School board talks redistricting
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on July 26, 2017 7:56 AM
The Wayne County Board of Education discussed student reassignment and redistricting at a special called session Tuesday, having added the topic to the agenda late last week.
Members of the board gave their opinions on how the district should proceed, as the board and system leaders try to work out a process none of them have done before.
At issue on Tuesday was whether or not to create a subcommittee to research options on how to redistrict, or to wait and have the full board deliberate on each option. District 2 member Len Henderson made the suggestion that the board create a committee, with the intent of having options ready for the board to look at by the time August rolls around.
"It would be nice if we set up a subcommittee of the board to begin to look at some of these things, as well as to look at some of the research data and come back to the board with a strategy as to exactly how we should go about doing this," he said.
Henderson said the district must take a comprehensive stance on redistricting, dealing with the entire school system together rather than handling individual areas one at a time.
Board Chairman Arnold Flowers disagreed on both points. He said that the board should wait until the August meeting, at which point it could vote on whether to form a committee or operate as the full board.
District 1 member Chris West agreed, saying that, because the issue would need to come before the full board anyway, non-committee members could still propose their own ideas and effectively put the process "back to square one."
Any decisions made by a subcommittee would need to come before the full board for approval.
Flowers also said he thinks the district should tackle redistricting "methodically, over time." He said district administrative staff should identify the "most critically out-of-balance areas" for the board to focus on, with the rest of the county to follow.
District 3 member Patricia Burden disagreed, and backed Henderson's comprehensive approach. She said that the board has taken too long to get to this point, and it should not endanger the momentum it now has.
"It has taken us this long to get here, and the longer it takes us, the situation doesn't get any better, it gets worse," she said. "I'm afraid that if we go by section, then we'll stop and take a break and then we won't get back."
Ultimately, the board did not make any decision on the creation of a subcommittee. It will likely address the topic further at the August board meeting.