Word: franklin
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...restore faith in the local government, Franklin shepherded through the city council a new ethics code for municipal employees. She corralled 75 private firms to conduct studies of Atlanta's budgetary, infrastructure and homeless problems and perform a massive audit of the city government--pro bono. She organized a task force she called the Pothole Posse to go after the city's crumbling streets. She kept a running tally of cracks that were filled, combining good stewardship with quality political theater...
...Franklin, who was Atlanta's city manager from 1982 to '90 and served several key roles on its 1996 Olympics committee, is not just a rampaging reformer but also a skillful and diplomatic negotiator. Working with county and state officials, she managed to pull together a complex set of loans and agreements that will bring about $3 billion in upgrades and repairs to Atlanta's leaky sewers...
Since 2002, Franklin has turned in three balanced budgets, and in February she reported an $18 million revenue surplus. A $5 million homeless shelter is scheduled to open this summer. She plans to run for a second term this November, and so far nobody is even bothering to oppose her. For her achievements Franklin was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award this year by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. She is the first sitting mayor to be so honored. -- With reporting by Greg Fulton/Atlanta
...each weekday morning, the asphalt playground of Franklin Elementary School in Oakland swarms with some 900 boys and girls shooting baskets, playing tetherball and skipping rope. This large number of children are not at Franklin for a summer recreation outing. They are at morning recess in Franklin's year-round school, one of three such programs in the Oakland unified school district, and one of 394 year-round education projects that are nourishing at scattered locations in schools across the country...
Although intended to relieve overcrowding, YRE programs are paying some promising extra dividends. At Franklin Elementary, since 15-day vacations take the place of the long summer break, "students seem to retain more," says Susan Chin, a bilingual Chinese/English teacher. A few schools have already implemented YRE strictly for educational reasons. Parry McCluer High in Buena Vista, Va., boasts the state's only year-round program, and a student body that consistently scores above 95% on the state's compulsory competency test...