Music Educator of the Year

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This article appeared in the Times Record on 06/16/2000

Fingerprint foe ends year on high note

Mt. Ararat High School's Barbara Franklin is Named State's Music Educator of Year

Christopher Cousins

TOPSHAM - The choral director at Mt. Ararat High School is the recipient of the state's highest award for music educators. Barbara Franklin was named Music Educator of the Year recently at the annual spring conference of the Maine Music Educators Association. In the midst of wrapping up her 29th year as a music educator, Franklin said she never expected to receive the award. I had no idea it was coming, said Franklin. I've just been trying to recreate what I always had as a youth. Franklin originally was nominated for the award by Mary Love Canning of Dexter. Other letters of recommendation were submitted by other music educators, Mt. Ararat staff and teachers, and students in the choral program. Heidi E. Corliss, director of choral activities for Hampden Academy, has known Franklin since 1983 when the two met at a summer music camp. Even then, I was amazed at the respect she commanded and the incredible musical results she was able to achieve in such a short time, wrote Corliss in her recommendation of Franklin for the award. She seems to not only prepare students for performance but also educates her students in musical concepts and ideals which they can take with them for many years to come. From the very first time I saw her teach, I was in awe,˛ wrote Allen Graffam, Mt. Ararat High School's band director. As a role model, she is unquestionably someone I would want my own children to look up to. Her students respect and adore her for her positive and compassionate manner. She is busy from the minute she enters this building until the time she leaves, always working through her lunch and free periods, wrote Mt. Ararat English teacher Janet Galle. Her ability to inspire even the least talented to work harder is astounding. One of the most important lessons I have learned from her is to always strive to do my best, wrote student Bonnie Torrey, who plans to become a music teacher, thanks to Franklin. No teacher that I know of deserves this award more than Mrs. Franklin, wrote student Alicia Dutton. She is the epitome of an upstanding role model in today's society which is so lacking in this area. Despite the accolades, Franklin said she will leave her job after two more years. She is one of the state's teachers who have resisted being fingerprinted as part of a criminal background check. When her teaching certification expires in two years, Franklin will leave her position rather than be fingerprinted. It's a bad law, she said. I canšt work in a place where I feel my honor and integrity is threatened. I'll drastically miss this place.