NW Democrat-Gazette

District rezoning resolution approved

THOMAS SACCENTE

FORT SMITH — The School Board took the first important step in establishing new zones for its constituents, as well as the election of a new School Board next year.

The School Board unanimously passed a resolution approving a plan and map establishing five single-member zones and two at-large zones in the district during its regular meeting Monday. This resolution was required as part of the district’s ongoing rezoning

process, which originated with the 2020 census.

The resolution states the zone plan and map will be transmitted to the Sebastian County Election Commission for its approval, after which they would be brought back to the School Board for final approval and then filed with the Sebastian County Clerk’s Office. Elections for School Board members for all seven new zones would then take place during the 2022 annual school election.

The School Board has members from four zones, as well as three at-large positions, according to Zena Featherston Marshall, executive director of communication and community partnerships for the district. These members all have three-year terms.

The board learned Sept. 13 Arkansas law could require a school district with a minority population of 10% or more to elect members from five or seven single-member zones or from five single-member zones and two at-large.

The zone map was developed by the Fort Smithbased Western Arkansas Planning and Development District. Martin Mahan, deputy superintendent for the School District, explained the organization divided the district’s total population as per the 2020 census, 91,281, over five geographical zones. Each zone has a population of about 18,200 people.

Tina Thompson, geographic information systems administrator for the Planning and Development District, told Board Member Talicia Richardson the Planning and Development District had to look at the population in the census blocks, geographic areas set up by the U.S. Census Bureau, in creating the zone map. The organization also could not split a census block, meaning it had to follow the lines of the census blocks while trying to keep the populations of the new zones equal.

Thompson said she also felt confident that the Planning and Development District respected the census blocks and populations in trying to ensure it created these new zone boundaries to the best of its ability.

Marshall Ney, legal counsel for the School District, has said the new School Board members would determine how long the terms of their respective positions would be “by lot” during their first meeting after the election.

This will ensure an equal number of positions are filled each year, and no more than two members’ terms will expire each year, to the extent possible. The election will take place after the rezoning.

Dec. 2 is the deadline for the Election Commission to approve the new zones and the School District to submit the necessary material to the county clerk’s office.

Northwest Arkansas

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2021-10-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.nwaonline.com/article/281895891451653

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