School board to create redistricting subcommittee
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on August 8, 2017 5:50 AM
The Wayne County Board of Education voted Monday to create a special subcommittee to focus on redistricting, as the school system works toward redrawing district lines by the 2018-19 school year.
The decision came after the board's late-July special meeting, where board member Len Henderson suggested the creation of a committee intended to bring redistricting options to the board on Monday. That decision was ultimately delayed until this month, when the board members voted -- with some confusion -- to use the committee process.
That vote only came after the board shot down a motion to conduct all redistricting business with the full board, an option carrying a degree of support among board members and the recommendation of Superintendent Michael Dunsmore. Board member Chris West made the motion, but it failed to garner a second and thus it did not carry.
Henderson then made essentially the same motion he made in July, calling for a subcommittee to work with Wayne County Public Schools leadership to come up with several options for the board to review.
Board member Jennifer Strickland said she would vote against that motion, while also having declined to second West's.
"I think right now these motions are a little bit too wide open," she said.
"I think the whole board does need to be involved in the process of redistricting, we all need to be discussing and listening to each other's opinions, but I do not think we need to be the ones sitting down with the pencils and drawing the lines."
Strickland said that the WCPS leadership team should produce options for how to redistrict, and then the board should consider those options together.
Otherwise, she said, the board would be "playing it out twice" by using a committee which would still need to come before the full board anyway.
When it came time for the vote, board members Rick Pridgen, Raymond Smith Jr. and Henderson voted for the committee process. Strickland, West and Flowers voted against it, while board member Patricia Burden did not vote. That constituted a "yes" vote, and the motion carried.
Burden seemed confused by this, and said she had intended to vote against the committee process. She said she got "side-tracked" during the vote, but while she felt the committee was redundant she could still see it working out.
With the vote out of the way, the board did not make concrete plans for actually forming the committee. As discussion ended, Henderson asked Flowers when he would do so.
"I'm going to have to pray on that," he responded. "But I will do it, God willing."