The thought of changing an elementary-aged child's school can be worrisome to many parents.

There's the parents' familiarity with the teachers, the child's network of friends, comfort with the existing commute to and from the school. These are just a few of the reasons families might resist a change.

That's why it's so crucial that the Auburn Enlarged City School District take extreme care in figuring out any changes to its elementary school boundaries, and that it also keeps families completely tuned in to the process.

The school district got off to a good start last week when it held a meeting to discuss proposed plans with parents. The key going forward is for school officials to continue providing clear information. Hold more meetings, send out easy-to-understand literature, post updated information on the district Web site. It's also important that they take into consideration the feedback they're receiving and be willing to make changes to their original proposal.

Ultimately, it's clear that the school district does need to act.

The discrepancies from one school to another in terms of students per classroom are not acceptable for an enlarged city school district with five elementary schools. The differences, created through shifts in population patterns over the years, are too great to ignore. Some classes can have as many as 25 students while others can have as few as 16, school officials said last week.

That's simply not fair to the students in the more crowded classrooms, who should not be put at a disadvantage simply because they live on the wrong street. Many variables go into education quality, and classroom size is one of them. It's just common sense that a child will benefit from having more direct classroom involvement with the teacher.

So it's important some changes do get made, but they must get made in the right way.