Glendale school board expected to adopt voting district map later this month
Glendale school officials appear to have narrowed in on the map they are expected to adopt this month, and it is the last of eight maps they have considered.
Their preferred map, called “G2,” is a slight deviation from the “G” map that school board members were leaning toward adopting during their last meeting on April 19.
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Doug Johnson, a demographer and president of National Demographics Corp., presented the “G2” map during Tuesday’s school board meeting, where it was received positively by the school board.
“It seems like a fair way to move forward,” school board member Nayiri Nahabedian said.
The biggest change places Fremont Elementary into the first and northernmost district, a change that was welcomed by school board President Armina Gharpetian, who wanted all of Crescenta Valley High’s feeder schools located in the same district.
The southwest border of the second district was also moved from Jackson Street to Louise Street.
The board is expected to vote on a resolution to adopt the map during its meeting on May 24.
Johnson also asked board members if they would be open to naming the five districts, A, B, C, D and E, instead of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, so as not to confuse residents with Glendale Community College’s voting districts, which are labeled numerically.
“[I’m] happy with the letters, as long as district 1 gets to be ‘A,’ school board member Jennifer Freemon, who lives in that district, said jokingly.
“I’m an A student,” she added, bringing laughter from other board members.
School board member Christine Walters said she likes the idea of the voting districts being labeled by letters, and that the G2 map, for the most part, follows schools’ attendance boundaries.
The school district’s switch from an at-large voting system to a district-based one began earlier this year, the result of a lawsuit settlement stemming from a case in which the district was sued for allegedly violating the California Voting Rights Act.
The school district was sued by Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman, who filed the lawsuit 10 days after Glendale voters rejected a measure in April 2015 that would have paved the way for district officials to adopt voting districts on their own. Currently, the at-large system is required under the city charter.
Without the ability for school officials to create a district-based system, it took legal action and a settlement to move the change forward.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
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