WFAA-TV

Children would have to cross busy roads to get to the new school.

Allen parents are continuing to protest a proposed school zoning change.

They say moving their children from a neighborhood school to a new campus is, at best, an inconvenience. At worst, they say, it is dangerous.

Parents say Marion Elementary was built specifically to educate the kids in their neighborhood - Lost Creek Ranch.

But an Allen ISD proposal would move about half the children in Lost Creek to a new school outside the fenced neighborhood.

"We were told when we moved here that this was our school, Lost Creek. It's our community school. The thought never occurred to me that this would ever happen," said parent Catherine Thompason.

The new school will be built on land, just off Exchange Parkway, east of Angel Parkway. The school is closer to many homes in Lost Creek Ranch than the existing Marion Elementary but with the fence, there's no easy access.

"From most houses in the middle of our community to backtrack out of the perimeter wall and back up to the school, that would put them at almost a mile and a half to get to school," said Nicole Dubree, an Allen parent.

Administrators say Allen schools are growing by 1,000 new students a year and they have no choice but to relieve overcrowding by moving kids around.

"The school district can't plan schools based on developers' use of putting perimeter walls around communities. If those communities had access points, it would actually be a very short distance to that elementary school," said Tim Carroll, an ISD spokesman.

Parents worry their children will cross the busy intersection at Exchange and Angel Parkways into a commercial area.

"When they're walking through our neighborhood and an emergency happened, there are houses all over that they could run to for help. But there's no one to run to. It's a major road, there are no homes," said parent April Evans.

Carroll says the parents' anger is a compliment to the Allen ISD because parents want their kids to stay where they're at, which means they like their school and their happy with it.

He emphasized that the proposed attendance zones are exactly that - proposed, and not a done deal.