Franklin board OKs principal appointments

Miller had been principal at Victory Elementary since 2020, and Holoman had been principal at Sandycreek Elementary since 2019.

Thomas said the board was “more than happy to announce to the community that we could fill the positions with existing staff.”

“The best answers are sometimes right under your nose,” he told the newspaper on Thursday. “We have a lot of talent in the existing administration.”

One principal position became vacant after Christina Cohlhepp recently moved to the position of curriculum director for the school district.

Cohlhepp had been principal at Franklin High School since 2017 and was the middle school principal from 2012-17.

Franklin Junior High School principal John Bianconi, who had been in that position since 2020, was named the Victory Elementary principal at this week’s meeting.

Joseph Keenan was promoted to Sandycreek Elementary principal after he had recently left his position as dean of students to return to teaching.

Thomas said Andy Riley is dean of the junior high school, and the position of dean at the senior high school has been posted.

Gary Canfora remains the principal at Central Elementary.

And Denise Phipps was named this week to the position of director of student support services.

All the new appointments were approved by the school board by a unanimous 7-0 vote. Board members Ben Andrews and Misty Nalepa were absent.

“I’ve always had a personal philosophy to grow the people within,” Thomas said of the decision to keep the new positions within the current Franklin administration. “They know the system well, and it’s a natural progression,” Thomas added as he spoke highly of the talent within the school district.

In another matter at this week’s meeting, the board accepted the resignation of Abby Fontanazza as emotional support teacher at the high school and approved hiring Brittany Beck to fill the position.