For any of you hoping to see SVSD’s Revised School Board Redistricting Recommendation… well, you are going to have to wait. Sorry.
From the Snoqualmie Valley School District website yesterday, May 11th:
Public Hearing Scheduled for May 12 Postponed
“The public hearing on the Director District Realignment scheduled for May 12th has been postponed. The topic of Director District Realignment has been moved to the regular School Board meeting agenda later that same evening. The Board requested this delay to allow them the opportunity to review the District’s proposed realignment plan, and to publicly discuss and consider options. It may be necessary to schedule another public hearing at a later date (per RCW 29A.76.0010), prior to the board making a final decision on Director District Realignment.”
The above mentioned “proposed realignment plan” is the original proposal that divides Snoqualmie’s population four ways and adds it to current director districts. At this time, there is no other redistricting option available. According to Jeff Hogan, SVSD Executive Director of Technology Services, a revised recommendation is not off the table at this point in time. He stated, “Sammamish Data Systems is continuing to work on a recommendation that takes into consideration some of the ideas expressed during the public hearing on April 28th. The Board has informed the administration that they would like time to review and discuss this work, and provide us direction, prior to posting a revised recommendation on the district web site or holding another public hearing for citizen comment.”
Last Friday, May 6th, the SVSD School Board directed Sammamish Data Systems to revise its original recommendation and come up with an option that maintained a 2,2,1 board structure. That means 2 seats each for North Bend and Snoqualmie and 1 seat for Fall City. The board requested this revision based on negative public feedback on the original plan and in effort to have school board representation mirror the valley’s population provided by 2010 census data.
At publication time, the requested “revised” redistricting proposal was not available. District officials state as soon as they receive it from Sammamish Data Systems, it will be posted on their website. If there is a new proposal, by law, a public comment meeting is required for that new plan. The revised recommendation was not ready in time for today’s scheduled Public Comment Meeting – so that meeting is now postponed.
Recap: There is still a school board meeting tonight – just no Public Comment Meeting for a revised redistricting recommendation. No word on when the revised recommendation will be ready, what the revision will look like or if it is still a firm possibility. It sounds like all those details will be discussed at tonight’s school board meeting.
Want answers? Consider attending the meeting. The school board meets tonight, May 12th, at 7:30PM at the district office – 8001 Silva Ave SE. The public is welcome and there is time devoted to public comment at each school board meeting.
