A group of parents from Stevens Elementary School were able to convince a Seattle school board member against changing the boundaries of their school, which would have resulted in new school assignments for their neighborhood for the fourth time in four years.

Board director Kay Smith-Blum proposed that a portion of the attendance zone for Stevens be moved to the Madrona Elementary School attendance area starting fall 2011 barely five days before the board was scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday, alarming parents and setting off a flurry of emails and phone calls. Current students would still attend Stevens, new and entering-kindergarten students would be reassigned to Madrona.

Smith-Blum said the boundary changes would solve Stevens overcrowding problems (the school is at 111 percent capacity right now, according to her) and help out an under-enrolled Madrona. Parents charged that she was looking for a quick-fix for the loopholes created by the New Student Assignment Plan (NSAP), which has created overcrowding and under-enrollment in schools since it was introduced last year.

They complained at the board meeting that they were tired of being jerked around continuously (their kids have been transferred from MLK to TT Minor to Leschi or Lowell elementary schools since 2006, finally settling down in Stevens in 2009), and would not tolerate the district's bad planning any longer. "The boundaries were set 14 months ago and we were given reassurance that it would be fine," said Mark Aiken, a Stevens parent. "Obviously somebody somewhere screwed it up."

Smith-Blum's proposal was introduced as part of the transition program to the NSAP, but was scrapped the morning of Wednesday's school board meeting. The board voted to approve the overall transition plan. "As a new board member, my take-away from this is never propose a boundary change on a full moon again," Smith-Blum said at the board meeting.