Iowa City School Board officials held a public forum Thursday night to gather feedback on redistricting scenarios being considered by the boundary-change committee.

District administrations and consultants from RSP & Associates LLC fielded questions and comments, largely critical, from the public in a discussion. This differed from past forum settings, in which one person would address a large crowd.

Facilitators for the roughly six groups recorded complaints during the discussion and collected written comments from participants as the night ended.

Some in the audience complained that balancing students with free and reduced lunch across different schools would create an unnecessary community divide. A majority of the vocal participants felt it was more important to keep neighborhoods intact.

A second public forum will be held at 7 p.m. today in the Sheraton Hotel, 210 S. Dubuque St.

— by Nora Heaton