Franklin County School Faculty, Staff Kick Off New School Year with Convocation

Franklin County School Superintendent Chris Forrer says the school system has made great strides over the past two years and he said it’s primarily due to the hard work and effort of teachers and staff.

In his speech during Convocation Monday, Forrer listed three points of emphasis for the new school year.

First, he said is, Embrace Who We Are.

Forrer said his illness and hospitalization at the end of the 2020-2021 school year proved to him that the Franklin County School System is a family.

“During the last week’s of school last year, I was literally on my death bed. I was in the ICU at Piedmont Hospital. I had a 105 temperature, my lungs were collapsing, they had me in an ice bag, like a fish in a display case at Dill’s. At the worst point, my mother and wife told the doctor they could handle the truth. They just wanted to know the odds of my survival. The doctor told them it was about 10%. 10%,” he recalled. “Yet here I stand before you today. So, what happened? You happened. Your prayers lifted me up. You covered my family in support. My three boys had their spirits lifted every day by your kind words and loving hearts. There are countless people in this auditorium who took time out of their hectic day to help me and my family. Franklin County and I say this with all sincerity, saved my life. So, I know we still have a lot of work to do with facilities, salary schedules, and many other things we have something that means much much more. We have our Franklin County family. That is a true blessing.”

Forrer’s second point emphasis quoted a Roman proverb that says, “If the wind will not serve, take to the oars or where there is a will there’s away.

He said this year teachers and staff will continue to face challenges in the classroom and in other areas as students work to catch up after last year’s shutdown and distance learning.

“We are looking at the most severe student learning loss in history. We have to deal with the new COVID delta variant. There are still vacant positions, a lack of subs, supplies on backorder and immeasurable other obstacles,” he noted. “There are an awful lot of things working against us to make our jobs hard. So, do we quit? Do we throw up our hands and say, ‘I give up’? I think we can all agree that if our school system was a ship, the wind would not serve us. So my challenge to you is to take to the oars. Yes, it is far easier to sail than to row but how many of us got into this profession because we thought it would be easy?  We got into this profession to serve children.”

Finally, Forrer’s third point of emphasis was a quote from a former head football coach from Michigan whose training camp caused a lot of his players to drop out.

Forrer noted that a lot of teachers and staff had left the school system in recent years, but he said he’s committed to fixing the problem.

“I know there are those who bemoan a similar fate for Franklin County. We’ve had teachers, administrators, and support personnel leave. Some left for more money, some because the job was too hard, some for personal reasons…but I promise you today that every Franklin County employee is going to get a $1,000 bonus before Christmas, and I’m committed to fixing the salary schedule so we are competitive,” Forrer asserted.

Forrer said when he took the job as school superintendent two years ago, he never promised the turnaround would be easy but it would get better and he challenged faculty to see it through and be champions.

And he ended his speech with a brief slide presentation showing how each school had improved over the past two years – going from below the RESA measurements to exceeding them in 2021.