Dear Franklin Families,

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our wonderful Franklin volunteers who joined us for our Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast yesterday. Your time, energy, and support have made such a positive difference in our school community each and every day. From helping in classrooms and at school events to supporting our students and staff in countless ways, your dedication is appreciated by all of us ALL the time! We are so grateful for your partnership and commitment to making our school a welcoming and successful place for all children. Whether you were able to attend our breakfast or not, we thank you for everything you do and we truly appreciate you for helping Franklin soar!

While we are working hard to finish this current school year and help launch our students as they get ready to enter the next grade level in the 2026-2027 school year, we are also busily preparing and planning for the next school year staffing wise. We want to first honor and celebrate with great enthusiasm our 3 teachers, who will be retiring after amazing SMMUSD teaching careers; Kurt Schwengel (K) and Rowena Goldrich (SAI), and Maura Zagor (Reading). I also want to thank and acknowledge that our wonderful cafeteria manager, Henry Nolen, officially retired last December. They have contributed so much to our Franklin community and our students over many years – Congratulations! Additionally, 2 of our teachers will be moving on to new positions that fit their family and career goals; Debbie Vasquez (PE) and Kristin Lloyd-Leigh (SAI) – we wish them the best of luck! We also bid farewell to our amazing campus monitor and instructional assistants, Ahmed Ahmed and Danielle Cooper, in their next career journeys to the east coast and substitute teaching. Some news for next year is that Jamie Sharpe (our current 3rd grade teacher) will be teaching kindergarten – she is very excited and has exceptional early childhood teaching experience! As Jamie Sharpe leaves 3rd grade, we welcome a very experienced and outstanding SMMUSD teacher, Wednesday Kirven (currently teaching 3rd grade at McKinley), to our Franklin staff and 3rd grade team. We also welcome with excitement and enthusiasm our new SAI teacher, Kayla Clayton, who is coming to us from a resource specialist position in Monterey, CA. We extend a huge and warm welcome to Wednesday and Kayla!

Thank you Fabulous Franklin families… as we get close to the end of a wonderful 2025-26 school year…with just about a week and a half to go. Our last day of school is Thursday, June 11th and is a minimum day for all students with TK-K dismissal at 12:15 and 1st – 5th grade dismissal at 1:30.

Fondly,
Natalie R. Burton