The Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau is looking to expand into Franklin and is eying the soon-to-be-emptied Bartram Academy building as its destination.
Carmen Waite, the club’s CEO, attended the Macon County Board of Education meeting on May 18 meeting to propose usage of the building and bringing services into Franklin.
According to Waite, the club holds the charter for both Macon and Jackson counties. BGCP has three sites, one in Highlands and two in Cashiers to serve both young students and teen club members. Waite said the club started out serving 150 children and now serves more than 650.
The Boys and Girls Club offers several academic, fitness and citizenship programs for members which include the Power Hour tutoring program, the Triple Play physical activity program and the SMART Moves program for healthy lifestyle education. BGCP has also partnered with the Friends of Panthertown and Highlands-Cashiers Land trust for clean-up and beautification projects.
Waite said BGCP participants have fewer issues with chronic absenteeism; 5.6% of students who are club members are classified as chronically absent. Overall in 2024, 28.91% of Macon County students were classified as chronically absent. BGCP students are 86% A/B students and see higher proficiency rates in math and reading compared to their peers.
Once the new Franklin High School is built, what is currently Bartram Academy will move into a space at the high school, leaving the alternative school’s current building on Union School Road unused. BGCP is looking to occupy the building and use it as a program center for Franklin-area youth.
Waite said four out of five students do not have access to an after-school program, and expense and transportation are ongoing issues for families. She added the program can decrease strain on working families by giving them a safe place to leave children up to age 13 while they work. BGCP does not charge for its programing.
“If we can have access to 158 Union [School Rd.], we would love to be able to operate at that location,” she said. “That makes our program better quality and more efficient and safer.”
The club hopes to secure grant funding from Dogwood Health Trust and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Fund to operate a location at the Bartram School building. The funding would allow for cosmetic changes such as repainting the building to make it more suitable to young children. A grassy field and playground equipment would be installed if the BGCP gets all the grant funding it expects. Waite said these improvements to the site would benefit both the community and the school system.
Waite said these improvements would serve as a kind of payment for using the facility for free, though under a lease agreement the nonprofit would be responsible for maintenance. She said 65% of Boys and Girls Clubs operate on school-owned facilities and most schools allow the clubs to use the facilities for free due to the benefit they have for the community.
Waite did not give a specific number on what it would cost to run the club but intends for the new location to start by serving 300 members below age 13 and expand from there, using between 15 and 20 staff members to provide services.
Macon County Schools and BGCP have been talking about the club potentially taking over the system’s Edventure summer program, and Waite said the club could work with Macon County Schools staff to help train staff members and improve the quality of the program.
Ultimately, Waite said if the school board were to turn down the BGCP request, the club still wants to move to Franklin and establish a location in the community, but it will be more costly and difficult to put down roots.
Dr. Joy Clark, a BGCP board member, said, “The community really values the Boys and Girls Club and when those kids are not in school, they’re with us. Whether it’s a teacher work day or whatever, they are with us … They love being there, they’re learning a lot. They’re learning academics like they’re learning how to get along with other folks.”
Jim Breedlove said the board would look over the BGCP proposal and reach back out at a later date.
The Board of Education’s next meeting with take place on June 30 at 6 p.m. at the Macon County Schools Administrative Offices.