DACUSVILLE — More than 100 concerned parents came to a special called meeting of the board of trustees for the School District of Pickens County Thursday night to hear a proposed plan change attendance zones that would relieve some of the overcrowding problems at Gettys Middle School while increasing attendance at the district’s smallest middle school, Dacusville.

By the plan, a portion of the children who live in the northern section of the attendance zones for East End and Crosswell Elementaries would attend Dacusville Middle School instead of Gettys.

Upon completing their middle school grades, those children would then be sent to Easley High School. Other Dacusville Middle School students would attend Pickens High School.

Any of the displaced East End and Crosswell students who wish to remain with their Dacusville Middle School classmates and attend Pickens would be allowed do do so through school choice. However, no transportation to Pickens High School would be provided by the school district.

The parents were almost uniformly against such a change in attendance zones.

One parent said if the new plan goes through that she will have one child at Dacusville Middle School and one child at the new Easley High School, which will be located near the Anderson County line. She does not want her children to ride the buses, and it would really press her to get both to their schools if they are so far apart.

She also questioned why the district is proposing such a move if it would mean needing more teachers at Dacusville Middle School, at a time when other teacher’s jobs are being cut in the district.

Board chair Jim Shelton said that some teachers would move with the children from Gettys to Dacusville Middle, so there would not be a need to hire more teachers.

Another parent asked the board to give serious consideration to how moving the children would affect families negatively.

“If you change the nature of a school, you change the nature of the community,” he said.

Another parent questioned whether the curvy Thomas Mill Road where Dacusville Middle is located could handle the extra traffic that a larger middle school would bring.

Shelton said much of the traffic problem will be taken care of with the opening of the new Dacusville Elementary on Cherokee Trail. The property for the new elementary backs the property for the new middle school, so parents would be able to access the middle school from either road.

One parent did not like the implication that a child could not receive a quality education at Dacusville Middle. She said that her child is a freshman at Pickens High School who brought 3 and one half high school credits with him from Dacusville Middle School.

Still, she was against the change in attendance zone. She worried that the influx of more children would change the character of the school.

“We are a small community, but we love each other,” she said.

One parent said that one factor in his family moving into the East End Elementary area from Greenville County was the schools. He said that if the proposed attendance area changes are made, he would likely invest in a private school.

“I want my child to go to school in her community,” he said.

One parent asked if the cost per pupil is greater for a smaller school or a larger school.

Trustee Alex Saitta explained that the cost per pupil is less at a larger school because the fixed costs are divided over a larger number of students. However, he did not expect the overall cost per students for the two middle schools to change.

Dacusville Middle’s cost per student would likely fall, while Gettys’ cost per student would rise slightly, Saitta said.

Saitta said that the addition of about 200 students could actually lead to a lower teacher-per-student ratio. He explained that if a class had 30 members, and 10 more students are added, the district would obviously split that into two classes of 20.

One parent reported that she lives one mile from East End Elementary, yet the bus arrives to pick up her children at 7:15 a.m. She questioned how early the bus would have to come to send her child seven miles further down the road to Dacusville Middle.

Trustee Kevin Kay said that the plan is being considered because the district wants to avoid having a 1500-student middle school. Gettys’ attendance is currently close to the 1300 level.

One parent suggested that instead of completely moving all Gettys students in the current Easley High School building once the new high school is completed, the district should simply split Gettys, with seventh and eighth grades housed in the current Easley High School building, while the sixth grade would remain at the current Gettys building.

Shelton said that while it makes sense to have two middle schools in Easley, money is an issue.

“We don’t have $40 million to build a new one,” Shelton said.

One parent said that the district should be able to simply remodel Gettys.

“I’ve been in Gettys,” one parent said. “It’s not like a new home, but who lives in a new home?”

Shelton said that the plan to change the attendance zone is just now being considered, and would face many more discussions before being considered for adoption.