FRANKLIN
Before submitting the revised Corrective Action Plan to the Virginia Board of Education for approval, the Franklin City Public School Board will have a public hearing to review it on Thursday, Oct. 16.

The document is available online to view at www.fcpsva.org.

Division Vice Chair Will Councill said recently Superintendent Willie Bell had put together a community team, two people from each ward, to help reword the CAP to replace some of the jargon and make it more user friendly.

“We’re seeking to get additional comments by having a public hearing about it,” Councill said. “We’re trying to get more people in the community involved in the school’s business.”

Councill said he hoped there would be a full house.

“If you want to know what is going on in the schools, then come to the public hearing and voice your opinion,” he said. “If you don’t like something in the Corrective Action Plan, make it known.”

From there, Councill said they’d have to present the CAP to the Virginia Board of Education.

The Corrective Action Plan was mandated by the state after the system was put under a division level review and the VBOE-hired team AdvancED found several systemic problems that were contributing to the decline in Standards of Learning pass rates and other factors. Two of the system’s schools had fallen into Priority School status, which means they were in the bottom 5 percent of Virginia’s Title 1 schools. The third school, Franklin High School, was accredited with warning at the time, though it has since achieved full accreditation for the 2014-15 school year.

The Corrective Action Plan outlines 26 action items to be addressed, and then it breaks down who is responsible for the fix; the timeline; and an outline of how it will be achieved.

As far as how the system is bouncing back, Councill said, “We are headed in the right direction.

“People, so far this year, have given a good response about how it is going,” he continued. “And I think the schools are turning around. I certainly don’t hear the complaints that I was hearing.”

The Public Hearing is Thursday, Oct. 16 prior to Citizens’ Time during the regularly scheduled school board meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. Instead of Council Chambers at City Hall, the school board is moving the event to the J.P. King Jr. Middle School Auditorium, located at 501 Charles St., to accommodate more people.

School Board Chair Edna King could not be reached for comment.