Franklin Special School District leaders used the April meeting to highlight professional learning work for school leaders and to give board members operational updates on recruitment, enrollment, summer programming and the budget process.

Why it matters: Professional learning and staffing affect instructional quality; enrollment figures and summer programs drive operational staffing, transportation and budget planning for the next school year.

Teaching and learning spotlight: The leadership team summarized recent professional learning led by Dr. Taryn Echols, a Solution Tree associate and an assistant superintendent in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The session focused on professional learning communities (PLCs), professional learning teams (PLTs), high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and strategies for collaborative data analysis. Board materials said the work aims to deepen leaders’ ability to support teacher teams, troubleshoot instruction, and improve student proficiency.

Director’s report and operational updates: Dr. David Snowden reported the district’s recruitment fair was “very successful,” with about 60 applicants attending in person or virtually. Current-student enrollment and new-student enrollment periods remain open; early childhood applications (ages 3–5) require evaluation for voluntary Pre-K and preschool programs. The district held a kindergarten kickoff on April 11 and scheduled a director-of-schools performance-goals work session for April 15 at 7:00 a.m. The district’s Night of Celebration is planned for April 24 (reception 5:00 p.m.; program 5:45 p.m.). Budget work-session dates were announced for April 28, May 19 and June 16; the sessions will address operations, revenue/personnel and cumulative impacts, respectively.

Summer programs: Staff described summer offerings — the summer meal open site at Johnson Elementary, meal service sites at the Learning Academy at Poplar Grove School and Young Scholars at Freedom Middle School, and a summer learning camp running Monday–Thursday for four weeks from June 2–26 prioritizing students who need additional support. Young Scholars Institute dates were listed as June 2–6 and June 9–13; registration is open and some grades had a wait list.

Finance correction: Finance staff corrected a prior month’s sales-tax comparison that had incorrectly shown a 24% month-to-month change; the correction shows a 0.06 percentage-point month-to-month comparison error and April’s collections rose 6.3% month to month. An ADA adjustment added $129,405 to collections, bringing year-to-date collections to 7.4% over the previous year, according to the report.

Board members asked clarifying questions about participant involvement in textbook review and about departmental errors; staff acknowledged responsibility for clerical mistakes and offered to follow up. Board members thanked staff for recruitment and program efforts.

(Reported from the Franklin SSD board meeting.)