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District consultants outline trustee-area approach; 40th Street emerges as practical divider
Summary
Dr. Johnson, a redistricting consultant working with the Southern Kern Unified School District, told trustees at a public hearing that population growth west of West Park makes the area between about 40th and 50th streets a likely place for a future elementary and a reasonable dividing line for trustee areas.
Dr. Johnson, a redistricting consultant working with the Southern Kern Unified School District, told trustees at a public hearing that population growth west of West Park makes the area between about 40th and 50th streets a likely place for a future elementary and a reasonable dividing line for trustee areas.
“Draft maps can’t be drafted until after the next hearing,” Dr. Johnson said, explaining the district’s schedule for producing map options. He added that trustee-area lines will be rebalanced after the next decennial census if growth creates significant population shifts.
The consultant warned trustees that school attendance zones generally cover more people than a single trustee area and therefore cannot simply be copied to form trustee-area lines. That mismatch, he said, is why the district should treat neighborhoods and transportation patterns as the primary building blocks for new trustee boundaries.
Board members and several attendees described local neighborhood patterns that, they said, distinguish older West Park housing from newer development north of Orange and west of 35th and 40th streets. A trustee suggested using 40th Street as a practical boundary between “established” and “new” neighborhoods; other trustees said housing type, park boundaries and how people travel to school — walking versus driving and bus routes — are valid neighborhood markers.
Dr. Johnson estimated about 9,500 residents live east of the freeway, an amount the consultant said could nearly equal two trustee-area populations under current targets and therefore will be an important factor when drafting maps. Trustees also asked the consultant to consider whether the rural area outside the Rosamond census‑designated place should be kept whole in a single trustee area or split so multiple trustees maintain regular contact with rural residents.
The board set a second hearing to receive draft maps and public feedback on Nov. 19. Dr. Johnson said the consultants will prepare several map options for review after that hearing.
