Parents are expected to pack an Eden Prairie school board meeting Tuesday, pleading with leaders to postpone making the most extensive boundary changes in a decade.

Outrage has risen in the last couple weeks as the district has held public meetings on the proposed changes. About 200 parents recently picketed near the high school, and more than 900 people are on an e-mail list that parent Lora Peterson started to organize opposition.

"This has become a political battle," said George Tadros, whose three children would change schools under the changes. "If we lose it, I'm probably going to move to Edina or maybe Minnetonka. This issue is far more complicated to have [such] an overhaul ... in a month."

The proposed changes, released earlier this month, would move fifth- and sixth-graders from Oak Point Intermediate School into elementary schools that now house grades K-4 and would become K-6 schools.

Redrawing attendance boundaries would allow the district to adjust enrollments in elementary schools by socioeconomic status and building capacity, desegregating and balancing schools.

That's something that Jen Kalaidis, a 2006 Eden Prairie High School graduate, said would help all schools.

"I do think some of the complaints and unrest are valid points, especially people feeling left out of the process," she said. "But also as a recent grad ... there was definitely a racial division that could be addressed and obliterated with the boundary map."

Between the poorest elementary school and the most affluent one, there's a 33 percent disparity in the number of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

A decision in November

Parents who disagree with the changes say they support balancing demographics but prefer that it's done in ways that give them choices, such as magnet programs.

Other parents are upset that the new boundaries mean busing their child to a classroom beyond their neighborhood school. Still others are upset with a process they say wasn't well-researched or transparent.

Even the local newspaper has gotten caught up in the fight.

The school district's attorney sent the Sun Current a letter last week, warning that reporters covering the story could be issued a "no-trespass" notice in Eden Prairie schools. The warning stemmed from a columnist's complaint that the schools weren't accessible.

"Big decisions draw a lot of attention," Superintendent Melissa Krull said. But "when you have the opportunity to balance schools so low-income kids aren't isolated ... it's better for academic achievement."

On Tuesday, Tadros and Peterson plan to urge the school board to give the process another year of research and parent feedback. Administrators will present the school board with a report on the public input they've already received.

Board members also will address the boundary changes at a Nov. 1 study session. Krull will make the final decision sometime next month, which she said will give the district December and January to determine staffing for next fall.

Kelly Smith • 612-673-4141