Macon Early College to field its own athletic teams
Volleyball is one of several sports popular among MEC students.
The Macon County Board of Education approved funding to permit Macon Early College in Franklin to apply to become a member of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association and field its own sports teams. Previously, MEC students had participated in athletics at Franklin High School.
“We’ve got more interest from students now than what we currently have playing sports,” said MEC Principal Caleb Parham. “We’re looking to have at least five sports as it is right now, moving forward in an independent capacity.”
According to Parham, while there are currently 22 MEC students participating in high school athletics, with the school’s new independent status on the horizon, surveys show interest from 50 students. There has been particular interest in track, diving, swimming, volleyball and basketball.
In order to participate in high school athletics for the 2025-26 school year, MEC had to submit an application to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association by April 1, along with a $1,000 application fee and a plan for how it will proceed with which sports.
The impetus to create MEC athletics independent from Franklin High School came last summer, when the Macon County Board of Education voted to require students to play sports at the school they are enrolled, rather than allow MEC and Bartram Academy students to be eligible for FHS athletics.
The board made this decision in the wake of a move by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association to expand high school athletic classifications from four divisions to eight divisions. Currently, Franklin High School is a 3A school, placing it in the second highest division within the NCHSAA. Divisions are based on the average daily membership (ADM), a way of measuring a school’s enrollment.
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The realignment to expanded classifications was not set to take effect until the 2025-26 school year, but data from the first 20 days of the 2024-25 school year was going to be used to determine the classifications.
Prior to the school board’s decision, there were 20-25 MEC students participating in high school athletics at Franklin High School. For this reason, the entire student body of MEC had to be counted in the population of FHS when determining the school’s classification within NCHSAA.
School administration estimated that FHS would move up one or two classifications within the new classification system if MEC and or Bartram Academy students were included in the school’s ADM.
This would have become a problem if students had to travel farther to play in playoff games in order to compete with schools in their new classification.
“Bottom line is, we’ll play schools around here during the regular season, but then if we have that larger ADM number, we’ll go much farther and play schools with similar ADM counts for playoffs,” said Todd Gibbs at the time.
To avoid moving up in classifications, which could require students to travel great distances for playoff games, the school board decided Macon Early College and Bartram Academy students would not be able to play sports at Franklin High School beginning in the 2025-26 school year. However, MEC and Bartram students were able to play sports at FHS for one last year during the current school year, thanks to permission from NCHSAA that their student bodies would not count in the ADM of FHS as long as the board decided those students would not be participating for the 2025-26 school year.
The reality of having new independent sports teams at MEC could pose a logistical challenge for the school system as far as transportation and access to activity busses, but Parham says, they’ll work it out.
“It is difficult, but we’ll make it happen,” said Parham. “If they have sports and they’ve got to get somewhere, we’ll juggle it and figure it out. You may have to put two different teams like middle school and MEC team if they’re going close to the same place on one bus.”
Because the deadline to be accepted into the local conference has already passed, only athletes participating in individual events will be eligible for conference playoffs in the coming year.
“In order to be in a conference, you have to field a boys and girls team in each season,” said Parham. “So, I’ve got to have at least a boys and a girls team for something in this fall, winter and spring.”
School administration will have to consider how best to help fund MEC athletics. According to Gibbs, the school doesn’t have uniforms, and they probably won’t see a lot of income from athletic events throughout the year.
The schools will also have to consider how to pay for officials for any home games they can field, as well as coaching supplements for MEC coaches.
“Facilities themselves would be another challenge; if we had to rent out a spot that would be something else,” said Gibbs. “I would hope not, with the rec department and the gyms that we have, I would hope that we could do that cost free. But again, it’s uncharted territory for MEC, so, what are the bumps in the road? It’s kind of hard to tell right now. You’ve got to start somewhere.”
Board Member Hillary Wilkes inquired about starting a booster club among MEC parents to help fundraise and offset some of the costs associated with athletics.
Parham said that the best bet for a parent organization like a booster club would be to pass on those responsibilities to the existing PTSO.
“I’ve had a couple parents reach out to talk about how they can be supportive in that measure,” said Parham. “The nature of MEC is that our freshmen and sophomores are very involved, they’re there with us, they’re present all day. Where our juniors and our seniors and our fifth years, we push them to be independent college students.”
Juniors and seniors at the early college are encouraged to take part in internships, jobs and other extracurriculars that better prepare them for the world beyond high school, which means these students naturally have lower levels of participation in school activities.
“Because of that, parent involvement is there, but in terms of boosters and stuff, I don't know what that looks like fully yet,” said Parham. “As age increases, parental involvement decreases, in general.”
