Joshua Bright / The New York TimesPeter Drier says he felt blindsided by a $117,000 invoice from an assistant surgeon he never met during his neck surgery. Surgical consultants have become the source of hefty fees via what some in the industry call drive-by doctoring. ìI had no choice and no negotiating power,î says Drier.

If the Summit High track team runners were to race toward the line separating their school district from the Redmond School District, the contest would cover less than a mile.

The boundary between Redmond and Bend-La Pine Schools lies just to the west of Summit, cutting through a proposed development whose backers want to see the line moved farther toward the Cascades.

Despite their proximity to the high school and Miller Elementary, 13 of the westernmost 50 houses proposed for the Tree Farm, a project of Brooks Resources, fall just outside the Bend-La Pine Schools attendance area. As a result, instead of being able to walk or bike to school, children from those 13 homes probably would have to bus to Redmond’s Tumalo Community School up through eighth grade. After that, their commute would get even longer, as the nearest in-district high school, Ridgeview, would be about 20 miles from home.

In a letter dated Aug. 12, Brooks Resources asked the Redmond School District to consider giving up the contested area to Bend-La Pine. The letter acknowledges the possibility of open enrollment, which allows children to attend out-of-district schools, but argues that relying on that option could leave some families straddled between two districts.

“Considering Bend’s growth projections, open enrollment may not always be an option,” wrote Tree Farm Project Manager Romy Mortensen. “It would be an unfortunate situation if siblings were separated due to one being accepted early on, and a second being denied later due to full enrollment.”

Redmond Superintendent Mike McIntosh says he needs to “go through and understand all the ramifications” of making the switch before offering a recommendation to his board.

The ramifications for Redmond include the potential of lost revenue from added students and property that could be part of a future bond. Downsides include the issue of busing students along a route that, with stops taken into consideration, could push the one-hour mark.

Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Ron Wilkinson said, “I don’t see any negatives with the change.”

“It’s adjacent and is essentially landlocked from the Redmond School District,” he added.

If both districts and their boards agree on the change, the process is straightforward. If a disagreement arises, it gets more complicated, possibly even prompting a vote in the district ceding land. However, both Wilkinson and McIntosh said they are openly discussing the change and don’t expect conflict.

This decision, however, could spark an even bigger discussion about the entire boundary between the districts, though both superintendents said they do not think such a comprehensive review is imminent. The Redmond School District goes south almost to Bend’s urban growth boundary, surrounding the city’s northern half and including Alfalfa in its reach to the east.

When discussing the boundary just north of Bend, Wilkinson frequently referred to its shape as a “jigsaw.” McIntosh took a similar stance, acknowledging that those boundaries “are difficult to understand.”

The puzzling shape can be traced to 1961, when 37 school districts in Central Oregon combined into just four, according to Bulletin archives. The original four — Sisters, Redmond, Bend-La Pine and Brothers — have since been reduced to three, and minor adjustments have been made throughout the years.

“We’ve never been averse to having conversations about improving the boundaries, and such a conversation may even be overdue,” Wilkinson said. “But if we were to do that, we would want to do an analysis of where students are actually attending school from, so we could fully understand the impact of any change.”

Wilkinson mentioned it’s likely many students from Alfalfa already attend schools in Bend through open enrollment, and that many of his own students request acceptance to the Tumalo Community School, a quick drive from Bend but technically part of the Redmond School District.

McIntosh emphasized that for some families, there’s an entrenched loyalty to a certain district and school, which may be impermeable to the lure of a shorter bus ride.

“Because of that loyalty, for lack of a better word, I just can’t predict how people would react to changes,” McIntosh said.

Attempting to sort out attendance, bond revenue and loyalties could lead to a long process. As a result, Mortensen said, the Tree Farm is hoping its request isn’t caught up in a bigger discussion addressing the entire boundary.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com