Karen and Peter Montano, who live a mile from Dyer Elementary School, first learned about the South Portland School Department’s ambitious redistricting plan when they tried to register her daughter for kindergarten and were turned down.

“I was told that my kids might not be returning to Dyer next year,” said Karen. “I was floored. I had no idea about the redistricting plan or that my family might be affected.”

The Montanos were among two dozen Dyer parents who attended a hastily called neighborhood meeting Sunday night at the Carlisle Road home of Rob and Kim Soucy.

The Soucys and most of the parents who came to their meeting live in new, high-end subdivisions off Highland Avenue.

Parents crowded into the Soucys’ dining room and talked about their frustrations over not being notified by the South Portland School Department that their children might have to switch schools in September.

They also discussed strategies for defeating the plan.

Kim Soucy developed a list of questions about the redistricting plan that she shared with the other parents and then e-mailed to school officials, the School Board and the City Council.

She said she also left three phone messages for Superintendent Suzanne Godin, but did not get a call back.

At issue is a redistricting plan affecting 183 students citywide that was introduced on Feb. 28 and scheduled for a School Board vote on Monday.

School officials moved the boundaries for all five of the city’s elementary schools, though Dyer school would lose more children than most of the other schools.

While the primary goal of the redistricting plan is to even out enrollment at the elementary and middle schools, Dyer parents who met Sunday said it would divide their neighborhood.

They also questioned whether redistricting would adequately address long-term needs for population shifts at the various neighborhood elementary schools. While some schools operate below capacity, others are filling up, school officials say.

At a school board meeting Monday, officials passed around a printout showing that 36 children whose homes are off Highland Avenue would be moved from Dyer to Kaler Elementary School. Another seven middle school students whose homes are off Highland Avenue would leave Memorial for Mahoney.

Many of these children live in newly built, large homes in neighborhoods that have sprung up in the last five to 10 years.

While Dyer school has the lowest proportion of students from low-income households – based on the number of children eligible for free or reduced lunches – Kaler has the highest percentage, at 47 percent.

Families like the Montanos say they have nothing against the Kaler school. They say they are most concerned about disrupting their children’s lives and moving them away from their neighborhood school and friends.

The Montanos, who previously lived in Cape Elizabeth, said they chose their home on Acorn Lane, which is off Fickett Street, because it is close to Dyer.

The Montanos even interviewed the Dyer school principal before sending their children to the elementary school. Karen Montano said they could not be happier with their choice.

She said she was impressed a few years ago when South Portland voters decided to keep open their neighborhood schools and renovate them.

But under the new plan, the Montanos’ two youngest children would move to Kaler in September. While Dyer is 1.2 miles from their home, Kaler is a little more than two miles away.

The children would take a school bus that travels by Dyer each day to reach Kaler.

Their oldest child, who is in fifth grade, would start Mahoney Middle School, instead of attending Memorial.

Peter Montano, who works as an accountant, says the process for adopting the redistricting plan is moving too quickly for the public to fully understand its impact or how well it will work.

He is so concerned about the redistricting plan that he attended Monday night’s City Council meeting at City Hall to speak out during the public comment session, then rushed over to Memorial Middle School to testify at a School Board meeting.

Montano warned school officials that the tough economy and level of budget cuts under way in the school system could force them to make more drastic changes down the road, such as closing one of the elementary schools.

He cautioned school leaders to slow down and do long-range planning, instead of trying to rush through a major redistricting plan.

Several families said they don’t understand why the department is not looking at alternatives to redistricting, such as turning Mahoney and Memorial into citywide schools, divided by grades.

The idea has been floated by some school leaders and residents over the years. Under the plan, Mahoney would educate fifth- and sixth-graders, and Memorial seventh- and eighth-graders.

Sending all fifth-graders to Mahoney would free up space in the elementary schools and end the need for redistricting.

The idea came up most recently at School Board meetings, as the new redistricting plan was discussed.

Steve Bailey, assistant superintendent, said the department is not ruling out the idea, but that it is not part of the current work on redistricting. He said such a change at the middle school level would affect programming and is for a future discussion.

Bailey also noted that there has been a series of workshops on redistricting since January that parents could have attended.

But Karen Montano said she tried finding information on the South Portland School Department Web site, but that it is not clearly identified.

“The school department and School Board are not being candid with voters,” she said.

The meeting schedule lists the dates for budget hearings, but parents complained that it wasn’t clear those hearings would include discussion of redistricting.

In a Feb. 11 letter to parents posted on the school department’s Web site, the superintendent outlines major challenges to the school department.

She writes at length about the state budget shortfall and funding cuts, but mentions the redistricting plan in one sentence: “Finally, with changing enrollment trends across the city, we are developing a redistricting plan for our elementary and middle schools.”

It was not until Monday night’s School Board meeting that parents got details on the reasons for redistricting and how many students are affected citywide.

Peter and Lynda Stocks, who live on Colchester Drive, attended Sunday night’s meeting of Dyer parents, as well as the City Council and School Board meetings on Monday night.

Peter Stocks argued that school officials failed to fully inform or involve stakeholders. He wants the board to delay its decision.

Stocks said he does not understand why the school department has not tried to contact the 183 families affected by redistricting. He believes that many people still don’t know about the plan.

“If homeowners want to make changes to their property, they must give neighbors written notice,” he said. “Why doesn’t the school department have to follow a protocol?”

Karen Montano sits with her two youngest children, Sara and Jason. Montano learned about the redistricting plan when Dyer School officials refused last week to enroll Sara for kindergarten in September. Both Sara and Jason, a first-grader, would attend Kaler School, under the new redistricting plan.