Light Turnout for Chance to Affect New Board District Maps
Select members of the LAUSD Redistricting Commission at Reseda High School for a public hearing.
Just a handful of people turned out Tuesday night for the first public hearing of the Los Angeles Unified School District Redistricting Commission at Reseda High School.
By law, school board boundary lines must be redrawn once in a decade to account for population changes, as recorded by the US Census.
Tuesday’s meeting was a chance for members of the public to tell members of the LAUSD redistricting commission how to keep “communities of interest” intact when they draw new boundaries. “Communities of interest” may share common housing patterns, culture, or language, or could simply be a certain neighborhood that does not wish to be divided. It could also include a group of affiliated charter schools who wish to remain within the same school board district.
Tamar offered welcoming remarks to the dozen or so citizens who turned out for the public hearing. With a population increase of 60,000 people, Tamar’s Board District 3 saw the largest increase in population over the last decade. Redistricting rules state that the population of the largest district cannot be more than 10 percent larger than the smallest. “So if any of you don’t like me, this is your chance to ask to leave,” she joked.
Those who were present seemed confused about the purpose of the meeting. Some believed the meeting was to discuss the recent reconfiguring of local districts. Starting next year the school district will reduce the number of local districts from eight to four, with one additional non-geographical district that serve schools such as the Mayor’s Partnership Schools and others, across the city.
Tamar offered welcoming remarks to those in attendance.Others believed the purpose of the meeting was to redraw the lines of individual school boundaries, which can also shift with population changes. And many of those who were there chose to use their two minutes of speaking time to vent their frustration that the meeting had not been more publicized.
The meeting was “pre-draft” meaning there were no maps available to comment on yet.
Still, some speakers had suggestions. One speaker recommended that there be a separate Board District in the West Valley, with the 405 as the dividing line. Another seconded that, saying that having a Board District that went from Encino over to the Palisades and the West Side meant the district was almost impossible for a board member to cover well. The San Fernando Valley is currently covered by three school board members—Nury Martinez, Steve Zimmer, and Tamar—with Tamar’s Board District 3 covering the largest portion of the Valley.
The redistricting commission plans to hold another public hearing in Board District 3 shortly, to present drafts of proposed maps. A final map will be presented to the City Council by March 1, and the Los Angeles City Council will have until July 1 to approve changes to proposed school board district boundaries.
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Reader Comments (6)
I think I will wait until I see project boundaries. "Pre" draft hearings at dinner time on a school night just conflict with so many other activities that it's unreal. Perhaps if there is a published email to share thoughts with that would be of help, too.
Is a map available showing the proposed District boundaries?
Draft maps were just recently released by the Redistricting commission.
http://redistricting2011.lacity.org/maps/LAUSD/Draft%20Maps%20Binder.pdf
I think these maps would be much more helpful if there were high school complexes on them and perhaps middle schools as well.
Hi Angel, The redistricting commission is independent of LAUSD and they are the group who issued these maps. Our office is looking over the maps to determine which schools in Board District 3 might be affected. Once that process is complete we can post details on the Gazette to make the proposed changes to Board District 3 much clearer. Thanks for the suggestion!
As a parent living in Board Seat 6, but with a child attending school in Board Seat 3, middle school decisions would be based on the representation we receive--especially with the uncertainty over the local district consolidation into education support centers. Any help you can offer (and I realize this is completely outside the board seat) will be greatly appreciated as we try to advocate for the best possible representation.