Our Superintendent Dr. Bravo, Trustee Robert Varich and Trustee Stacey Brown all attended and gave an overview of the proposed changes and the process. As it is hard to get to meetings like this over the summer we wanted to provide with a recap of the meeting. One of the main questions we had was:
Q: Why is the Board of Trustees deciding on an election map during the summer?
A: Over the past school year, the District has explored transitioning from an “at-large” trustee election system to a “by-trustee area” system, where each Board member must reside within their designated trustee-area boundary, and is elected only by the voters in that trustee area. Under the by-trustee area system, voters would only vote for one seat on the school board.
The California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) prohibits the use of an at-large election in political subdivisions if it would impair the ability of a protected class, to elect candidates of its choice or otherwise influence the outcome of an election. While the District does not believe that its current form of elections violates the CVRA, the Board of Trustees decided to begin the process to transition from at-large to trustee-area elections in May.
During the fall semester, labor partner Campbell High School Teachers Association (CHSTA) encouraged the Board of Trustees to consider moving to a by-trustee system. Soon thereafter, the Board of Trustees learned that the City of Campbell had received a demand letter from a legal firm alleging that the city’s at-large method of election violates the CVRA. And, on January 15, 2019, Campbell’s City Council adopted a resolution of intent to transition from at-large to District-based Elections pursuant to California Elections Code Section 10010(e)(2).
After further study and in advance of receiving a demand letter, the District passed a similar resolution on May 16, 2019, in part to avoid possible litigation. By law, the process to establish the required election area maps must be completed in 90 days, so the District was required to conduct the process of examing draft election maps during the summer recess.
To see what the proposed maps look like go to:
https://ndcresearch.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=f0eff4c9a9844243b52dd43726f733f8
Thank you to all that attended and if you have further questions please reach out to our Trustees Robert Varich rvarich@cuhsd.org, Stacey Brown at staceybrown@cuhsd.org or our Superintendent Dr. Bravo at rbravo@cuhsd.org.
