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Joe Franklin has been elected to serve a second term on the Troup County School System for District 6.

Franklin received 1,233 votes or 62 percent of the vote. Challenger Tripp Foster, a local tree care business owner, received 761 votes or 38 percent of the vote.

On Wednesday, Franklin said before qualifying, he was ready to step down and start retirement. However, he felt the board had made good progress, and he thought it was a critical time to stick around.

“I just could not feel good about giving it up to somebody who may not have had the same thought process our board had,” he said. “I think we have done a lot of great things, and we need to continue that.”

He said he feels the election turned out “as it should,” and even though the current board disagrees at times, it works together well.

“I think the community made the right choice,” Franklin said.

Moving forward, he said the school system’s budget would be a top priority, especially with the impact of COVID-19. He said TCSS Superintendent Dr. Brian Shumate would make adjustments to help lessen the economic impact of the system, but it will still be there.

Additionally, Franklin said starting school in August in the classroom would solve several problems. However, if there is a hybrid schedule of in-class and online instruction, it could be tough for students.

“Beyond that, we will continue to support Dr. Shumate and doing the right things for our school system to improve academic excellence,” he said. “That has been our focus the whole time.”

Foster said it was a long journey to the end of Tuesday’s election, and COVID-19 made it even longer.

“It was a long journey, but it was worth it,” Foster said.

He said he looks forward to continuing to work with the board of education and seeing it on an upward trajectory.

“We are going to work together, and I’m looking forward to the future,” Foster said. “Everybody sets out to win. However, we can now win as a community by working together with collaboration.”

Foster said he’s looking forward to a pleasant working relationship with the board.