Superintendent’s Report

Blueprint Goal 1: Preparing FCS Students for College, Career and Life Beyond the Classroom

Career and College Fair

Franklin County Schools (FCS) is hosting a county-wide career and college fair for 11th and 12th-grade students from Bunn High School, Franklinton High School, Early College High School, and Louisburg Magnet High School. The event will take place on Thursday, April 24th, from 8:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the gymnasium at Franklinton High School. A total of 305 high school students have registered to attend, and 63 career professionals from various sectors, including private business, government, military, and academia, have volunteered to share valuable career and college information with the students.

Blueprint Goal 2: Achieving Student Success in Academic Areas

2025 Ultimate Book Showdown – Inaugural Year

The first-ever Ultimate Book Showdown (UBS) brought together elementary, middle, and high school teams in an exciting battle of literary knowledge and strategy. Replacing the former Battle of the Books while maintaining many of its beloved processes and procedures, UBS showcased the dedication, teamwork, and passion of students from across the district. After an intense competition of impressive recall of book details, the 2025 UBS Champions are:

• Bunn Elementary – Elementary Division Winner
• Cedar Creek Middle – Middle School Division Winner
• Franklinton High – High School Division Winner

The success of the Ultimate Book Showdown is a testament to the students' hard work and love for reading, the dedicated school staff who coach and support the teams, and the parents, guardians, family, and friends who cheer them on every step of the way. Their encouragement and enthusiasm fuel this program’s success and ensure that UBS will continue to be a celebrated tradition for years to come. Congratulations to all the participants—your commitment to reading and learning is truly inspiring!

Blueprint Goal 3: Creating a Safe, Orderly and Caring Environment for Students

The Terrell Lane chiller replacement project is now underway. According to the vendor, if everything stays on schedule, the new unit should be fully operational by April 16. This is great news as we head into warmer weather. Additionally, the operations team is beginning new projects funded by recently awarded grant money, continuing our efforts to upgrade and enhance our access control systems.

Blueprint Goal 4: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining High-Quality Staff

Franklin County Schools is committed to ensuring a welcoming and supportive environment for all educators and staff. We continue to walk alongside our beginning teachers as they grow in their practice and work toward full licensure. Through our partnership with Dr. Laura Wilson and the Early College High School, we are working to expand our Teachers Educated and Cultivated at Home (TEACH) program, which inspires local students to consider careers in education and return to serve in our schools. As we look ahead to the 2025–26 school year, we’re actively recruiting new staff–offering school tours to help candidates get to know our district. We also invite interested applicants to join us at our Teacher Job Fair on Saturday, May 17th from 9:00–11:00 a.m. at Long Mill Elementary School and our Classified Employee Job Fair on Wednesday, May 21st from 2:00–4:00 p.m. at Central Office Building A.

General Updates:

State of the District

We had a great “State of the District” event on Thursday, February 13th, at 6:00 pm in the Franklinton High School auditorium. This event highlighted district progress with strategic plan goals while also showcasing our students and staff and the great work taking place in our schools as we prepared students for life beyond the classroom. There were performances by student groups, and our culinary arts program provided refreshments. Student ambassadors from each of our high schools were present to interact with guests and share their personal experiences as students in the district. We also gathered feedback from attendees through an exit survey. Strategic Plan Process Update to Board

Our Strategic Planning Process began in July 2024 when the Board of Education received an overview of the proposed process, along with an opportunity to respond to two key questions:

• Is there anything missing from this process that we need to consider?
• Is there anything we should think about differently before moving forward?

The feedback from the Board of Education was positive, and our staff went to work on our plan. Over the course of the fall, we have administered stakeholder surveys and received almost 1200 responses, and conducted Town Halls in each zone that were attended by board members, staff, parents, students and community members. These events garnered valuable feedback that has been incorporated into our data that the committee is using to examine our current goals and objectives, making adjustments and creating additional goals if needed. We are not starting from scratch in this process, as the 4 key areas of focus with our current goals include career and college readiness; academic achievement; safe, orderly and caring schools; and recruiting and retaining high quality staff. We are in the process of revisiting our existing goals to rework those as needed, along with development of objectives that align with the feedback and data that we have to support those decisions.

Our Strategic Planning Committee, made up of 40 members of our school community including teachers, principals, parents, students, district leaders, community leaders, business leaders, community college partners, and board members, met last week to dig further into the data gathered from our Town Halls and our surveys .We are reworking our vision and mission statements to reflect the priorities shared by our stakeholders. This is a phenomenal group and I am excited about the work that is taking place with this committee. Our next meeting is this week and we will likely have 2-3 more sessions to finalize our work. From there, we will receive feedback from our principals. Our goal is to bring this to our Board of Education for consideration in May, with implementation in Fall 2025.

Budget Development Process

Last week, Ms. Jordan, Mr. Perry, Ms. Coley, Mr. Zalewski and myself met with County leadership-Chairman David Bunn, Ryan Preble, and Jamie Holtzman- to discuss our budget timeline and to review the presentation shared with our Board at the February meeting. This was a positive meeting and the timeline was well-received. We will be meeting again with this small group to discuss the preliminary facilities recommendation shared with the Board of Education this evening. I spoke with Ryan Preble today to give him some preliminary information in advance of the meeting, and said that I would follow up with him tomorrow. We also discussed the joint Board of Education/Board of Commissioners facilities committee convening. In preparation for that meeting, our Board will need to conduct a facilities work session so that we may prioritize the long-range projects based on urgency. This will better prepare us for how/when projects will need to be addressed as part of the work to develop a BOE/BOC facilities committee joint plan with action steps.

General Updates:

State of the District

We are excited about our “State of the District” this Thursday February 13th at 6:00 pm at Franklinton High School auditorium. This event will highlight district progress with strategic plan goals, but it will also showcase our students and staff and the great work taking place in our schools as we prepare students for life beyond the classroom. We will have performances by student groups and our culinary arts program will provide refreshments. We will also have student ambassadors from each of our high schools there to interact with our guests and share their personal experiences as students in the district. We will gather feedback from attendees through an exit survey.

Blueprint Goal 1: Preparing FCS Students for College, Career and Life Beyond the Classroom FCS Career Fair

Franklin County Schools will host a career fair on April 24 at Franklinton High School for 11th and 12th grade students. Additional information was sent out this week to the Franklin County business community about the Career Fair. The Franklin County Economic Development Department is helping Franklin County Schools market the event. To date, 13 businesses have signed up to participate.

Blueprint Goal 2: Achieving Student Success in Academic Areas

Using Data to Drive Instruction

Our current Student Achievement work focus is laser focused on assessment reflections and instructional adjustments. Over the past couple of weeks, schools have completed the 2nd Reading Check-In for Grades 3-8, the K-2 MOY Math Assessment, and the MOY K-3 Reading Screener (mClass). In collaboration with school Principals, Coaches, and Teachers, our district C&I Team is holding meetings, attending targeted school PLC meetings, holding virtual data meetings with teachers, and reviewing school written reflections on what instructional next steps will be. This work will continue in the weeks ahead, and as additional MOY Assessments in Math & Science are completed. Next week, we will conduct progress review meetings with each of our low performing schools. At these meetings we will discuss walkthrough data, check-in data and how it is being utilized to inform instruction, etc.

Blueprint Goal 3: Creating a Safe, Orderly and Caring Environment for Students

The Operations team has gathered feedback to guide the development of the 2025-26 capital budget. A significant focus of this budget planning includes enhancing access control and security measures, such as the installation of additional video surveillance cameras and centralizing access control. Additionally, Franklin County Schools, in collaboration with the Sheriff’s Office, recently participated in a demonstration of a security product designed to improve emergency response. This technology would enable quicker and more direct communication between school administrators and law enforcement, enhancing overall safety and response times.

Blueprint Goal 4: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining High-Quality Staff

The Human Resources Department is actively working to attract and retain top talent by scheduling recruitment visits to North Carolina State University, Campbell University, and UNC Wilmington. In addition to these efforts, the department is prioritizing compliance with key federal reporting requirements.

General Updates:

State of the District

We are on go for the“State of the District” for our school community on Thursday February 13th at 6:00 pm at Franklinton High School auditorium. This event will highlight district progress with strategic plan goals, but it will also showcase our students and staff and the great work taking place in our schools as we prepare students for life beyond the classroom. We will have performances by student groups and our culinary arts program will provide refreshments. Our Board Chair will provide a welcome and will recognize our County Commissioners at this event. We would like a cross-section of our school community to attend, so we will be inviting our Parent Summit participants, Franklin County Economic Development, the Chamber of Commerce, our Teacher Advisory Council, and our Strategic Planning Committee members. We will also advertise, as this is open to the entire community.

Town Halls

As part of our Strategic Planning process, we will have town halls on the following dates/locations:

 

Blueprint Goal 1: Preparing FCS Students for College, Career and Life Beyond the Classroom

FCS is making progress towards meeting the state mandate for completing Career Development Plans for students in grades 6-12. Students are using Xello to complete their Career Development Plans. Schools have been asked to have plans completed by April 30, 2025.  Students complete Xello lessons in English class but may complete Xello lessons in CTE classes and at home as well.  Some high school students will not enroll in English until 2nd semester.  Currently, 28% of students in grades 6-12 have completed all lessons and 31% are in progress.  This is great mid-year progress.  Guidance counselors are tracking student progress and parents have been informed of this state requirement.  Career Development Plan (CDP) State Guidance

Seven students have successfully completed the CTE Internship for the first semester.  Student presentations are underway and four have been completed thus far. Students have had very rich experiences and employers have been pleased with the contributions that our students have made to their organizations. 

Blueprint Goal 2: Achieving Student Success in Academic Areas

Revised Dates for Dual Language Applications

Applications for families interested in the Dual Language program at Royal Elementary School will launch on February 1 and close on March 1.  On January 29 at 6:00 at RES, the school will host an interest session for potential families.  During the week of February 17,  families will have the opportunity to visit DL classrooms from 8:00-12:00 each day.  Families will be asked to contact the school to indicate a date and time for their visit.  Once the application period closes (March 1), a lottery will take place and families will be notified by March 14.

As a reminder, this year’s application period is for kindergarten and a limited number of first grade seats.  

Blueprint Goal 3: Creating a Safe, Orderly and Caring Environment for Students

Franklin County Schools will be engaged with the Center for Safer Schools at CCRESA to advance ongoing training efforts for both district and school-level Behavior and Threat Assessment Teams. Additionally, a dedicated team convened to address access control measures and determine the next steps for enhancing security within the district. As part of these efforts, a roundtable discussion is being planned to review the response to the recent bomb threat at Early College High School. This discussion will focus on evaluating successful strategies, identifying areas for improvement, and applying lessons learned to other locations for enhanced preparedness and safety.

Blueprint Goal 4: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining High-Quality Staff

Our district is actively collaborating with local universities to support clinical field experiences and student teaching placements for Spring 2025. These efforts are essential to cultivating a robust pipeline of skilled educators. Over the next few weeks, our recruitment activities will include participation in Education

Career Fairs at the University of Virginia, NC State University, and Campbell University. These events provide an excellent opportunity to engage with future educators and School of Education faculty and promote teaching opportunities within our district.

 

General Updates:

State of the District

We have scheduled a “State of the District” for our school community on Thursday February 13th at 6:00 pm at Franklinton High School auditorium. This event will highlight district progress with strategic plan goals, but it will also showcase our students and staff and the great work taking place in our schools as we prepare students for life beyond the classroom. We will have performances by student groups and our culinary arts program will provide refreshments. Our Board Chair will provide a welcome and will recognize our County Commissioners at this event. We would like a cross-section of our school community to attend, so we will be inviting our Parent Summit participants, Franklin County Economic Development, the Chamber of Commerce, our Teacher Advisory Council, and our Strategic Planning Committee members. We will also advertise, as this is open to the entire community.

Town Halls

Town Halls	Louisburg Town Hall Tuesday January 7th 6:00-8:00 pm	LMHS Media Center	School Community
	Bunn Town Hall Tuesday January 14th 6:00-8:00 pm	BHS Media Center	School Community
	Franklinton Town Hall Tuesday January 21st 6:00-8:00 pm	FHS Media Center	School Community
	Additional Town Hall February 4th 8:30-10:30 am	PD 2	School Community

We are asking that each school in their respective zone has key school community members present, but these are also open to the public.

Communicating the Value of Public Schools

As past President of the North Carolina Association of School Administrators (NCASA), I have been asked to chair a statewide initiative that will take research conducted by the Neimand Collaborative and apply that research to promoting public schools at a local level. The Neimand Collaborative will work with NCASA leadership to provide districts with a toolkit and marketing materials that we can customize. The goal of this initiative is to ensure that our community (and communities across the state) have a better understanding of the value of public schools in preparing every child to be successful. I believe that this will be a great opportunity for our district to not only gain tools to enhance our efforts in promoting FCS within the county, but also for us to receive some positive statewide attention that can assist with our recruiting efforts.

Facilities Work Session

As previously discussed, we are in need of scheduling a facilities work session to consider next steps with several key projects, including FES grant proposal, FMS building envelope, naming facilities, facilities usage, Bunn EMS building, and other topics as requested by the Board of Education. Tentative recommended date: Monday January 27th 4:00-7:00 pm.

Blueprint Goal 1: Preparing FCS Students for College, Career and Life Beyond the Classroom On Wednesday, December 4, FCS offered a School Choice Fair for students and their families to explore options at Louisburg Magnet High School and Early College. This event highlights what each school has to offer and provides an opportunity for students and families to ask questions of school staff. Applications for both high school options are now available and are due by March 7, 2025. The Dual Language program at Royal Elementary will also be accepting applications for new kindergarten students for the 2025-2026 school year. Due to the nature of the program, the program will also accept a limited number of first grade students. An interest session and open house will be scheduled prior to the start of the application process. Applications will be available on March 3, 2025.

Blueprint Goal 2: Achieving Student Success in Academic Areas The district Curriculum and HR team met today with each of our low performing schools so that they could provide us with an update on the work taking place to move their schools out of low performing status. This discussion included a review of their check-in data and plans for addressing areas of concern, walkthrough data, PLC work, observation data, etc.

Blueprint Goal 3: Creating a Safe, Orderly and Caring Environment for Students The arrival of colder weather has placed our heating systems under significant strain. Bunn Elementary School experienced a temporary closure for one day due to a boiler failure; however, students and staff returned the next day with temporary heating solutions in place while the necessary boiler repairs were completed. Additional maintenance efforts have been required at other locations to ensure all classrooms remain adequately heated. The implementation of ARPA funds will play a crucial role in addressing ongoing challenges with some of our most problematic HVAC systems.In addition, select staff members are participating in the Behavior and Threat Assessment Management (BTAM) training. This state-mandated training is essential for BTAM teams at both the school and district levels, ensuring preparedness and compliance with state requirements.

Blueprint Goal 4: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining High Quality Staff Our efforts to recruit and retain high-quality teachers have been focused on offering licensure support to educators working to meet requirements for clearing their licenses. We have also continued to provide guidance to teacher assistants pursuing their education degrees, ensuring they have the resources and encouragement needed to advance in their careers. Additionally, we participated in Curriculum Night at the Early College High School and FCS Choice Schools and Program Information Night to raise awareness for our TEACH program. This initiative is dedicated to inspiring and supporting high school students who aspire to become future educators within our district, strengthening our pipeline of homegrown teaching talent.

Blueprint Goal 1: Preparing FCS Students for College, Career and Life Beyond the Classroom

We have administered our strategic plan survey to parents, staff and 9-12 students and we had over 1000 responses. We incorporated that data into our first Strategic Planning Committee meeting, which took place today. I have developed a sign up sheet for our Town Halls to ensure that we have a cross-section of representation at these meetings, but anyone can attend any meeting.

FCS Blueprint 2030: Strategic Plan Development Process

MEETING DATES 2024-25

What?	When?	Where?	Who?
Survey Administered to Stakeholders	October 21st -November 1st	NA	Staff, Parents, Students grades 9-12
Initial SPC Meeting	November 12th 3:30-5:00	PD 2	SPC
Town Halls	Louisburg Town Hall Tuesday January 7th 6:00-8:00 pm	LMHS Media Center	School Community
	Bunn Town Hall Tuesday January 14th 6:00-8:00 pm	BHS Media Center	School Community
	Franklinton Town Hall Tuesday January 21st 6:00-8:00 pm	FHS Media Center	School Community
	Additional Town Hall February 4th 8:30-10:30 am	PD 2	School Community
SPC Meeting	Thursday February 20th	PD 2	SPC Members
SPC Meeting	Thursday March 6th 3:30-5:30 pm	PD 2	SPC Members
SPC Meeting	Thursday April 3rd 3:30-5:30 pm	PD 2	SPC Members
Board of Education Approval of 2024-25 Strategic Plan	Monday April 14th 6:00 pm	FCS Board Meeting	Board of Education

 

Blueprint Goal 2: Achieving Student Success in Academic Areas

A Learning Focused half day morning professional development was held at Franklinton High School on the October 18th teacher workday for Cedar Creek Middle School and Terrell Lane Middle School teachers. Training was conducted by a Learning Focused consultant on Effective Questioning. Effective questioning fosters critical thinking. An optional training that focused on lesson planning was offered for all middle school teachers on the afternoon of October 18th. Beginning teachers were encouraged to attend the optional training. Bunn Middle School and Franklinton Middle School are scheduled to receive the same Effective Questioning training on the teacher workday on January 21, 2025.

Blueprint Goal 3: Creating a Safe, Orderly and Caring Environment for Students

Our joint Board of Education/Board of Commissioners school visits are going well. So far we have visited ¾ of our schools. Each visit involves an introduction to the school by the principal, followed by an overview of the short and long term facilities needs and a tour of the school.

Blueprint Goal 4: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining High Quality Staff

On November 1st, our team participated in the Appalachian State University Virtual Education Career Fair, engaging with prospective educators in elementary, special education, and music. To give December graduates a firsthand look at our schools, we are working to coordinate tours for them of our schools with current vacancies. In addition, we continue to support teacher assistants and other classified staff interested in obtaining degrees in education by helping them identify NCDPI-approved educator preparation programs (EPP) in their licensure area, guiding them in the enrollment process, and processing tuition reimbursements for those who qualify. We are also providing edTPA support to teachers completing that licensure requirement. Through these initiatives, we remain committed to recruiting, supporting, and retaining a high-quality workforce for our district.

Blueprint Goal 1: Preparing FCS Students for College, Career and Life Beyond the Classroom

We are making progress with our Strategic Planning process in preparation for approval in Spring 2025 and implementation in Fall 2025. We have a survey that will be administered to our parents, staff, and 9-12 students beginning October 21st. We are gathering information from the survey to help drive the work of our Strategic Planning Committee (SPC). The SPC is scheduled to convene for their first meeting on Tuesday November 12th. Invitations are being sent out next week. We have two Board members- Dr. Elizabeth Keith and Meghan Jordan- who have historically served as representatives on this committee and are willing to serve again. We also have town halls scheduled to engage our larger community in our efforts. Here’s the schedule:

FCS Blueprint 2030: Strategic Plan Development Process

MEETING DATES 2024-25

What?	When?	Where?	Who?
Survey Administered to Stakeholders	October 21st -November 1st	NA	Staff, Parents, Students grades 9-12
Initial SPC Meeting	November 12th 3:30-5:00	PD 2	SPC
Town Halls	Louisburg Town Hall Tuesday January 7th 6:00-8:00 pm	LMHS Media Center	School Community
	Bunn Town Hall Tuesday January 14th 6:00-8:00 pm	BHS Media Center	School Community
	Franklinton Town Hall Tuesday January 21st 6:00-8:00 pm	FHS Media Center	School Community
	Additional Town Hall February 4th 8:30-10:30 am	PD 2	School Community
SPC Meeting	Thursday February 20th	PD 2	SPC Members
SPC Meeting	Thursday March 6th 3:30-5:30 pm	PD 2	SPC Members
SPC Meeting	Thursday April 3rd 3:30-5:30 pm	PD 2	SPC Members
Board of Education Approval of 2024-25 Strategic Plan	Monday April 14th 6:00 pm	FCS Board Meeting	Board of Education

Updated 10/4/2024

Blueprint Goal 2: Achieving Student Success in Academic Areas

Franklin County Schools is undergoing district re-accreditation through our accrediting agency, Cognia. This work is intended to be part of a continuous improvement process where the district reflects on our performance against a set of research-based standards. A component of this work is receiving feedback from stakeholders, parents, students, and staff, on a subset of the standards. The goal is to wrap up the re-accreditation work and have it submitted to Cognia by winter break.

Blueprint Goal 3: Creating a Safe, Orderly and Caring Environment for Students

Our Capital Outlay projects are moving along well. We have completed over 50% of our 24/25 projects, including a new retaining wall at the FMS stadium, BMS bleacher renovation and several carpeting projects. HVAC issues continue to plague our schools, but our team has worked hard to stay on top of concerns. Dr. Webb is preparing a Safe Schools Equipment grant application to be submitted later this month. We are hoping to increase access control, camera coverage and the number of metal detectors at our secondary schools. Blueprint Goal 4: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining High Quality Staff The recruitment job fair season is starting once again. Franklin County Schools had planned to attend the Appalachian State University Educator Job Fair on October 11, 2024; however, the event was canceled due to the damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Despite this, we continue to work diligently to fill any remaining or newly arising vacancies. Additionally, the Human Resources team will soon begin conducting stay interviews with certified staff members at our middle schools. These interviews will offer valuable insights into staff retention strategies and provide principals with a better understanding of employee morale and engagement.

Legislative Alert: Private School Voucher Expansion

The legislature convened last week for a mini-session, and both the Senate and then the House approved legislation that would fully fund private school vouchers with an additional $463 million. This taxpayer-funded initiative has very little accountability for student acceptance, curriculum, assessment, and teacher licensure.

Blueprint Goal 1: Preparing FCS Students for College, Career and Life Beyond the Classroom

Four FCS students were selected to be pre-apprentices this summer for The North Carolina Triangle Apprenticeship Program (NC TAP). One student was selected from Bunn High School and three students were selected from Franklinton High School. After completing the pre-apprenticeship program, three students from Franklinton High School were selected to continue as apprentices and they also participated in a graduation/signing ceremony on August 29th. They will be apprentices for the following companies: Brandy Services, Crossroads Automotive, and Schmaltz. Seven students are participating in an internship this fall. There are students representing each of our four high schools. Internships will be completed at the following companies: Cornerstone Custom Home Builder, Green Hill Nursery & Landscaping, Hardly Farms for Alpacas, Louisburg Family Dentistry, Maria Parham Health, US1 Pools, and Wegmans.

District Accreditation-During the 2024-2025 school year, Franklin County Schools will seek district re-accreditation through Cognia, formerly AdvancEd. This process looks much different than it did during the initial accreditation in 2019 with no onsite visit; all work is submitted electronically through the accreditation platform. Dr. Nichols is working with a Cognia liaison to complete multiple self-reflection activities based on 30 performance standards. We will collect stakeholder feedback through surveys of students, parents, and teachers. The goal is to have the district submission complete by winter break although it is not officially due until February 1. In Spring 2025, we will receive a report from Cognia with commendations and recommendations for areas of improvement.

Blueprint Goal 2: Achieving Student Success in Academic Areas 

During the week of September 3, district curriculum and instruction staff met with principals to review data from the 2023-2024 school year and to set goals for 2024-2025. These goals are used for school improvement planning and in the principal’s evaluation with Dr. Schuhler. School improvement teams are meeting throughout the district to review SIP goals from last year, refine as needed, and add new areas of improvement based on student data. School improvement plans will be presented to the Board of Education in November.

Blueprint Goal 3: Creating a Safe, Orderly and Caring Environment for Students

On September 17th, FCS will be hosting our 4th Semi-Annual Parent Summit at Faith Baptist Church. The three previous Summit events have been very successful in building engagement among district and school families and we are seeking to build upon that momentum on the 17th. Our focuses will be in areas of Budget, Strategic District Planning, as well as current Accreditation efforts. As in previous events, we look forward to a meaningful time of collaboration, engagement, and planning among our district leadership, school leadership, DPAC, Parent Organizations, and other parent and family volunteers.

Board/Commissioners School Visits-Our school visits have officially commenced. On September 4, 2024, Board Members, Commissioners, and FCS staff toured Royal Elementary School and Youngsville Elementary School. Dr. Westbrook, Mr. Wiggins, and the staff at both schools were outstanding hosts. Dr. Webb shared long-term plans and current projects for each school. It was a fantastic opportunity for our Commissioners to observe the remarkable progress and efforts being made to ensure a safe, orderly, and nurturing environment. Our next visits are scheduled for September 18, 2024, when we will tour Bunn Elementary School and Bunn Middle School.

Submission of Needs Based Grant- On September 3, 2024, Dr. Webb presented our latest Needs Based Public School Capital Fund Grant to the Board of Commissioners. During the presentation, they detailed the grant’s specifics and requirements. After addressing a few questions from the Commissioners, the Board unanimously approved a local financial match of $10,000,000 for our $42,000,000 grant request. The grant was submitted to DPI on Thursday September 5th. We will keep you posted on progress.

Blueprint Goal 4: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining High Quality Staff

Franklin County Schools is actively working to ensure that all positions are filled. Staffing adjustments will be made once the 10-day headcount is finalized. Currently, the headcount numbers are consistent with those from the 2023-2024 school year, though the district is experiencing growth in some areas. For example, Youngsville Elementary has seen an increase of 37 students since their 10-day headcount was finalized. As of now, Franklin County Schools has a teacher vacancy rate of 5%, which is subject to change daily.

Blueprint Goal 1: Preparing FCS Students for College, Career and Life Beyond the Classroom On Wednesday, August 21, staff will gather at Franklinton High School for Sizzlin Summer 2024. This required workday for all schools provides teachers and staff with an opportunity to engage in professional development. Sessions held in the morning will cover multiple topics to include CANVAS integration, interactive notebooks, managing classroom behaviors, and many more. Afternoon sessions will be content/grade-level specific to provide teachers and staff with an opportunity to collaborate with others in their same positions and/ or teaching the same content. In advance of Sizzlin’ Summer, Dr. Schuhler will release a video message on the theme this year, “Power of Family.” This theme is two pronged: 1.) the importance of engaging our families in meaningful ways and 2.) the recognition that we are all part of the FCS Family.

Blueprint Goal 2: Achieving Student Success in Academic Areas Success Framework

The district’s Leadership Team Retreat, including principals, assistant principals and district leaders, met last week for a day of learning. At the retreat, Dr. Schuhler shared an updated “Success Framework” for use this year. This framework translates the existing strategic plan into practical goal setting and work at the school level. The framework’s focus is in 5 key areas: instructional feedback to improve student outcomes, closing learning gaps and raising student achievement, recruiting and retaining staff, engaging parents and family in our schools, and creating a safe and orderly learning environment for students. There are strategies and expectations in the framework, and our principals base their evaluation goals on these efforts. Although all 5 areas are critical expectations for our work, the priority area of focus for this year will be getting into classrooms and providing regular feedback and support to teachers on instruction. It is Dr. Schuhler’s belief that if we focus on getting into classrooms to provide ongoing feedback and support, the other priority areas will be enhanced and improved.

Blueprint Goal 3: Creating a Safe, Orderly and Caring Environment for Students

Capital Committee

In September 2023, at a joint meeting of the Franklin County Board of Education and Board of Commissioners, the district outlined our comprehensive school facilities needs. These needs had been compiled through a review by Davis-Kane Architects/Kilian Engineering and they were prioritized by the Board of Education through a series of work sessions. In response, this past Spring the Franklin County Board of Commissioners enacted a resolution in support of development of a joint BOC/BOE Capital Committee to address the capital needs. Dr. Schuhler was asked by Ms. Denton, the County Manager, to work with the BOE to identify two BOE representatives to serve on this joint committee with two members of the BOC and pertinent district and County staff, and to develop a schedule for joint BOE/BOC school visits to see these needs first hand. Dr. Schuhler provided a draft schedule in April to the County for consideration. There was not a response so this schedule was reshared with the County Manager and the entire Board of Commissioners on July 24th. Ms. Denton called that day to notify me that she would follow up with me by the middle of the next week, but to date I haven’t heard back from her. This schedule and the plan for school visits was referenced by Chairman Foy at the August 5th Board of Commissioners meeting, and with no further discussion arising from the Commissioners on the proposed schedule, Mr. Foy indicated to Ms. Champion that we are “Good to go.” Capital Committee Schedule With that in mind, the schedule has been shared with school principals and they anticipate visits on the identified dates.You are being provided with a link to this schedule as a reminder of what has been shared. We do need to establish an initial meeting date for the Committee, and I’m prepared to do so through coordination with Ms. Champion and Mr. Piper and communication of a possible date to the County.

UPDATE TO ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED REPORT: Today at 1:45 pm I received an email from Ms. Denton requesting an opportunity to discuss the details of the school visits. I have provided a copy of our schedule and have indicated a willingness to discuss further.

Blueprint Goal 4: Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining High Quality Staff

Our New Teacher Institute and Alternative Licensure Institute are happening this week. New teachers and other certified staff will meet at Franklinton High School. Sessions will focus on curriculum, district resources and expectations, and cultivating a sense of community. Our goal is to support new teachers and other certified staff as they grow in their professional practice.

UPDATE TO ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED REPORT:

Coppedge et al v. Franklin County Board of Education (Desegregation Order)

We received word this afternoon that Franklin County Schools has reached unitary status in our desegregation order, and all court-ordered obligations have been resolved. The case is now dismissed and the clerk has been directed to close the case. This means that Franklin County Schools will no longer be under a desegregation order and we will continue to operate as other districts do across the state- in accordance with existing laws and practices preventing discrimination based on race.