Macon County could soon have a fourth high school competing in athletics next year as the Board of Education gave its blessing to Macon Early College to apply for athletic status.
This development came up during the Oct. 14 school board meeting with MEC Principal Caleb Parham and MCS Athletic Director Todd Gibbs.
Gibbs said Parham has had multiple meetings with MEC students and parents about athletics. Parham said he didn’t want to make a rash decision, so he asked how many students were interested in MEC sports.
“We had 23 that were interested in volleyball, we had 17 interested in swimming and up to 20 interested in track and field, indoor and outdoor,” Parham said.
Parham said in discussions with NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker, the first option was that MEC could fully join the NCHSAA in the 1A classification but would have to field men’s and women’s sports in each of the fall, winter and spring sports seasons.
Fall NCHSAA sports offered are men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, women’s golf and women’s tennis. Winter NCHSAA sports offered are men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and men’s and women’s wrestling. Spring NCHSAA sports offered are baseball, softball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s golf, men’s tennis, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field and women’s soccer.
The second option, Parham said, is registering as an independent, with the drawbacks of not being in a conference, having to come up with their entire schedule and not having playoffs for team sports.
The deadline to play sports in 2025-26 is Nov. 1 and requires a $1,000 fee, Parham said. He added that going the independent route is the likely plan for next season, as MEC doesn’t have the sustained numbers to be a full NCHSAA member.
Parham said the questions now are coaching supplements, uniforms and facility use for practices and games. Currently, MEC has zero athletic facilities at its main building on Siler Farm Road.
Board member Hilary Wilkes asked about an athletics booster club, to which Parham replied that there’s a good bit of parent support. Board Chair Jim Breedlove asked about MEC and FHS teams possibly practicing together due to limited facilities. Gibbs said joint practices were possible per NCHSAA rules. Breedlove asked about hiring new coaches. Parham said that’s to be worked out, with the Nov. 1 application deadline as the immediate focus.
Board member Missy Evans said it would be hard for one person to coach both FHS and MEC teams due to game times, especially for volleyball.
“You have our full support going forward,” Breedlove said. He advised Parham to come up with a gameplan, including costs, going forward for MEC sports. “Brave new adventure, I’m excited for you guys…those kids will make us proud.”
Background
The chain of events that led to possible MEC sports began this summer, when the school board barred MEC students from playing for Franklin High School teams effective 2025-26. MEC students have competed in various FHS sports for the last few years.
The board feared that Franklin High’s average daily membership in counting MEC students would bump them up to a higher NCHSAA classification in the realignment set to take place in 2025-26, where the state will go from having over 430 schools in four classifications to eight. This, it was argued, would necessitate FHS being put in a far-flung conference with increased travel.
By not allowing the roughly 130 MEC students to play FHS sports, they wouldn’t count against the average daily membership of FHS.
The recommendation to stop MEC athletes from playing for FHS came from Gibbs, a former MEC principal who did not allow MEC students to play FHS sports.
Gibbs said during the MEC discussion that there’s some question on which classification FHS will be placed in starting in 2025-26. The NCHSAA realignment will be based on the 10th-day average daily membership of the school from this year, which will be released later this year. It’s thought that Franklin High, which is currently 3A, would be put in either 6A or 7A in the new structure. The realignment will be finalized in the spring.