BLOUNTVILLE — One parent Thursday said Sullivan County’s school system has “awoken a sleeping giant” by considering the merger of Sullivan North and South high schools, although no earlier than the 2014-15 school year.

Another said that proposal, which would close both middle schools in the Sullivan South High school zone, would be “raping and pillaging the very community we live in.”

And County Commissioner and retired school system principal Dennis Houser, who called for a study of consolidating Kingsport, Bristol, Tenn., and Sullivan County schools, said the closing and rezoning decision is the “most important decision that the Sullivan County school board has had to make in 50 years.”