Political Philosophy for John W. Franklin

Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Carpinteria Unified School District; Trustee Area 2

I am seeking re-election to Carpinteria Unified School District's Board of Education. I was originally appointed in 1984 to the term of a retiring Trustee and have since successfully run for three additional terms representing the area from Summerland to Toro Canyon.

I have enjoyed many rewarding experiences and admit to a few frustrating ones during my fifteen years on the Board. The best are: being asked by and able to serve with Bill Carty who was Superintendent when I was a student; being part of the labor negotiating process transformation from confrontational and mistrutsing to "win-win"; being part of the search committees which brought our present school site and district leadership here; being a member of School Boards that have helped Carpinteria rise from one of the poorer Districts in the State to its present fiscal soundness which also included one of the first successful school bond measures passed in California in recent years.

I decided to run again in this election because there is still much to do. We have just approved a major Middle School renovation/expansion plan. We need two new elementary schools. We have identified the Toro Canyon site and are zeroing in on a site on the east end of town. The high school is going through major modernization including moving its physical education and athlectic facility from Middle School which helps both schools. Employee spirit is at an all-time ghigh throughout the District and is reflected in vastly improved student test scores the past four years. It is my hope that we can achieve the community's goal of neighborhood elemenatry schools during the next term.