LaGRANGE — A new Troup County Board of Education member was sworn in during the board’s Monday afternoon caucus meeting.

Joe Franklin, who was elected to the board’s District 6 post in May, took the oath of office administered by Troup County Probate Judge Donald Boyd at the beginning of the meeting. After Boyd read the lengthy oath, Franklin jokingly said, “Can you repeat that?” before making the move official.

Franklin, a maintenance planner for Kimberly-Clark, said he was glad to start on the board early and have more time to learn the ropes as a board member.

“It does give me a chance to get acclimated and see what’s going on and … it does give me a little bit of insight,” he said. “I’m glad to have the opportunity to serve and glad to have the opportunity to come in early, because there is a lot of work to be done.”

He said the amount of learning involved for the position could be overwhelming. He recently participated in the “rigor, relevance and relationship” training by a consultant group led by Willard Daggett and said it’s important to make sure the school system is getting its worth from the amount of money — which is nearly $800,000 — spent for the consulting contract and training. He said it’s a different approach for teachers, but during the training at West Point Elementary School, he saw they were dedicated to learning new approaches.

“It’s all about our students and what we can do to make it better for them and for the teachers, for the good of education in Troup County,” he said.

Former District 6 board member Ashley Adams gave her resignation to the board because her family moved out of state, confirmed board attorney John Taylor in July. According to state law, with less than two years left on the term, the board can appoint someone to fill the vacancy for the remaining six months of the term, he told board members during Monday’s caucus meeting.

Adams announced in February she would not seek re-election to the District 6 post, which she has held since 2012.

Franklin won the May 24 election for the District 6 seat. His elected term officially starts on Jan. 1.

He is one of four new members coming onto the board at the start of 2017.

Kirk Hancock will take the reins of District 2, Brandon Brooks will take on District 3 and Cathy Sargent Hunt will represent District 5, respectively replacing board members Dianne Matthews, Sheila Rowe and Debbie Burdette, all of whom did not seek re-election.