The parents plan to present the petition and to address the Board of Education about their concerns at the board's meeting next Monday, organizer Susan Feher said Friday.

"What is very frustrating is that we were told by the superintendent in May that Rivercliff would not be redistricted, but apparently it is being considered again," she said. If city officials took the money they are spending on lawyers and consultants, "they probably could have built a new school by now," Feher said. "Five years ago there were 400 houses built at one time. Nobody saw this coming?"

An elementary school redistricting plan presented Sept. 25 was sent back to administrators for further study after board members raised questions. Devon parents also objected to a part of the plan that would send about 42 pupils north of Bridgeport Avenue from John F. Kennedy School to Pumpkin Delight, south of the major route.

District spokeswoman Kathy Bonetti said in an interview late last week that Rivercliff, as well as the Lexington Green and Settler's Ridge subdivisions, are being studied at the school board's request.

"The original thought was to send Rivercliff residents to Simon Lake, but as the plan developed Rivercliff was pulled from discussion," Bonetti said.

"We haven't crunched all the numbers yet, and one of the things [Assistant Supt. of Schools] Larry Schaefer is doing is projecting data back six years to see what the impact would have been if Rivercliff had been moved from JFK to Simon Lake then," she said.

About 84 students would be affected in that move, enough to fill three classrooms, but since they would be drawn from kindergarten and grades 1 through 5, the impact is harder to measure, Bonetti said.

"We will have that data for the 23rd, and we'll have a recommendation," the spokeswoman said.

Chairwoman Cindy Kopazna said the board would hear from parents that night and discuss redistricting, but that no vote would be taken.

"It is not the goal of the board to pit one neighborhood against another," she said. "Our goal is equality across the district."

Feher said that Rivercliff parents are concerned that mastery test scores are lower at Simon Lake School than at JFK, and that Simon Lake uses the controversial "Make Your Day" discipline program, which separates misbehaving students from activities and their peers until they take responsibility for their behavior.

Since the school day starts 25 minutes later at Simon Lake than at JFK, working parents will have to juggle their schedules, she said.

Bonetti said "Make Your Day" has been a success at Simon Lake, but that JFK parents are unfamiliar with it.