Parent Jennifer Dearden takes issue with Lake Washington School District Superintendent Chip Kimball’s statement that he is stuck between a rock and a hard place with his recent decision to change school feeder patterns.

“You’ve put me in a rock in a hard place,” she told Kimball during a LWSD public meeting at A.G. Bell Elementary Thursday, which about 100 parents, local legislators, school staff and administrators attended.

The meeting was held in response to Kimball’s recent decision to shift some schools “feeder” pathways to reduce overcrowding in some parts of the district. Under the new changes effective fall of 2012, Bell Elementary would feed into Finn Hill Junior High and Juanita High School instead of Kirkland Junior High and Lake Washington High.

Despite the district’s variance program that would allow her three children – who currently attend A.G. Bell Elementary – to attend the same high school under the new changes, Dearden says she’d rather have her kids stay with their friends through school.

“So right now, the way you have this set up is all three of my children will be in high school at the same time, but in two different high schools because I do feel that the social aspect is more important than following your sibling,” said Dearden. “But this is going to be really hard on our family to have our kids going to two different schools at the same time.”

She added the drive to Finn Hill is significantly longer than going to Kirkland Junior High.

“So it’s not just a bird’s eye length – it’s streets, it’s traffic, it’s everything – that is a big change for people.”

Kimball, who referred to the feeder changes as an “emotional issue,” said it is “easy to look at the problem, without looking at the solution.”

However, several parents echoed the same response that Kimball did not give parents the opportunity to voice what may be viable options. This was illustrated by yellow pins that stated “parents expect a voice,” which many parents wore during the meeting.

“We just found out about the problem,” said one parent amidst a room of applause. “We just found out about this from a note in our children’s backpacks. Give us the opportunity to find out what the problem is and invite us to the table.”

Many parents said they do not accept the school feeder changes as the only option and urged Kimball to reconsider his decision and allow parents to be part of the process.

Kimball explained that though he respects public process, he made the decision to change school feeder patterns because he believes it is the only viable solution.

“I don’t want to waste people’s time if indeed there is really no options,” he said during the meeting. “Now, maybe we were remiss. If there’s a broader solution that makes sense, I’ll listen to that. It’s not impossible to change our mind.”

Other parents, including Shay Harris, were not so concerned with the high school feeder changes as they were the junior high changes. Harris, whose son attends Bell Elementary, will be bussed to Finn Hill Junior High and “removed from his community,” she said, adding, “There are a lot of families in this community that have bought homes specifically for the schools. In this day and age, schools matter and you don’t just pick a school district anymore – you pick a neighborhood.”

Johnmichael Monteith applauded Kimball for the job he’s done so far trying to improve the district. However, he is concerned about the environmental impacts of added bus routes. Monteith, who rides a bike to work, walks his two sons to Bell Elementary.

“And we’re really looking forward to walking to Kirkland Junior High only a few minutes away,” he said, adding, “I am very concerned about the environmental change here and that really wasn’t considered in this (decision).”

Bell Elementary parents have started a work group that will meet with Kimball this week to explore how to proceed with a potential re-negotiation of how to address overcrowding in the schools. For more information, e-mail agbellparents@hotmail.com or visit the group’s Facebook, “Parents Against LWSD Boundary Changes.”