School board adopts second redistricting plan after Birch Bay push

During its December 14 meeting, the Blaine school board voted 4-0 to adopt a revised redistricting plan, which Birch Bay community members pushed for in order to have more representation on the board.

The plan gives Birch Bay two of its own districts, Blaine two of its own and one split amongst them. It also leaves current district 4 board member Charles Gibson without a district.

The revised plan was drafted after superintendent Christopher Granger worked with Birch Bay community members to address their concerns in the redistricting process. 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 Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce secretary Doralee Booth said did not give the Birch Bay community “a sense of place.”

Granger said Booth and other Birch Bay community members  wanted Birch Bay to have its own districts separate from Blaine. This way they would have representation on the board. “The feedback we got from the [Birch Bay] community is that they will work really hard to make sure there’s people to run,” he said.

District boundaries must be reviewed every 10 years following the release of the U.S. Census to ensure equal representation on the board.

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.

Because the adopted plan draws Gibson outside of his district, he will finish out his term on the board, acting as the district 4 director, then someone from within the new district 4 boundaries will take his seat in the next election.

“It feels like it’s a good map that will get us through the next 10 years,” Granger said. “And we’ll see what happens with upper H Street development, what happens in Birch Bay development, this could look different 10 years from now.”

Granger said the plan is a good representation of the district community as a whole, not enrollment numbers. The redistricting process is based off census data, which looks at population.

According to 2020 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.