At its Tuesday night meeting, the Salem-Keizer School Board of Directors voted 4-3 to approve adjustments to its school board zones, with the approval of Redistricting Map Alternative 1, which is pictured above. The newly approved school board zones will now be submitted to the county clerks for them to develop revised voter precincts by their mandated deadlines in early 2022.
Redistricting will not change school attendance area boundaries.
The update to the zone boundaries, or “redistricting,” is a process to distribute the population equally among electoral districts. This usually happens after the U.S. census, which takes place every 10 years. The census shows population growth or decrease in these areas, requiring population rebalancing to ensure equal representation. Special districts, such as school districts, collaborate with their communities on determining the updated school board zones.
The board had two different proposals for redrawing the zones for the district, provided in collaboration with the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments. Proposed map alternatives for the Salem-Keizer School Board were available for review online and in multiple community locations, and open for public feedback from Nov. 17-Dec. 1. Feedback was provided through an online survey, emails to board directors and public comment through regular meetings. The board discussed the input in a school board work session on Dec. 7. The meeting can be reviewed online through CC:Media YouTube in English and on YouTube in Spanish.
“On behalf of the Salem-Keizer School Board, I would like to thank the community for their thoughtful feedback throughout this process,” said School Board Chair Osvaldo Avila. “I would also like to acknowledge director Hinojos Pressey and director Heyen for the important work they provided in collaboration with the Council of Governments through the subcommittee.”
The final approved map for school board zone areas can be reviewed on the district website (https://salkeiz.k12.or.us).