GCOE to consider seven-district configuration

The Glenn County Board of Education is considering adding two more members in its latest redistricting discussions.

Board members unanimously requested a fifth map Tuesday that would show what such a plan would look like.

Consultants Solomon Pulapkura and Jody Travin, with the Redding engineering firm of Vestra Resources, Inc., agreed to put together another proposed district map by next week.

The county board will look at that map at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Glenn County Office of Education in Willows.

This week the board reviewed a fourth map that equalized the populations within the Glenn County Office of Education’s boundaries based on the current five-member board.

However, concerns about creating a so-called “Super Majority” of board members from Orland and Willows prompted talk about creating a seven-member board.

Hamilton Unified School District Superintendent Charles Tracy spoke about that possibility during a public hearing, and suggested under the current maps being considered, up to four board members could be elected from one school district.

Glenn County Trustee Gene Massa shares that concern.

“I see the potential for two super majority districts with either Willows or Orland,” Massa said.

Adrienne Haylor, a member of the Stony Creek Joint Unified School District Board, said she feared that possibility as well.

Haylor advocated a seven-member board to better represent the diverse populations under the Glenn County Office of Education umbrella, which includes Princeton and the Stonyford areas in Colusa County, and the Capay area in Tehama County.

She is from Elk Creek and explained the Native American population living near there and others have different perceptions from most people living in Orland and Willows.

Community differences figured prominently in this discussion with Massa noting people in the foothills and the small communities of Hamilton City and Princeton have different views from many of those living in the two cities, he said.

Board members Gail Zimmerman, Kathy Perez and Janice Cannon said they wanted to see how a map with seven trustees would work.

But most members added they did not want to have two at-large members on a seven-member board because that could invite lawsuits and problems based on legal advice received in the past.

Board President Judy Holzapfel said she still prefers a five-member board.

The County Board of Education must come up with a redistricting plan by March 1 since it is required to redraw its trustee areas to comply with new U.S. Census figures done every 10 years.

Glenn County has a population of just under 30,000 people with 70 percent of residents living within the Orland and Willows school districts, according to Glenn County Superintendent of Schools Tracey Quarne.

This poses a mathematical problem for the Glenn County Board of Education, he said, since it is difficult to balance the small populations of voters living in rural communities with those in the two cities without combining them to some degree.

Board members said they did not want to gerrrymander their districts and would prefer they be contiguous to one another, but Massa suggested “gerrymandering can be positive if there is a positive purpose - to avoid a super majority.”

The Vestra consultants said that is a question for the board’s lawyers.

Legal counsel has told the board if the district populations are within 1 percent of being equal that is an acceptable number, Holzapfel said.

Board members also said they did not represent school districts but the people of Glenn County as the county board functions as an appeals body.

It hears cases involving student discipline and inter-district transfer requests among other items to see if school districts have followed proper procedures in taking action. The board also directs policy concerning

Glenn County Office of Education programs, but does not oversee other school districts in the area.

Any decision to go to a seven-member board likely will have to go to county voters.