School board to consider a revised redistricting plan

The Blaine school board will vote on a new redistricting plan during its regular meeting at noon Tuesday, December 14 that has Birch Bay community members “fantastically pleased.”

In a special meeting December 7, the school board discussed a second draft for districting boundaries after Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce secretary Doralee Booth and Friends of Birch Bay State Park board member Pat Jerns voiced their concerns over Birch Bay’s lack of representation in the unincorporated, 10,115-person area. The new plan was drafted after superintendent Christopher Granger worked with Booth, Jerns and other Birch Bay community members to address their concerns in the redistricting process. 

The proposed plan would give Birch Bay two of its own districts, Blaine two of its own and one split amongst them. It will also leave board president and representative for director district 4 Charles Gibson without a district.

The first proposed plan kept all board members in their respective districts but also stretched the district boundaries long and thin across the school district, which as Booth said, did not give the Birch Bay community “a sense of place.”

According to 2020 U.S. Census data, 58 percent of children – persons under 18 years of age – in the school district reside in Birch Bay, and 80 percent of children under 5 years of age reside in Birch Bay. Through 2021 tax contributions, Birch Bay residents also contribute 36 percent of the school district’s funding, while Blaine contributes about 24 percent.

Birch Bay community member Kathy Berg has been critical of redistricting in the past. She alleges the board has been gerrymandering since 2000 – manipulating the district boundaries to favor current board members and Blaine residents. But with the new proposed plan, she said the board is finally following the law. “We’re fantastically pleased,” she said.

Boundaries in the first proposed plan were drawn so as to include all board members in their respective districts. Washington state law does not say district boundaries have to be drawn to include the current board member, but board members also cannot be removed from office by redistricting.

If the second plan, which draws Gibson outside of his district, is approved, he would finish out his term on the board, acting as the district 4 director, then someone from within the new district 4 boundaries would take his seat in the next election. Gibson’s term expires in December 2023. “I’m a man without a country,” Gibson joked.

Booth said in the meeting that the new plan gives Birch Bay more opportunity for representation on the board and now it’s the community’s civic duty to take it – by finding candidates for those seats. “We’re going to try our best to get representation on the school board,” she said.

At the end of the meeting, board and community members voiced their appreciation for Granger’s work in the process.

“I told Dr. Granger that if he could make this happen for Birch Bay because some of the school advocates and leadership in Birch Bay have been wanting this map to be changed for a good number of years, I told him he would be a hero,” Booth said. “So he’s our hero tonight. It’s not going to be short-lived either. It’s a big deal to our community, and we’re very, very pleased.”