Kennedy School parent Marlene Tate is hoping Lawrence school district administrators will grant a transfer request for her oldest son to stay at Kennedy for next year.

“He really likes this school,” she said Monday night after a forum about the proposed boundary change that would have him attend New York School in the fall.

The school board next Monday will vote on final approval of the boundary change that would send 65 current Kennedy students to New York to make room for the district’s early childhood programs. The board has approved $4.6 million in budget cuts, including closing the East Heights Early Childhood Family Center and moving the staff and students into Kennedy.

Tate wants the district to approve transfers for two of her sons — her middle son will be in kindergarten — so that they can be with their little brother, who will be starting in the early childhood center.

If the transfer is not approved, she’s concerned about gas prices and having to pick up two of her sons at New York, 936 N.Y., and the youngest one at Kennedy, 1605 Davis Road.

Tate was one of about 15 Kennedy parents and community members who attended a forum in Kennedy’s library to talk with administrators about the proposed change. In addition to transportation and space concerns, parents said the district didn’t communicate adequately with Kennedy staff and parents that the change was coming.

Superintendent Rick Doll said the district did float the idea of Kennedy and New York operating as one school split between older and younger grades, but it was rejected.

The boundary change affects students who live north of 19th Street from Bullene Avenue east to Maple Lane, and north of East Glenn Drive and west of Memorial Park Cemetery. Kennedy’s kindergarten through sixth-grade enrollment is expected to drop to a projected 230 students from 321 students. The school — led by current East Heights principal Cris Anderson — would add 130 early childhood students.

In addition to the boundary change, the district is asking the 40 students who currently transfer into Kennedy to resubmit their transfer requests. Administrators say decisions on transfers will depend on space per grade level.

Dick Lind, a Kennedy Site Council member, said the change sounded like a done deal, but that administrators needed to make sure the change worked out for Kennedy.

“They’ve got a great staff and great faculty, and they’re making some real advances educational-wise,” Lind said. “So I hate to see that disrupted.”