On Wednesday, Assistant Superintendent Patrick Franklin was named Habersham County School System’s latest superintendent – replacing current Superintendent Matthew Cooper who announced his retirement on Jan. 14. Franklin will start in the new role on April 1.
As superintendent, Franklin will receive an annual salary of $180,000, according to Chief Financial Officer Stacy Newsome. His salary as assistant superintendent was $147,702.
Cooper, 53, has served as superintendent for 13 years and was paid just over $208,900 as head of the Habersham County School System.
The decision to hire Franklin, 43, came after no other candidates were interviewed for the position – nor was the job advertised to potential applicants. Franklin has served as assistant superintendent for nearly three years and has a 20-year career in various school system roles as an educator.
Habersham County Board of Education Chairman Russ Nelson was confident as he described Franklin as the best person for the job.
“Basically, in Habersham County, we have a succession plan,” Nelson said. “We selected an assistant superintendent (Franklin) three years ago with the idea that we’re going to be able to see what (Franklin) can do. And if this person shows us their worth and can show us that they can do the job, and we feel confident in it, then there’s not really a need for us to go out and find other applicants.”
Nelson cited Franklin’s experience over the years running the school system in Cooper’s occasional absence as a major qualifying factor that, to him, proves Franklin is the right fit.
“We’ve got somebody internally that’s been raised and brought up in the Habersham County system, so we had an opportunity to watch Franklin for nearly three years,” Nelson said. “He’s been handling a lot of things…it just became obvious, to us, that (Franklin) is someone we felt very confident in.”
Nelson said that while there hasn’t been a decision on who could fill Franklin’s role, the assistant superintendent position will be advertised and candidates interviewed.
“There will be applicants that are interested in that (job),” he said. “There will be people in the school system that are probably capable of being the assistant superintendent…whether this (hiring process) becomes a trend or not just depends on who that person is, what kind of job they do as assistant superintendent, and what the lay of the land looks like when that time comes.”
At a special-called meeting Wednesday, Jan. 29, Cooper described how he felt turning the reins over to Franklin, who he reiterated is the right man for the job.
“Several people asked me today: ‘Is this bitter-sweet?’ No, it’s not bitter-sweet. it’s sweet,” Cooper said. “I’ve had a wonderful career as superintendent for 13 years. Habersham County has been very good to me. I’m happy for Mr. Franklin, and I’m happy for this school system – that he is going to be the new superintendent. He will do a fantastic job. He is ready for this, and he’s up for the task.”
Following the special-called meeting, Franklin said he’s eager to continue to build on the success created by Cooper.
“We have a wonderful community here in Habersham,” Franklin said. “We’ve built a wonderful school system, and we just want to keep it going. I appreciate support from board members, families I’ve gotten to know over the years – the emails and texts and calls I’ve gotten the last two weeks. I’m really excited.”
