them,” he said.

When the time came for the council to make appointments, one at a time, it started with the Ward 2 seat.

Ward 1 Councilman Mark R. Kitchen said, “I make a motion to appoint Wydia Bailey for Ward 2 School Board. Out with the old, in with the new.”

Ward 2 Councilman Richard Grizzard seconded the motion, and the 6-0 vote promptly followed.

Next, Ward 5 Councilwoman and Vice Mayor Wynndolyn H. Copeland said, “I move to appoint Kent Grant as the Ward 5 representative for the School Board.”

Kitchen seconded, and the 5-0 vote promptly followed. When the voting process reached Banks, she said, “I wish I could, but I abstain.”

The appointees, Bailey and Grant, who were both present at the meeting, received a standing ovation from council members, town staff and citizens in honor of their appointments.

The terms for the new appointees will begin July 1 and run through June 30, 2028.

Following the meeting, both Bailey and Grant granted interviews to discuss their appointments.

WYDIA BAILEY

Bailey said it meant a lot to her to be appointed “because it involves our children and the future of Franklin.”

She indicated that the children are the answers to a lot in a community and a city, in combination with a good school system.

“It’s our job to educate them, prepare them for college, prepare them to be ready for a job, prepare them for trade school or certification, just prepare them for the world,” she said. “So knowing that I’m a part of that and I can represent my ward is very important, it means a lot to me.”

The background Bailey will bring to the School Board will be one rooted in experience in social services, in having been a parent of children in the school system and in community outreach.

“I never worked in a school division, but I did have the privilege of working with two different Social Services (departments), dealing with family, going into their schools,” she said. “I worked for an in-home mental counseling company when I went into homes and I went into schools, worked with the children, worked with the families, because sometimes working with the children is not enough, you actually have to go in the homes, stabilize there, then I went up to schools and stabilized there and bridged the gap. And I had years of doing that as well.

“Plus, of course, I’m a parent,” she said. “You see things as a parent, you do things as a parent. I’m a grandparent. You see things as a grandparent, you do things as a grandparent.

“But all of those combined I really think qualify me, plus teaching Sunday school, doing outreach through my church, I think all that wrapped up into one led me to here as well,” she said.

She highlighted her goals for her next few years on the board.

“To produce more graduates,” she said. “To keep strong communication between the School Board and City Council. Why? Because our City Council is responsible for growing our city and governing our city, so we need good communication. Even though they’re two separate entities, they should still work together. 

“But producing strong graduates ready for the world, ready to work, ready for college, ready for the military, ready for whatever,” she continued. “They want to take a trade, do it, but producing them.

“And representing Ward 2, what the parents are interested in, representing the city of Franklin, what the teachers are interested in, what the students are interested in —- all in one — are my main goals to take care of,” she said.

KENT GRANT

Grant said he was excited to be appointed to the School Board.

“This is my hometown,” he said. “I love it dearly. I’ve always wanted to be a part of the foundation of it in any way I could be that would help, and I just feel like this is a step in that direction as well. I’ve done other stuff in the community, but I feel like this is in my wheelhouse because I’ve worked in education for 30 years.” 

He noted that he has worked for Virginia Beach City Public Schools for the past 23 years, and prior to that, he worked at a school in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and at one in Alexandria, Virginia.

“I want to see if I can bring some of that experience down here, especially with the programs that we’ve run,” he said.

The titles he has held have been mostly counselor or coordinator in nature.

“Up north I actually was the clinical counselor for the Boys and Girls Group Homes of Greater Washington,” he said. “Right now my current position is student support specialist, which is a counselor/teacher for at-risk youth returning from any alternative settings back to their home schools. I’ve been doing that for a while.”

He explained that working on the private school side of education involves doing a little bit of everything, and he has been an administrator and even an informal custodian.

“You want to take a look at a school and be a part of all of it so that the kids can know that, ‘Hey, even Mr. Grant can pick some trash up, so if he can do it, I can do it as well,’” he said.

When it comes to his goals for the next three years on the School Board, he said that first and foremost he wants to listen.

“I want to listen to the parents, I want to listen to the schools, and I want to hear what they’re talking about and what they’ve tried, and hopefully we can all just work together to bring together whatever is needed to help these kids, because that’s the first mission always,” he said.

“I would love to make sure that all of the schools here are accredited and that everyone’s basically reading on their right levels and doing the work that they need to do in order to prepare themselves for a bright future,” he added. “Education is so important, and sometimes our youth don’t receive that message in the way that they need to in order to inspire themselves. So (I’m) looking forward to trying to be a part of that to the best of my ability.”

He emphasized the importance of supporting the staff and parents. 

“I’m definitely wanting to gain those old-fashioned values that we used to have where it was a community that taught our children and not just the schools,” he said. “So that’s pretty much what I would love to see, and I know that I’m going to work hard to get that to happen.”