The San Benito High School Board of Trustees will be conducting a public hearing to request the State of Education for a waiver of certain provisions of the Education Code in connection with its proposed by-trustee area election system.
The hearing is set during their regularly scheduled board meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m., at the SBHS Davis Library, at San Benito High School, 1220 Monterey St., Hollister, California.
In a notice submitted to BenitoLink, Superintendent Tenenbaum states that the “purpose of the public hearing is to seek comment from the District’s stakeholders and to grant the opportunity for discussion on the need for a State Board of Education waiver prior to the Board’s formal request for a waiver.”
After months of discussion, board trustees decided to adopt the “Blue” map, recommended by local LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) representatives at board meeting on Nov. 15.
See article, “SBHS Trustees Make Their New Trustee Area Boundary Maps Pick”
As reported in BenitoLink, the item was first introduced back in February 2017 by SBHS attorney William Tunick of Dannis, Woliver, Kelley (DWK), at the board of trustees meeting. At the February meeting community members and members of LULAC said current board members were not representative of the districts, the community, or the current student population prompting the board to adopt a resolution at the Aug. 22 meeting indicating their intent to re-draw district boundaries and transition from at-large elections to by-trustee area elections, according to the laws set by the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA).
Enacted in 2001, CVRA prohibits at-large elections in areas where a minority group’s vote would be under-represented. The act makes it easier for minority groups to prove that their votes are being diluted in at-large elections resulting in those groups being able to sue local governments and eliminate at-large elections.
During the months of September, October, and November the board held a series of public hearings in which the community was invited to voice their questions and concerns over three proposed maps, “yellow,” “blue,” and “green.”
The trustee area maps would be used in the 2018 elections.
For more information about the hearing contact superintendent Tennenbaum at (831) 637-5831 x 132.