ANDERSON­ — Whether the Anderson Community Schools board chooses a one- or two-high-school option for the next school year, students who will be in grades 7 or 8 will be going to a different school next year, according to the proposals.

The current East Side and North Side middle schools would become “intermediate” schools for grades 4-6 in either scenario the board chooses at its meeting on Tuesday night. Seventh- and eighth-graders will be in one of the current high school buildings next year, either in a single grade 7-9 building, or divided between the high schools, which would become grade 7-12 buildings.

Andrea Clapp, president of the North Side Middle School Parents Club and Anderson Community Schools Parent Advisory Council, said parent involvement at North Side suffered this year because of the uncertainty about the school’s future.

“This year we set some goals, and we’re having to put some of those goals off again” because of school consolidation. “No one wants to do anything for a school if they don’t know if it’s going to be there or not.”

“The parents I have talked to are saying, ‘this is the same thing as last year,’” she said.

Clapp’s daughter Claire is an eighth-grader at North Side who won’t know where she’ll go to school next year until some time after the school board votes. In a one-high-school option, she would remain in middle school during her ninth-grade year. In a two-school option, she would enter high school. Either way, she would be in one of the current high school buildings.

The benefits and drawbacks of either option for middle schoolers has been debated by those on either side of the question:

u Advocates who have spoken in public forums in favor of one high school say middle-schoolers would inherit excellent facilities with a 7-9 school carved from either the current Anderson or Highland high schools. They raise concerns about the two-school option that would put those students in the same building as high-schoolers.

u Advocates who have spoken in favor of two 7-12 schools have said that such facilities at Anderson and Highland would help bridge academic instruction between middle and high school. They raise concerns that the one-school option would limit high school extracurricular and academic opportunities.

Alexandria-Monroe High School this year consolidated its middle school and high school into a grade 7-12 building. Superintendent Alice Mehaffey said there is little interaction between middle- and high-school students during the school day.

“We have seen no negative issues whatsoever,” Mehaffey said. “The kids are functioning along just fine, and we actually see it’s been somewhat of a benefit. The upperclassmen are good role models for the young students, so we’ve been very pleased with the transition.”

But Anderson is not Alexandria or Frankton or Elwood — a few of the local school systems that have junior/senior high schools. Some in ACS are concerned about schools with students in grades 7-12.

During this week’s school board meeting in which more than 30 people shared their views, member Irma Hampton Stewart said “I wanted to hear more from them about the 7-12 option.

“I really didn’t hear much of that, but that’s a huge consideration.”

Stewart, who said she hasn’t decided how she will vote, said that even though schools in ACS operated with grades 7-12 in the same buildings in past decades, “circumstances have changed somewhat. Society has changed.”

Clapp said any decision the board makes will be supported by the parents group.

“The kids will all adjust,” under either option, she said. “I just want it to be made easier for them and still have the 100 percent of what they need for school. And I hope this is the last year that we do this.”

Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com