Donnie Franklin has served seventeen highly successful years at the central office level as superintendent or assistant to the superintendent.  He is a native of Covington County, Alabama.  After graduating from Florala High School, he served three years in the United States Army where he attended the Army Leadership School.  Upon receiving an honorable discharge, he attended Troy State University in Troy where he received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Special Education in 1979 and 1980, respectively.  He continued his education at Troy State, Dothan Campus, where he received his Masters certification in Administration/ Supervision in 1985, AA certification in School Administration in 1993, and his Education Specialist degree in 1998.  Mr. Franklin taught and coached at Opp High School for ten years before being named Superintendent of Florala City Schools in 1989.  After the consolidation of Florala City Schools and Covington County Schools, Mr. Franklin has been an Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent for the past fourteen years where he has served as director and/or supervisor of the following programs: Transportation, Facility Maintenance, Student Assessment, Career/Technical Education, Textbooks, Migrate Education, Facility Assessment and Capital Planning.     

His wife of twenty-nine years is Deborah Cook Franklin and they have a son Nicholas and a daughter Natalie, both soon to be graduates of Auburn University.