Ryan Schambers: School board districts should reflect city’s overall racial mix

Re “City takes neutral stand on school board elections” (Front page, June 15): With the election coming up it seems important to point out the controversial history behind the new trustee areas for Modesto City Schools board of trustees.

There were many members of the NAACP and others who felt the map for the school board was gerrymandered. Trustee Area 7, for instance, is about 75 percent Hispanic. When the issue was brought to many board meetings, the map was never fixed.

The justification for the board to not do anything, along with the city council, was because there were deadlines and not enough input at the map drawing meetings. However, the deadlines still allowed enough time to take another few weeks to change the way the maps were drawn. The school board could have sent out more surveys to the community and revised the maps in time. By drawing maps better it helps even the playing field for every district when it comes to minority representation.

This story was originally published October 9, 2017 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Ryan Schambers: School board districts should reflect city’s overall racial mix."