Born and raised in North Denver Ann Franco learned at an early age to never give up and always fight the good fight. Her parents were both leaders and role models: her father was the union president of the Denver Rio Grande Railroad and her mother was the president of the Board of Directors at the Northside Community Center in Denver. When she began her career in Denver Public Schools, it wasn’t immediately clear to Franco that she wanted to be a leader.
“Becoming a leader in our association wasn’t something I had planned on but something that I walked into,” said Franco, an elementary school teacher and Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) member who’s retiring after 31 years in the classroom. “In the mid 1990s DCTA was looking for a Building Representative for Del Pueblo Elementary and I met a woman named Becky Wissink who handed me a card and said, ‘Come to this meeting, it is only once a month.’”
Shortly after, another colleague, Leonard Fox, asked Franco to attend a meeting for Ethnic Minority Members, which resulted in going to a national Training. She was elected as the Ethnic Minority Director to the DCTA Board of Directors shortly thereafter and Franco continued to serve on the DCTA Board under 4 presidents.
“I am most grateful to Kim Ursetta who trusted my leadership skills and allowed me to lead our ethnic minority members to the next level,” said Franco. “I am also grateful to Henry Roman, Lawrence Garcia and Amie Baca and one of my proudest moments was when my efforts helped CEA meet the ethnic minority recruitment goal under my leadership for the first time in 17 years.”
“I always thought I was too young to retire, but with 31 years in the classroom it felt it was the best time for me to move on. I will miss my students and my co-workers the most but on days that I need a lift, I will just need to remember that I am a woman who made a difference in the classroom, my association and my community.”
Ann Franco, member of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, retired in May.