A Lawrence school board member wants a district committee studying school boundaries to look at ways to move students from heavily populated west side elementary schools to underutilized schools in the city’s core.

Board member Sue Morgan, who also serves on the Boundary Committee, specified that she was talking about only moving students into schools that shared a boundary with the school students currently attend.

“I’m not proposing anything that jumps boundaries,” Morgan said.

But making this type of move, the district could fill schools with low enrollment in the central part of Lawrence, such as New York and Cordley. It also could provide room in outlying schools where the city is experiencing more growth, Morgan said.

Boundary committee members met Tuesday afternoon at the district office, 110 McDonald Drive, to discuss possible changes in boundary lines for the 2005-2006 school year. They decided to explore several scenarios, including Morgan’s suggestion.

Hillcrest School’s boundaries are back in the mix for possible changes. The committee initially wanted not to include Hillcrest because it houses the English Language Learners program.

“The committee does seem interested in at least looking at it,” said Tom Bracciano, who is chairman of the Boundary Committee and the district’s division director of operations and facility planning. “That’s understandable because it sits in the middle of the map. It’s natural to want to look at it.”

Committee member John Wilkins also came up with an idea to look at the half-mile radius around all the schools and review where they overlap. He suggested looking for points where changes could be made in terms of areas where students didn’t live within the half-mile radius of the school they attend.

Bracciano said he expected committee members would have more proposals at the next meeting, which will be 4 p.m. Aug. 3 at the district office.

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He said he found the discussion and ideas of the committee members to be helpful. In the past, district administrators came up with the proposals for boundary line changes. Committee members may have come up with ideas district officials wouldn’t think of, he said.

Committee members Tuesday also discussed road crossings, traffic issues and social and economic issues that could happen with possible boundary changes.

Bracciano said the plan was to have a proposal on the table by fall. Once the committee is done reviewing the boundary lines for elementary schools, Bracciano said the district would look at junior high school boundaries.

Ultimately, boundary decisions will be made by the Lawrence school board.