Franklin County School Superintendent to Hold Series of Public Meetings Next Month

Franklin County School Superintendent Chris Forrer is beginning his first year on the job by getting input from the community.

Called Community Discussions, Forer has set up five public meetings, one at each school, to give parents and others the opportunity to meet with him and express their comments and concerns.

In an interview this week, Forrer said it’s important he understands what the perceived needs are from citizens.

“We’ll have five meetings. People will come in and there’ll be a little overview and they’ll be broken down into groups of eight to ten people,” Forrer explained. “A facilitator will ask about five questions. And really what it comes down to is, ‘what is the future of Franklin County schools? What do we want our schools to look like in 2025?’ This is where the community has a chance to decide how we align our resources so our schools look like in 2025. Before we can figure out what we’re doing we have to figure out what the objective is. So, this is a chance for everybody to have their say about what they want the school system to look like.”

Forrer said once that information is gathered a group will sit down and begin working on a five-year strategic plan.

“This is really critical to our mission. So, what will happen is we will compile the results from all five schools and there’ll be an education summit of about 70 people. That will include a cross representation. We’ll have educators, business people, clergy and city and county governments. And then we will see what trends emerge and we will set those strategic priorities,” Forrer said.

The meetings all take place in October beginning on October 1 at Carnesville Elementary school.

On October 14, the Community Discussion will be held at Lavonia Elementary School.

On October 17, they’ll be at Franklin County High School; on October 21 at Royston Elementary and on the 24th at Franklin County Middle School.

All meetings will run from 7p – 8:30p

Forrer says it’s very important he hears from the community.

“This is critical and we want as broad a spectrum as possible,” Forrer noted. “This is not just something that sounds good or we’re doing for show. This is a really viable part of our purpose and mission here. So, I would strongly, in fact, I’m begging people to come and provide input. It would really be helpful to us.”

Forrer said if you can’t make it to any one of the five in-person meetings, you can still send in your ideas and comments by calling Brenda Tatum at 706-384-4554 and request the list of questions asked at the public meetings.