The Macon County Board of Education started off the new year on a high note, voting to expand a mental health contract to allow a nonprofit to conduct counseling sessions on-campus.
The board voted to renew a contract with HIGHTS, a nonprofit providing mental and behavioral health services to children in the region. According to school counselor Annie Wishon the school system has had a relationship with HIGHTS for around four years and has contracted directly with HIGHTS since January 2023, when school systems were required to build threat assessment teams to determine when assessments need to be conducted. Wishon is a facilitator for the team.
Attorney John Henning said the contract has been built upon for years, most recently adding Parents’ Bill of Rights obligations. The new contract also provides space for HIGHTS to visit schools and meet with clients for counseling sessions.
“It’s pretty common … that we’d provide them some space to do that with,” he said.
The school system contracts with HIGHTS to conduct assessments for grades 7-12 and with the Long Center for K-6 students. Wishon said this separation exists because neither organization felt it was able to meet the needs of all students at the same time.
She added the threat assessment team had met 22 times in the 2024-25 school year to determine whether an assessment would be necessary. HIGHTS carried out eight threat assessments and the Long Center completed 10. To date in the 2025-26 school year, the team has met on 14 students and assessments were completed for nine students, three for HIGHTS and six for the Long Center.
Support for quarter-cent sales tax
The school board unanimously passed a resolution in support of the county’s local option sales tax referendum which will be on the ballot in November 2026. The measure would increase the local sales tax by a quarter of a cent, adding an extra penny of tax to every fourth dollar spent starting with a $3 purchase. The measure would not apply to unprepared foods and gas.
The school system’s attorney, John Henning, noted the county was the only one of its neighbors that does not charge the quarter-cent tax.
“It reminds me of when the town of Franklin first … implemented a room occupancy tax, like everywhere you go there’s a room occupancy tax. It’s just very strange that we didn’t have that here 15 years ago,” he said.
Breedlove, who has attended planning meetings in support of the measure, said, “I think that what we have to pass on to folks about this is the fact that this referendum, if approved, would generate about $2.3 million to Macon County to use for the school system and other capital projects. I think when we were talking, [County Manager] Warren Cabe told me basically the money raised would be the same as raising our ad valorem tax by about two cents.”
Breedlove added part of the burden on taxpayers would be offset by tourists and through-travelers, compared to a property tax increase that would weigh entirely on local taxpayers.
Erosion at Mountain View
Macon County Schools STEM Coordinator Jennifer Love gave an update on an ongoing project to fix erosion near Mountain View Intermediate School.
“I just wanted to give an update to the board about one of our capital outlay needs that was put on the list last year,” Love said. “As we were working on the Stream Restoration/Habitat Restoration Project at Mountain View Intermediate School in clearing some of the invasive species we discovered that one of the stormwater drains off of the school for the last 15 years has been slowly eroding the bank.”
She said a drainage pipe was improperly placed, stopping around 35-40 feet short of the water level and has since been causing erosion, and if nothing is done the erosion will begin to undercut the parking lot within the next five years.
She said they received a grant from the Department of Education that was designated for stormwater projects for school systems.
“So we got a little over $20,000 and I’ve been working with Penland Construction and Macon Soil and Water Conservation District,” Love said. “The good news is we have a solution that will slow down that water and stop the undercutting and hopefully keep a lot of that sediment out of the Cullasaja River too and improve the water quality.”
Love said the construction would hopefully be able to start in the next two to three weeks.
Facilities updates
Director of Plant Operations Tracy Tallent spoke about continued progress on construction at Franklin High School. Construction continues on both the gym and auxiliary gym and electrical work has been done on the lighting for the football stadium. He said 10,000 cubic yards of concrete have been poured to date.
Tallent said he would like to be able to light the Frogtown retaining wall and project something onto it, like “Panthers” or “Franklin High School,” to highlight school pride for those looking at the wall. Construction is underway on the indoor walking track on the upper part of the gym and tile has been laid in the locker rooms.
Tallent and Breedlove reiterated their appreciation for the professionalism and dedication of construction company Carroll Daniels, which Breedlove said has been working weekends to keep the project on schedule in spite of the weather.
Tallent added the board would need to keep in mind the need to have East Franklin Elementary School assessed, which he said would help give the county a better idea of the costs and available options for dealing with the aging East Franklin building. He said the cost would be approximately $25,000 to assess for a renovation.
Teacher supplements
Finance Officer Laney Ledford said the system has received supplemental pay to be given to certified teachers and certified instructional support personnel. The supplements will amount to $1,825.40 for each teacher.
“I will note that the Pre-K and a select group of other staff will have to be paid from local funds. They are certified staff but we don’t get funding for them,” she said.
The next Macon County Board of Education meeting will be Monday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m. at Cartoogechaye Elementary School. Note this is a change in meeting dates due to conflicts.