• Final voting could take place in the Wednesday, October 13 school board meeting.
– Find visual graphics of options by scrolling to the bottom of this story.
Lincoln County School District No. 2 School Board is examining trustee areas for the district and considering redistricting those areas as an accommodation for significant growth in certain communities within the school district. The board has chosen two options that are coming up for potential vote in the board meeting tomorrow evening, Wednesday, October 13.
Trustee mapping determines which communities the elected board members represent. With significant growth over the last 10 years at the Northern end of Star Valley, changes in population numbers warrant an examination of districts to balance representation on the board. The school board is choosing to examine this issue now and looks to make a decision by the end of 2021.
Two maps have arisen representing the primary redistricting options and may be voted on in the meeting Wednesday. Option #1 offers a structuring of the board that is similar to what they have now.
“We already have…five trustee areas and two at-large seats,” commented Board Chairman, Wade Hirschi in an interview with SVI Media’s Dan Dockstader Tuesday afternoon. “That’s what we’re currently operating on with seven trustees total. That one is essentially kind of what we have already, but the lines just need to move to accommodate changes in population.”
“The other option would be to actually go to two trustee areas within the district,” continued Hirschi. “Think of it as a North area and a South area, but each of those two areas would have two trustees that would be elected in alternating years. Then, we would also have three at-large seats.”
Interested patrons can view these maps at LCSD2.org. Choose the link titled District in the menu across the top of the site, and then go to the link for Board Docs. Click on Meetings and then choose October 13, 2021 from the menu on the left. Next, choose View the Agenda. In the menu on the left, scroll to item 13.06 Approval of Trustee Area Maps. This will bring up the 4 Maps displaying options and explanations of the maps. Patrons can access the board docs at https://go.boarddocs.com/wy/lcsd2/Board.nsf/Public.
These options are on the agenda for discussion and a possible concluding vote at the October School Board meeting Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. The public portion of the meeting with a period for public comment typically begins at 7 p.m. Voting could possibly take place in this meeting or, if further discussion is warranted, it could remain on meeting agendas for continued discussion into December.
“It’s on the agenda as an action item, but after we have the discussion, if the board does not feel like they are ready to vote or they need more information, we can push it out until December to make the decision,” explained Hirschi. “If, after we have the discussion, everyone feels that they have the information they need, then we can go ahead and vote on it.”
With the redistricting options in the action items list, a new map of school board districts could be determined and finalized in the meeting Wednesday evening. Patrons interested in discussing this issue further, or who would like to contribute public comment, can contact their area’s board trustee or attend the meeting and offer public comment.
School Board meetings are held in the district office building at 360 South Jefferson in Afton and streamed live at the Lincoln County School District No. 2 Facebook page.
