PROPOSED SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICTS

 Reposted from September 2011

 

Every 10 years, the school board must redraw voting district lines based on new census information in order to ensure equal representation. Limestone’s population grew by 26 percent in the past decade and some of the population shifted, largely to the east.

A demographer from Auburn University, Dr. Terance Winemiller, was hired to draw the new map with the goal of creating seven voting districts with roughly the same number of residents — within 5 percent of each other.

Board members reviewed the proposed map Tuesday, which had to be tweaked three, times before it was ready. Board members reviewed the map during a work session Tuesday, suggested a few changes and the map was revised and finalized Wednesday.

The map appears on page one today and in an ad in The News Courier for the next 13 days, as required by law.

The board will accept public comments or suggestions on the proposed map for the next 14 days, make changes if they see fit, and then submit the map to the United States Justice Department for consideration. With the 14-day publishing requirement, the map cannot be submitted to the Justice Department by Sept. 15, which the board considered the deadline. If the Justice Department gives preliminary approval, which typically takes about 30 days, members of the Limestone County Board of Registrars will plot the changes and notify voters of their new voting districts, a process that takes 45 to 60 days, according to Board of Registrars Chairman Lee Liveoak. The work by the registrars must be completed and the voters notified of changes at least 90 days before the next election, which is the March 13, 2012, primary election.  That gives the registrars at deadline of Dec. 13, or about 47 days to do the work, if the Justice Department takes 30 days for preliminary approval.  However, the registrars also have other maps to plot because the County Commission, Athens City Council and city schools also had to redraw voting district lines.

Board members discussed

With the deadline looming to submit the map to the Justice Department, most board members let go any minor disagreements they might have had about the map so the task could be completed.

“I can live with it,” said District 3 Board Member Marty Adams.

Board member James Shannon said he was sorry to lose some Elkmont voter to the east and in the Thach community, but said he could live with the map as is.

“I don’t want to be the only one to hold this up,” he said,

District 1 Board Member Charles Shoulders said of the map, “I’m OK, I have a school in my district.” He did, however, lament the loss of voters in Belle Mina, which move to District 6 on the new map.

District 6 Board Member Anthony Hilliard requested changes to the map so he could retain more of his original district.

“I’d rather have some of my old district,” he said, noting the loss off territory north of Beatline and Harvest roads and the addition of territory south of Huntsville Browns Ferry Road to Alabama 20 past the Belle Mina area east to Segers Road. “I don’t know anybody down there (pointing to the Belle Mina area).  He compromised by swapping a piece of land in the Belle Mina area and a piece of land south of Harvest and west of Mooresville roads for territory north of Harvest and Beatline roads that had been in District 7, which is represented by Earl Glaze.

Glaze asked the demographer to redraw that section to make sure the numbers worked. The change was tentatively approved Wednesday and the school system issued the proposed map.

Changes

Voters will notice changes in all seven school board voting districts.

District 1, currently represented by Charles Shoulders, will have a school in it for the first time. Tanner High School had previously been in District 2.

District 2 picks up voters south of Upper Snake Road and south of Browns Ferry and the western portion of Nuclear Plant road.

District 3 will now include Elkmont High School and some Elkmont area voters. Under the existing map, the Elkmont area was mainly in District 4, with some in District 5. Some residents in Elkmont asked the board to create a district for Elkmont area voters to make it easier for a person from Elkmont to be elected to the school board.

District 4 loses some Elkmont voters and regains voters to the south of Alabama 99.

District 5 loses some voters to the east in the Elkmont area and gains voters roughly north of Elk River Mills Road.

District 6 lost territory along the eastern border of the county south of Harvest but gained territory south of Huntsville-Browns Ferry

District 7 has become a compact rectangle roughly bordered by Beatline and Harvest roads to the north, Huntsville-Browns Ferry to the south, Mooresville Road to the west and the county line to the east.

SOURCE:  ATHENS NEWS COURIER

Reposted from September 2011