Redistricting: Board yet to endorse, dismiss

Glenn County supervisors acknowledged receipt of the county Board of Education's redistricting map Tuesday, but did not endorse or dismiss it one way or another.

They directed Assessor/Clerk-Recorder Sheryl Thur and her staff to work with local school districts and Tehama and Colusa counties officials in looking at inconsistencies in school district boundaries.

Superintendent of Schools Tracey Quarne said the Board of Education had not redrawn its trustee boundaries in 55 years, but recently completed that task.

He said they began with a 228 percent variance some trustee area populations and ended with less than 1 percent.

The board's map also maintains five trustee areas, he said.

However, during the course of the redistricting, Quarne's office discovered some variations between the legal descriptions for school district boundary lines and what the districts had listed, he said.

It is up to the Board of Supervisors to have county elections staff and the clerk-recorder examine these boundaries and revise them if necessary, officials said.

As he had at past hearings, Capay Joint-Union Elementary School District Superintendent Jim Scribner relayed concerns some Capay parents have about boundaries.

He provided maps from both Glenn and Tehama counties since Capay overlaps the county line, and has some district voters living outside of Glenn County.

He said two students attending Capay School live within an area apparently designated for Orland Unified School District.

"If the map stands, where do I tell them they go to school?" Scribner asked.

He said one family has gone to Capay for the past 30 years.

That number could rise to 10 students next year, he said, which would have a negative financial impact on his school.

Scribner asked the supervisors not to accept the county board's map, so there would be more time to resolve the school boundary issue, which he thinks will eventually get worked out.

Hamilton Unified Superintendent Charles Tracy added his concerns about engaging Hispanic residents and resolving what he called "flawed' math in the map.

Tracy claimed the Glenn County Board of Education's map did not take into consideration the Hispanic voters in Hamilton City and the Native American voters in Elk Creek.

He said it could revisit the issue and had until April 30 to bring it back to the Board of Supervisors.

But the education board's attorney said that deadline was for redrawing school district boundaries if the district's did not do it themselves.

County Counsel Huston Carlyle told supervisors they could not redraw the Board of Education's maps because it is its own elected body.

"It is obvious both sides concur with disagreement on the map," Supervisor John Viegas said, adding what is legal and what is not needs to be resolved by the school districts and Quarne's board.

Contact Rick Longley at 934-6800 or rlongley@tcnpress.com.