After furious parents challenged the Davis School District in court for banning them from citizen-based boundary planning meetings, the board unanimously agreed Tuesday night to hire a consultant and start over.

A man stood in the audience holding a sign that read, "Let the public speak." But the public was not allowed to comment on the board's decision.

The reaction from the more than 100 audience members ranged from elation by those who had been unhappy with the previous proposal to concern that their children's interests would not be considered this time around. But Jan Schuman, a parent, said a consultant was preferable to the 39-member committee of parents, city council members, planners and others who had developed the plan at the middle of the firestorm.

"There were too many personal agendas in place," she said.

The board agreed that the consultant should essentially follow the same criteria the planning committee had, but balancing student population numbers and considering socioeconomics should be top priorities. A timeline for the new process was not determined. One board member said she wanted district staff to compile a safety report on all schools.

Though the board had been scheduled to consider the boundary committee proposal Tuesday night, a 2nd District Court judge's decision to grant a temporary restraining order forced the board to yank the item off the agenda. Judge Michael Allphin agreed last week with community members' allegation that the district had violated the state's open meetings law by barring the public from boundary committee meetings.

In preparation for the opening of a new high school in Syracuse next fall, the district has planned to redraw the boundaries for all seven of the Davis District's existing high schools.

The previous proposal would have led to some students traveling eight miles or more to school, posing what parents believe are serious safety concerns. Some neighborhoods would have been divided, separating a small number of students from their peers.

According to district policy, Davis District was not obligated to open the committee meetings to the public. That decision led to increasing suspicion by angry parents that their concerns were not being weighed. They could not attend the closed-door meetings to find out if that was the case.

Sheri Sedgwick, one of the parents who filed the lawsuit, said she hoped the consultant's work would have a different outcome. As for the board decision, it was the choice they should have originally made if they weren't going to rely on public comment, she said.

"If they weren't going to go with public input that's pretty much [what] they can do to get an unbiased opinion," she said. "Because the way they did it, it was very biased."

But not everyone was happy with the night's events. Daedree Holmes, 17, a senior at Woods Cross High School, said she was upset, particularly about the lawsuit.

"All the input we have given is not able to be used," she said.

jlyon@sltrib.com

What's next ?

The Davis School District will hire a consultant to develop a new proposal. No deadline was set for the work to be completed.