EASLEY — Pickens County School District Superintendent Henry Hunt said the recession hasn’t prevented the district from moving forward.

It has, however, caused the district to dip $2 million into its reserve fund and eliminate some positions, he told a group of business owners during an Easley Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Thursday.

“We’ve had a healthy fund balance,” Hunt said. “We’ve had to count on that last year, and we may have to some this year.” At the beginning of the 2008-’09 school year, the reserve fund had $16 million. Now, it’s down to about $14 million, he said.

“We feel like we’re in good shape financially,” he said. “We will have challenges in the future.”

The school district did not eliminate any classroom teachers, but it did eliminate some technology positions, he said.

The district is still planning for more growth, though.

All four new high schools should have room for growth, however — Daniel and Liberty should have about 30 percent growth capacity, while Easley and Pickens should have about 20 percent growth capacity.

By August 2011, the new career and technology center and both Pickens High and Liberty High schools should be open, and by 2012, both Daniel High and Easley High schools should be open.

“On the tentative schedule, we have Easley High possibly finishing looking at Christmas of 2011. But the challenges of moving a school the size of Easley High School over Christmas vacation might be more than we want to tackle,” he said.

The district did run into a few snags, such as when the board discovered that the plan was costing millions more than it could afford.

“We had to look at our budget, and it had grown beyond the money we knew was available. … So we adjusted the program and we scaled back somewhat,” he said about the $365 million program. “We feel like we did not cut back in any way or reduce the quality of the program.”

All of the schools will have security upgrades.