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Brought to you by
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This report is created by Ken Ducote and Rose Drill-Peterson on behalf of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools
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Greetings!
The first two of four second-round public meetings to discuss OPSB redistricting proposals were held on Tuesday, November 1 (Uptown) and Thursday, November 3 ( Westbank). These meetings are designed to receive input from the public on four alternatives proposed by School Board consultants and to allow for other options to be proposed by the general public.
The meetings have been poorly attended so far but are being taped for replay on the Educational Access Channel. It is anticipated that OPSB will consider adopting one of the alternatives at either its November or December Business Meeting.
A meeting summary and schedule of remaining dates follow.
***This email is created by Ken Ducote and Rose Drill-Peterson on behalf of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools and is not an official correspondence from the Orleans Parish School Board***
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| REDISTRICTING MEETING SUMMARY |
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Under the existing base and proposed alternative plans presented, there will continue to be seven districts. Although the School Board could decide to increase or decrease its number, the proposals were drafted to keep seven districts with no at-large seats.
The plans can be viewed as follows:
By law, redistricting must:
- Be done after each decennial US census,
- Be completed by March 2012 and will affect next OPSB elections,
- Adhere to "one-man / one-vote" principle,
- Be based on latest official Census (i.e., 2010) and cannot take into account projected future changes, and
- Be submitted for approval by US Justice Department (DOJ) to ensure it has no discriminatory purpose or effect and does not regress on minority representation in accordance with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
More details on the general issue of redistricting can be found on the previous OPSBrief found here.
During the second-round public meetings, consultants have discussed the following challenges faced in developing the alternatives:
- Keep each of the seven districts as close to the "ideal" population of approximately 49,000
- Over the past decade, population shifts have affected the existing districts in much different ways, although all lost population
- In the last redistricting 10 years ago, "ideal" population was approximately 69,000
- Three districts (1, 2 & 7) need to increase population and two districts (4 & 6) need to decrease.
- Do not regress on minority representation
- Between 2000 and 2010, Orleans population decreased by approximately 140,000 persons, of which approximately 120,000 were African American
- To avoid regressing on minority representation, the total population and voting age population of each proposed district must be considered
- Maintain as much of the general character or neighborhood identities of existing districts
- Districts should be compact and contiguous
- In none of the alternatives are there two current members residing in one district
The consultants distributed a listing of school locations, indicating in which district each school would be under each of the alternatives. The list can be found here. However, it should be noted that OPSB districts are based on geography, so that if a school changes its address it might then be in another Board member district.
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N.O. East / Gentilly Areas
November 8th, 2011, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Southern University at New Orleans - Lake Campus
Building 43
6801 Press Drive
New Orleans, LA 70126
Mid-City Area
November 10th, 2011, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Delgado Community College
Student Life Center
615 City Park Ave
New Orleans, LA 70119
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This service is made possible by a Community IMPACT 2010 Grant from the Greater New Orleans Foundation.
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