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CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE
LAW ENFORCEMENT ^Franklin (Continued from Page 1) Nine jailed in Frio, June 21 - July 5 government and economics had been converted into at the high school, and came a boot camp for wayward
Nine suspects were taken into custody in Frio County home to Cotulla ISD in 1981 adolescents. Franklin saw recently, with arrests made by sheriff’s deputies, the to teach Texas history at a need for more corrective Pearsall and Dilley police departments and troopers of the the middle school. After six action, and answered the call Texas Department of Public Safety. years, she became assistant to run the facility’s education
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Charges ranged from misdemeanor offenses to felonies, principal for the fifth and program at the end of the including drug-related offenses. sixth grades. A year later, she 1990s.
Those taken into custody between Tuesday, June 23, took the top job as principal “We had to help the kids and Sunday, July 5, with arrest times logged at booking in of the entire Ramirez/Burks who had been left behind,” the Frio County Jail, were as follows: Elementary School. At the she says.
Nelson Castillo, 26, of Pearsall; arrested 8 p.m., time, the school included Franklin was at the helm Tuesday, June 23; immigration detainer, assault of a the Frank Newman Middle when the elementary school family or household member by impeding breath or School, a campus named after in Cotulla underwent its circulation, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault Franklin’s uncle and former transition from chalkboard to causing serious bodily injury. La Salle County sheriff. In computer education, and she
Jason Perez, 31, of Pearsall; arrested 11:40 a.m., another familial connection, returned from a brief retireWednesday, June 24; motion to revoke, possession of a Franklin was now principal ment five years ago to take controlled substance. of the Amanda Burks School, charge at Encinal as it, too,
Ivan Gomez, 24, of Atascosa; arrested 11:55 a.m., which is named after her was modernized, upgraded Wednesday, June 24; fleeing police officer. great-great aunt. and raised its standards and
Rebecca Deiss, 41, of San Antonio; arrested 11:58 a.m., “I told them I’m not Superformance. Wednesday, June 24; driving while intoxicated, possession perwoman,” she laughs at the “Encinal had a vacancy,” of a controlled substance. thought of having to oversee she says. “I had known the
Desiree Aylissa Campos, 20, of Dilley; arrested 6:15 the sprawling elementary staff there for years, so I p.m., Tuesday, June 30; assault causing bodily injury to a school campuses alone, withdecided to turn in my apfamily member. out an assistant principal. plication. It wasn’t up to me.
Elias John Salinas, 33, of Pearsall; arrested 2:10 a.m., “The school district switched They were an ‘improvement Thursday, July 2; assault. its campus organization, and required’ school.”
Moises Gonzalez, 25, of Dilley; arrested 5:43 a.m., I was given charge of the Franklin brought new diThursday, July 2; criminal trespass. Ramirez/Burks school until rectives to Encinal, pushed
Joseph Viesca Garza, 24, of Pearsall; arrested 11:30 1998.” the campus to become the p.m., Friday, July 3; racing on highway, unlawfully That year, Franklin recoghighest ranking in the discarrying a weapon. nized that a large number of trict, academically, and estab
Phillip Clare Corbin, 32, of Crosby, Texas; arrested 6:24 Cotulla students were leaving lished her trademark order, a.m., Saturday, July 4; driving while intoxicated. the district without finishrespect for authority, and ing their education, and that dedication to learning among
CURRENT WILL PUBLISH there was an urgent need for an alternative program with the student population. “I’m a facilitator,” she says MILITARY NEWS credit recovery. “I would see all these of her task as principal. “I make it to where the teachers
The Frio-Nueces Current looks forward to publishing news of local residents currrently serving in the US armed forces and stationed around the country or overseas. News and photos may be brought to our office at 321 E. San Marcos names of children at the elementary and middle schools, hundreds of them... can do the job they need to do.” A campus at which Frankor mailed to: and then at the end of the lin is principal can be distinP.O. Box 1208 Pearsall, TX 78061 high school stage, they were guished by its colorful disgone,” she says. “Where did plays of student art, its postVOTE AND ELECT DELMA AGUIRRE FOR FRIO COUNTY CLERK FRIO COUNTY RUN-OFF ELECTION they go? What happened to them? Well, they were dropping out. They weren’t being served. “We set about reaching ers with firm reminders about good behavior and expectations, and the reverent hush that she commands in an auditorium filled with children. FRIO COUNTY CLERK them, giving them the It is also a campus at which (SECRETARIA del CONDADO) help they needed, putting parents are welcome, where AARON IBARRA them back on course,” she everyone knows everyone, DELMA AGUIRRE says. “We gave them a new and where children genuinely VOTE for the candidate by darkening the oval ( ) provided to the left of the name. chance.” look forward to learning. VOTE por el candidato llenando completaAt the time, the La Salle “It’s a small campus, but
Pd. Pol. Adv. by Delma Aguirre mente el espacio a la esquierda del nombre County Jail was closed and no less important than anyone else,” she says of Encinal, which is situated thirty miles
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING south of Cotulla. “They have to keep their averages up. If
ON FRIO COUNTY APPRAISAL you only have a dozen kids in one grade level - which can happen - and one or two DISTRICT BUDGET have failing grades, the average score plummets. If that happened at a much larger school, you could say that it
The Frio County Appraisal District will hold a public hearing on a proposed budget for the 2021 fiscal year.
The public hearing will be held on August 5, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. in the District’s Meeting Room, 815 South Oak Street, Pearsall, Texas.
The total amount of the 2021 proposed appraisal budget is $1,110,581.
The total amount of decrease over the current year’s budget is $57,826.
The appraisal district is supported solely by payments from the local taxing units served by the appraisal district.
If approved by the Appraisal District Board of Directors at the public hearing, this proposed budget will take effect automatically unless disapproved by the governing bodies of the county, school districts, cities, and special districts served by the appraisal district.
wouldn’t be noticed.
“Well, I noticed.”
The retiring principal looks fondly on Encinal and views the campus as a little gem with potential to shine.
“It was rewarding,” she says of her tenure. “That community is very supportive of that school.”
Years before community involvement in education became a standard feature of school policy, Franklin spearheaded efforts at Cotulla ISD to bring families into the fold, to engage parents in the children’s curriculum and after-school activities, and to help spread a greater understanding of the significance of a good education to those who came from a small rural community.
She is also responsible for writing the grant that helped Cotulla ISD secure its childcare program, serving the children of current students and providing early childhood care and instruction. The Cotulla PEP Center is now situated adjacent to the Ramirez/Burks campus.
“This is one of the things I am proud of,” she says. “At the alternative school in 1998, we had a desperate need for childcare for the children of teenagers. There was no reliable childcare in Cotulla at the time. Now the school district is the only licensed one.”
For most of the years in which Franklin served Cotulla schools, the district was labeled as economically disadvantaged by the state of Texas and depended heavily on outside funding - taxpayer money from other districts - and a heavy percentage of Cotulla ISD’s children qualified for free lunches
That changed in 2008, when hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas reserves in the Eagle Ford Shale brought new industry, new people and new property values to La Salle County. The families who had been served by the district were now more likely to have job prospects, and the school district was no longer dependent on state funds.
“The need is to serve the children, all of them,” she says, “to get them out beyond Cotulla, to help them do
something with their lives. I used to joke that when I’m old, these will be the leaders of our community. They needed to have an education, and it was our job to make them see that they could be better, to bring out their best. It takes someone telling you that you can do it.”
Franklin left the district for a short period beginning in 2013. Within weeks, she had been hired as the new administrator for the La Salle County Jail, which was in the process of reopening after years of disuse. Franklin’s reputation for calm efficiency, understanding of all the aspects of the job, and her effective authority had preceded her. She directed the physical updating of the jail as well as the myriad of personnel and documentary requirements that the facility demanded.
In July 2015, Franklin was lured back to Cotulla ISD, and over the next five years she would take charge of the many projects that were required to bring Encinal Elementary School up to par, to improve student performance, to better prepare the community for what was to lie ahead in an age of massive economic development, and to ensure that the small school would benefit from district-wide construction projects and campus upgrades.
It was again a time of change for the people of La Salle County and for the schools, and Franklin held the helm steady through the growth of the energy industry, through rapidly changing technology in education, and with a view to preparing her young charges for the vastly different world that lay ahead for them.
At the same time, Franklin has taken an active role in a number of communitybased and charitable projects, among them child advocacy and awareness programs against domestic violence, but not least the continually popular St. Timothy’s Christmas Cheer for Children, a ‘toys for tots’ effort that brought light to the darkness of thousands of local youngsters over the years, distributing gifts to the needy and disadvantaged. For Franklin and her fellow volunteers, the service projects have been labors of love, and for a veteran school administrator all the more significant because she has known the children, their parents and grandparents for so many years.
Franklin is a member of the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of South Texas, whose volunteer members speak up for children’s interests and immediate as well as long-term needs in foster and adoption hearings; and is a charter board member of the Children’s Alliance of South Texas, which addresses childcare issues and intervention in cases of abuse, neglect or domestic violence.
She views all of the challenges she has undertaken as part of a whole.
“Education is a service,” she says of the many aspects of her career. “If you’re not ready to do that, then you’re probably in the wrong business.”
Louisa Franklin may be turning in her chalk this summer and bidding farewell to the classrooms and hallways, auditoriums and cafeterias she has known so well for generations, and which she has patrolled with her gently firm brand of leadership, but she won’t turn away from her service to the community.
“When you have a kid who is successful, who everyone said wasn’t going to be successful,” she says, “then you know you’ve done the right thing.”
A good teacher keeps soldiering on, long after the dismissal bell has rung.
