ANDERSON — Details of two preliminary options for city school closings, one of which turns Highland High School into a middle school, have come to light through an online discussion site.

Board members with Anderson Community Schools confirmed that information posted by a person using the screen name Patriot Dan is similar to an option presented to them by the school district’s administration.

The plan involves closing Edgewood, Eastside, Killbuck, Robinson and Southview elementary schools, as well as Southside Middle School. Northside Middle School would become an elementary school, and Highland High School would become a middle school housing seventh through ninth grades. Anderson High School would keep grades 10 through 12.

A second option, wrote Patriot Dan, deals with Ebbert Education Center and Robinson Elementary and moving the location of the alternative school.

While some school board members dismissed the information as rumor, others said parts of the plans were similar to options they’d received from the administration.

Board President Teddy Bohnenkamp and member Bill Riffe said the post was not like anything they’d seen yet.

“We don’t have anything structured like that so far,” Bohnenkamp said. “What we’ve got is all the data we’ve got to go through.”

Not all board members could be reached for comment, but two said the post matched one option they have seen.

Of the first plan, Tim Long said “some pieces do fit.”

He worried, however, that changing the two high schools structure was too radical of a move to be a serious option. Long added that the plan described online seemed to not fully consider the district’s enrollment.

“You can’t cut the pie that way,” he said.

Board member Tobi Jones also said the first option sounded similar to something the administration had told the board.

She said the plan has its positives and negatives.

Closing buildings and creating larger schools does have its advantages, Jones said, like decreasing administrative and utility costs and giving more students access to specialized classes.