The Jefferson Parish School Board has published four redistricting proposals that the board will take up as it considers a generational shift that could add two new seats to the nine-member board.
The four district maps published on the school district's website include the current nine-member district alignment and three 11-seat options prepared by outside groups. The board is scheduled to vote on the proposals at its June 1 meeting.
(See the proposed district configurations here.)
If the board opts for an 11-seat option, it will be the biggest change on the board in more than a generation. The board has had nine districts since the early 1980s when the ninth seat was added to what was then an eight-member board.
In recent months, however, some in the community have called for increased minority representation on the board, which currently has two majority-Black districts.
Those pushing the change, point out that the board's current makeup of six White members, two Black members, and one Hispanic member does not reflect the public school enrollment, which is roughly one-third Black, one-third Hispanic, and just under one-quarter White.
In opting to consider 11-seat plans, the board effectively rejected the recommendation of the consultants they hired to study redistricting. Those consultants, led by attorney John Litchfield and demographer Greg Rigamer, recommended that the board keep the current district lines where they are.
The current lines keep district populations within federal recommendations and adhere to the federal Voting Rights Act, they argued.
When it became clear at the May 4 School Board meeting that the nine-member plan did not have the votes to pass, a last-ditch effort to defer it was launched, but that also failed. Board member Billy North then introduced a measure that would require 11 seats with at least one-third of those dedicated to majority-minority districts.
North's proposal drew the support of board members Diane Schnell, Tiffany Kuhn, Simeon Dickerson and Ricky Johnson.
The four proposed maps and redistricting plans can be viewed at www.jpschools.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&ModuleInstanceID=173&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=56756&PageID=1