Adjustments to the school board director zones per the census

Every ten years, after each U.S. Census is completed, school districts must review their board of director districts to ensure equitable geographic representation for elections. Washougal School District is divided into five geographic districts, one for each board seat. Candidates for school board must run for the seat of the director district they live in. By creating five equal director districts, geographic diversity is ensured on the school board. Each position is elected by all district voters, so each of the five directors represents the entire district in their board actions.

These boundaries are completely unrelated to school attendance boundaries: this process will not change any neighborhood school boundaries.

In January 2022, the district contracted with Sammamish Data Systems to develop a proposal for new director district boundaries based on the latest census data. Since the last realignment of director districts, there has been a small shift in population growth. Currently, our director districts vary in population from a low of 4,261 in District 3 to a high of 4,655 in District 1.

The proposed new director district boundaries would balance these populations so that all five districts would have approximately 4,447 residents.

The public can use this link to download a set of maps which show the new zones and the adjustments made to balance the population.  Downloading this file rather than just previewing in a browser will allow patrons to zoom in on areas of interest within the map.

Patrons can also use this Google Map to view the proposed Board Director Zones. With this map, patrons can turn on and off the various layers to see the 2010 (current) and 2020 (proposed) zones. To interact with the map, click the “View larger map” option with a frame icon in the upper right corner.

A presentation and public comment opportunity on this proposal will be held at the September 27, 2022 school board meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Current maps are available on the district website here. The board will consider adopting the proposed plan at the October 25, 2022 board meeting. The board must adopt new director districts by November 15, 2022.

Public Comment

To provide written comment on the proposed plan, please email Kori Kelly at [email protected] no later than 3 PM on September 27, 2022.  Written comments will be provided to the board of directors for consideration at the September 27 board meeting.

To provide comments in-person, please attend the September 27, 2022 board meeting, which will take place at 6:30 PM in the Washougal School District Office Board Room at 4855 Evergreen Way, Washougal, WA 98671, and sign up to provide in-person comments on the adjustments to the board director zones.