One of four options for re-drawn trustee area boundaries. Courtesy of PlanWest Partners

Previously:

• DNUSD Trustees View New Election Maps, Still Hope to Drum Up Public Input

###

Del Norte education officials continue to seek public comment as they transition from an at-large election model to by-district elections.

The Del Norte County Committee on School District Organization, which consists of elected officials for the County Office of Education and Del Norte Unified School District, will hold a public hearing on Feb. 10 before potentially adopting a new trustee area boundary map.

Under the current election model, DNUSD trustees must reside within a defined area but are elected by voters countywide. This system makes the district and County Office of Education vulnerable to litigation under the California Voting Rights Act, which seeks to prohibit election models that could lead to diminishing the power of certain communities of interest.

Starting in the Nov. 8, 2022 general election, school board trustees will be elected by voters living in the district they seek to represent.
Del Norte Unified and the County Office of Education must also go through a redistricting process using 2020 U.S. Census data to ensure an even distribution of population within the trustee areas.

According to PlanWest Partners Spatial Analyst, Jason Barnes, under federal law the population in each of the county’s trustee areas can’t deviate from each other by more than 10 percent. In Del Norte County, that deviation is about 13 percent, he said at a meeting on Jan. 13.

Barnes and his colleague Colette Metz on Jan. 13 unveiled four potential trustee area maps for the Committee on School District Organization’s consideration.

The public hearing will take place at 4:45 p.m. on Feb. 10 at the DNUSD office, 301 W. Washington Boulevard in Crescent City.

The hearing will also be available online. For more information about the California Voting Rights Act and a link to the meeting, click here.

Documents:

• Proposed Trustee Area Option 1

• Proposed Trustee Area Option 2

• Proposed Trustee Area Option 3

• Proposed Trustee Area Option 4

SHARE →