PICKENS COUNTY — Never let it be said that School District of Pickens County Superintendent Dr. Henry Hunt doesn’t pay attention to public response.

In June, the School District held a public meeting to discuss the possible changing of attendance lines for Dacusville Middle School.

The response at the meeting was overwhelmingly negative.

Monday night during the monthly meeting of the School District of Pickens County board of trustees, Hunt announced that those proposed changes are no longer being considered.

“I have concluded that it would be best to keep the attendance lines where they are,” Hunt said.

The proposed changes including taking a portion of students graduating from Crosswell and East End Elementary schools and sending them to Dacusville Middle School instead of Gettys Middle School.

The plan would accomplish two goals.

First, it would make the student population of Dacusville Middle School roughly the same size as Liberty Middle School, the next smallest in the county. A larger school would qualify for funding for a more diverse educational program, officials said.

Second, it would take away student population from Gettys Middle School, which is likely to still be bursting at the seams when the school moves into the soon-to-be former Easley High School facility in 2012 or 2013.

But the plan was almost universally unpopular among Dacusville, East End and Crosswell parents.

Dacusville parents said they were content with their school, the smallest middle school in the county, and felt the DMS students’ test scores prove that they are receiving a quality education. Some voiced concerns that the presence of a large number of newcomers would disrupt the school’s natural harmony.

East End and Crosswell parents did not like the idea of transporting students to the outskirts of the Dacusville area daily for school.

The Crosswell and East End students would still attend Easley High School, according to the plan. Parents did not like the idea disrupting their children’s education for three years, then returning back to an Easley-area school for high school. Parents who would have children in both Easley High School and Dacusville Middle were concerned about the distance between the high school’s new location — near the Anderson County line — and Dacusville Middle.

During Monday night’s meeting, the board did approve $1.1 million in improvements to Dacusville High School, but those improvements were not related to the proposed attendance changes, said board chair Jim Shelton.

“Those additions are purely to allow for future growth,” Shelton said.

The additions approved included a connecting hall to the gym, four classrooms, a computer lab, two bathrooms, two storage rooms and an expansion of the dining area.

As it currently stands, Dacusville Middle is the only school in the district without “secured access” from the academic building to the gym. The connecting hall would solve that problem.

Trustee Judy Edwards asked if the new classrooms were really needed since the change in the attendance area did not go through.

Building Program Adminstrator Bob Folkman said with the construction of the connecting hall, it was more economical to go ahead and add the classrooms now than to wait until later.

The board approved the motion with a 7-0 vote. Trustee Shirley Jones was not present at the meeting.