Los Alamos Reporter

LAPS Board Has Narrowed Voting Redistricting Options Down To Three

School Board Vice President Christine Bernstein and School Board Secretary Antonio Jaurigue discuss redistricting options during an open house at the start of the school year. Photo Courtesy LAPS

LAPS NEWS RELEASE

LAPS School Board members have narrowed the voting redistricting options down to three.

Each of these options include at least one elementary school site in each proposed district. These zones are not school attendance zones and do not affect where a student attends elementary school.

Redistricting is drawing and sometimes redrawing lines that determine which voters are represented by each district. Michael Sharp, vice president of Research & Polling Inc. has been providing guidance to the School Board in this redistricting process. 

The 2020 census total population for Los Alamos County is 19,419, an increase of 8.2 percent since the 2010 census. Ideally, each district would represent a population total of 3,883. Districts must be “substantially equal”, meaning within + or – 5 percent of the ideal population. For Los Alamos, this would result in a range of 3,689 to 4,077 for each district.

Principles of districting include:

  • equal population;
  • minority voting rights;
  • compactness, which refers to the shape and not geographical size
  • contiguity; and
  • communities of interest.

Los Alamos County consists of five districts for representation on the School Board. Two districts, District 1 and District 2, are in White Rock; Districts 3, 4 and 5 are in Los Alamos. Initially, the School Board reviewed five options, eliminating two earlier in the process. The options being considered are Option A, Option B or Option D. 

Each option maintains five districts, with each district encompassing one elementary school. District 1 would include Pinon Elementary; District 2, Chamisa Elementary; District 3, Aspen Elementary; District 4, Barranca Mesa Elementary; and District 5, Mountain Elementary. Los Alamos Middle School falls in District 4. Los Alamos High School would be in District 3 in Option A or Option B, and in District 5 in Option D.

Click here to view maps and more information. The School Board is planning to make a final decision at the next School Board meeting in November. Click here to view the board meetings and packets regarding the voting redistricting process.