The Boys High Foundation funds, which were previously given to the Grady, now Midtown, Foundation in increments, were recently given to the organization and put into a restricted account. The funds were previously held by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.
Boys High was the first public high school in Atlanta, and was housed at Midtown’s building from 1924 to its closure in 1947.
“So, Boys High has a really interesting history,” Dr. Kristen Holtz, the president of the Midtown Foundation, said. “Before Midtown was Grady, it was Boys High. The alumni of Boys High, when the school closed back in the 40s, started a scholarship fund for future graduates of Boys High as it turned into Grady and these alumni contributed a lump sum of money.”
The Boys High Fund was put in place by the Atlanta Boys High School Alumni Association to keep the legacy of the school alive. Former Midtown art teacher John Brandhorst was on the board of the Grady High Foundation. He acted as a go-between for the Boys High Foundation and Midtown after becoming involved during the renovations that started in 2003 to help obtain funding for the senior patio. Brandhorst said Boys High offered a special education.
“Boys High set a very high standard for a public high school in the deep south,” Brandhorst said. “It has been an example of the changing times of the city as its student body reflected (or didn’t) the population of the city itself. There is an expectation and a normalcy to the excellence of the programs there, [the] Southerner included. There are many notorious alums and many championship accomplishments, too many to list. I am very proud to have been a participant in that legacy.”
A restricted account allows for the money given to an organization to have requirements on what the money will be used for by the donors, Dr. Holtz, said.
“The Community Foundation has been holding the money for a long time; they want to transfer what’s left to the [Midtown] Foundation to hold,” Dr. Holtz said. “Those residual funds are what we’re setting up the restricted account — the one we need to safeguard carefully and use in the spirit of the original donation … It’s a way of keeping money separate in an account so the Boys High money doesn’t commingle with the general foundation funds. ”
Dr. Holtz said there are no longer trustees of Boys High, which is why the funds were given to the Community Foundation to manage. The Community Foundation acted as a governing board for multiple non-profits.
“The money was put into the Community Foundation and a holding account that the Community Foundation turned over to the [Midtown] Foundation kind of bit by bit, year over year, and it was invested in the stock market, and it gained returns,” Dr. Holtz said. “The Community Foundation has been holding onto it for decades, really, and said to us, ‘OK [Midtown] Foundation you need to take this money and hold it.’”
Dr. Holtz described the projects the Midtown Foundation plans to take on with the Boys High money as being in the “spirit of Boys High.”
Brandhorst described what that means to him.
“The spirit of Boys High rests in an appreciation for the legacy of the school, the health, beauty, and strength of the physical campus, and the perception that Boys High / Grady/Midtown holds the place as the flagship school of [Atlanta Public Schools] and is a shining example of the best of Atlanta,” Brandhorst said.
One such project that fits this description, according to Dr. Holtz, is the ninth grade experience introduced this year by Midtown student support specialist Dr. Cheryl Nahmias.
“The goal of ninth grade experience is to help ninth graders achieve academic success through consistency, cohesiveness and belonging,” Dr. Nahmias said. “Ninth grade is a critical year, and it sets the tone for the rest of high school and beyond. If we can work together to provide a more consistent, cohesive experience for our ninth graders and explicitly teach them the skills they need to succeed in school and life, then they will thrive here and Midtown and be more successful at whatever comes next for them.”
Dr. Nahmias said the Midtown Foundation pays for the organization, Empower Academic Coaching, that helps students learn skills to balance life and school with the ninth grade experience.
“These are a group of academic coaches (former teachers) who specialize in teaching students executive functioning skills that help make them more successful in school and in life — skills like time management, planning and organization, active studying, note-taking, stress management,” Dr. Nahmias said. “Then they came up with a plan for the ninth grade core teachers to coordinate their efforts this fall to support ninth graders more explicitly in those areas. The foundation funds the work teachers are doing with Empower (planning days, professional learning, lesson planning) and the supplies that teachers might need to implement the coordinated strategies.”
Midtown Principal Dr. Betsy Bockman further explained what this change means for Midtown students and staff.
“The grant isn’t being changed — it’s just changing locations,” Dr. Bockman said. “The grant was created to support Grady High School students; that is still the focus, except it is now Midtown students. Our projects are quite robust and diverse — that will continue.”
Dr. Holtz described how some of the funds have been used in the past.
“The money has been administered by the [Community] Foundation and allocated to the [Midtown] Foundation over many years,” Dr. Holtz said. “So, for a long time, the Boys High money was used to run a writing and math center — the math center, which still exists with the Boys High fund. But then, as curricula changed and times changed, that moved away from doing reading and writing tutoring and the [Midtown] Foundation members before my time asked for permission to use the Boys High money to run Saturday School.”
Another aspect the Boys High money funds towards is the $20,000 scholarship to two Midtown students each year.
“The scholarship will sunset in 2028,” Dr. Holtz said. “Students in the program will be paid out for their four years of school, so [to] receive their full scholarship.”
Dr. Bockman said the Boys High funded programs have and will continue to be in pursuit of what is best for students.
“The math center has been a huge success, as well as the Boys High Scholarships,” Dr. Bockman said. “All funding will continue to be used to support our students and faculty — professional learning, academic and mental health support, [and] community service projects.”
Dr. Bockman described the qualities that were reflected in Boys High and how she first became acquainted with the history of Midtown.
“Boys High was a place of stability, close friendships, great teaching, strong leadership and comradery,” Dr. Bockman said. “Those are the attributes I heard from many alumni when I first came to Grady in 2016. In reading the book, Boys ‘High Forever: The History of an Extraordinary Atlanta Public High School,’ those things were stated often.”
Dr. Bockman described how the Boys High legacy is still reflected in Midtown.
“Those same characteristics remain through Midtown High School,” Dr. Bockman said. “The importance of friendships, peers, teachers, a curriculum that offers choice, rigor and preparation for post secondary options. Boys High alumni were very proud of their school and the foundation it provided for all students, regardless of family income. I would say all of that remains for today’s Midtown students. That’s a lasting legacy.”
Dr. Holtz emphasised the importance of this history at Midtown.
“It’s pretty neat to me that there’s that history here, and that money that those graduates from the 40s raised is still benefiting Midtown students today,” Dr. Holtz said. “It’s a really important task the [Midtown] Foundation has been trusted with, and I want to make sure we’re very thoughtful and careful about it.”
Brandhorst reflected on the continued legacy of Boys High.
“Did you know the school itself was originally founded in 1875?,” Brandhorst said. “One hundred fifty six years of continuous operation by one name or another. That’s pretty impressive.”
