Redistricting advisory group: 12 selected from 40 applicants; first community session set for April 21

Mr. Shepherd, presenting the redistricting update to the Building & Grounds Committee, said the district received 40 applications for the redistricting advisory process and selected 12 participants, with three alternates — one alternate chosen from each high-school cluster.

‘‘We received 40 total applications, which we had explained previously we are taking 12 of those applications,’’ Mr. Shepherd said, and added that the paneling process used an objective, anonymized scoring method. He described the process: applications were anonymized, reviewed by three scorers (including himself and two non-committee reviewers), each question was scored 0–5, and the totals were combined to select the highest-scoring candidates in each cluster.

Mr. Shepherd said notifications to selected candidates would be sent this week. He also provided the committee with the near-term schedule: the first committee meeting is scheduled for March 18 and the first community input session is scheduled for April 21.

Committee members asked about scoring and representation; Mr. Shepherd said the selections were intended to provide geographic representation across the three high-school clusters (James Wood, Sherando and Millbrook). The committee did not take formal action on these appointments at the meeting; staff will notify appointees and proceed with the planned meeting and outreach schedule.

What’s next: Staff will notify selected applicants and convene the advisory group in mid-March; a community input session is planned for April 21.