Marvin and area booster clubs ask UCPS permission to privately fund bigger strength facilities

Representatives from several booster clubs asked the Union County Board of Education for permission to raise private funds to expand strength and conditioning facilities at Marvin High School and other nearby schools.

"By allowing us to raise private dollars at no expense to taxpayers at all, we're able to increase the size of our facilities," Gardner Payne, president of the Marvin Booster Club, told the board during public comments. Payne said Marvin has almost 1,000 student athletes and that existing weight rooms are overcrowded, with equipment packed and students waiting in hallways during high‑demand periods.

Payne framed the request as a health, safety and equity issue: he said the school was built for roughly 750 students while serving a far larger athletic population, and that other schools have larger facilities. He said booster clubs have spent a year meeting with community and business leaders, administrators and local officials and that "in the coming days, our administration will start the paperwork process to begin those steps." The speaker said the project would not use tax dollars.

Board members did not take action at the meeting. Payne said he will work with UCPS administration to start the formal paperwork process for privately raised capital projects and asked the board to "look at this project with open ears."