If you look up “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” in the dictionary, you’d find a description of the predicament Coeur d’Alene School District planners face in rezoning elementary school boundaries.

They’re damned if they do nothing, because growth has swamped the two newest schools in the booming northwest end of town. They’re damned if they shift children to older, less-crowded schools in the older part of town, too. Understandably, parents are upset, especially those who have seen their children transferred before or who have moved into a new subdivision believing their children would go to one of the new elementaries nearby.

About 50 of them attended an attendance zone committee meeting this week to condemn proposed changes that would shift 700 students to new schools this fall. And their ranks are growing as word gets out about the proposed changes.

The school district and boundary committee have been criticized for poor planning. They’ve been skewered for springing proposed changes on unsuspecting parents. For breaking promises. You name it. But the looming shift of elementary students isn’t the fault of the district or the volunteers who have struggled for a year to find an equitable solution.

If anyone or anything is responsible for the school district’s predicament, it’s Coeur d’Alene. Not the residents, but the city itself. The Lake City is a wonderful place to live and raise children, perched on the northern edge of one of the nation’s most beautiful lakes, in an area with abundant water, mountains and wildlife. Add to that mix the district’s reputation as one of the best in the state, with an aggressive building plan, and you’re going to attract families with children.

The Coeur d’Alene School District, to its credit, has accomplished much simply by staying ahead of the growth to this point. In the past dozen years, the district regularly has floated successful bonds and plant facility levies to build or dramatically renovate the two high schools, two middle schools and several elementaries. New schools seem to go on line every year. Yet, even with solid advanced planning, the district is having trouble housing students. It’s being overwhelmed by growth.

The progressive leaders of the Coeur d’Alene School District, such as board Chairman Wanda Quinn, trustee Vern Newby and Superintendent Harry Amend, haven’t been struck dumb by growth. They can be expected to find the best solution from a range of bad ones to the current boundary problems – and to get the district ahead of the growth cycle again. There’ll be some pain involved. Students in the Indian Meadows area on the eastern edge of town may be bumped for the second time to another school. Families, with involved parents, south of the Spokane River might lose their quaint neighborhood school, Winton.

Concerned parents have had one chance to express their views to the attendance zone committee. And they’ll have another after the committee reviews their gripes and recommends possible changes. They should consider, meanwhile, that children are more resilient than adults. Others have survived school shifts. Their kids will, too.