"It is in the public interest that public entities follow the law," 2nd District Judge Michael Allphin said in granting parents' and community members' request for a temporary restraining order stopping the board from implementing proposed boundary changes that would affect all seven high schools in the Davis School District when an eighth high school opens in Syracuse in the fall.

The decision puts on hold board action on the recommended boundary changes, which had been slated to take place Tuesday. The court will take up the issue again in December.

Parents and other community members filed a lawsuit earlier this week seeking the restraining order. The complaint alleged a 39-member boundary change committee that included parents, city council members, planners and others violated the state open meetings law by prohibiting public access to its meetings.

The district disputed the interpretation of the open meetings law Thursday and argued that members of the public already had their say in the process.

"The public input on this committee was enormous," said John Robson, an attorney representing the district. An estimated 2,000 students would be affected by the proposed changes. Community members have sent more than 1,500 e-mails and attended open houses, but many suspicious and angry parents feel their concerns were dismissed by the closed-door committee, which some believe was handpicked and stacked against them. One parent described the open houses as "shams."

But myriad decisions depend on the district establishing boundaries, according to the district's response to the lawsuit. Those include hiring staff, scheduling classes and choosing a school mascot.

"If any of the delay were to cause a delay in the opening of the new high school, the cost to the district in terms of financing, busing, utilities, and other costs associated with a completed but unopened school would easily be in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars," the response states.

The school board may guide what comes next when it meets Tuesday at Layton High.

"We're hoping at that time they'll give us direction," said Chris Williams, Davis district spokesman.

Parents felt vindicated Thursday by Allphin's decision.

"If these had been open meetings where an agenda was posted and minutes had been kept of previous meetings, then perhaps we would have known our neighborhood was in jeopardy," said Andrea Edwards, a Davis district parent whose neighborhood would be divided by the new boundaries. "As it were, we were caught totally by surprise."

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* Julia Lyon can be contacted at jlyon@sltrib.com or 801-257-8748.