Shelton schools alter director districts

Meeting Oct. 20 on Dual Language Program

The Shelton School District hosts a public meeting on the Dual Language Program at 6:30 Oct. 20 at Evergreen Elementary School, 900 W. Franklin St., downtown Shelton.

The Shelton School District slightly changed the boundaries of its three school board director districts to better balance the population.

The Shelton School Board unanimously voted Oct. 11 to make the proposed changes official. Every 10 years, after each U.S. Census is completed, school districts are required to ensure equitable geographic representation.

The changes affect only school board elections, not the neighborhood boundaries for the district’s schools.

The five-member Shelton School Board includes two at-large members (Chair Keri Davidson and Karla Knudsen-Johnston), and three members representing District 1 (Sandy Tarzwell), District 2 (Marty Best) and District 3 (Matt Welander). Candidates must live in their director district.

The new numbers reflect the changes from the 2010 to the 2020 census, Superintendent Wyeth Jessee told the school board.

“In this particular case, our redistricting was minimal,” he said.

The redistricting was designed so each district has about 8,400 people. District 1 drops from 8,450 people to 8,431; District 2 increases from 8,320 to 8,419; and District 3 decreases from 8,508 to 8,428.

Tarzwell was the only school board member to comment on the proposed changes. She noted that District 2 contains no schools within its boundaries, while District 3 has only one. Seven of the district’s schools are in District 1, she pointed out.

“I thought, ‘That seems a bit lopsided,’ ”she said. She suggested that “maybe District 2 could be adjusted to include a school.”

The superintendent said the boundaries are not created by the school buildings, but by the populations.

The new district boundary map is posted on the district’s website.