Clover Park School District press release.
LAKEWOOD, Wash. — The Clover Park School District (CPSD) Board of Directors is conducting a redistricting process to comply with federal and state laws after the recent boundary transfer of territory from Bethel School District and review of federal census data.
CPSD is divided into five internal director districts and uses a system of “at large” voting. That means each candidate for the board must live within the district for which he or she seeks election, while voters within CPSD have opportunity to participate in all director elections, regardless of which director district they live in.
State law and district policy and procedure require the redistricting plan to result in the population of each internal director district being as nearly equal as possible, among other criteria. Based on updated federal census data, CPSD has a total population of 90,811, which means that each director district would contain about 18,162 people if all director districts had equal population. Currently, Director District 5 has a total population that is significantly higher than that of the other four director districts (27.1% more than the target population).
The school district hired an outside firm, Davis Demographics, to develop three scenarios using census data for the board’s consideration. That firm created in-compliance scenarios using federal census blocks that would reduce the population variance to 9.4%, 8.4% or 7.8%, respectively.
At a public meeting on Aug. 29, 2022, the board selected Option 3 as the draft plan to publish for public feedback. That plan would reduce total population variance between director districts from 35.2% to 7.8%:
A. Shift the northeastern boundary of Director District 2 west to South Tacoma Way near Mountain View Cemetery, enlarging Director District 1
B. Shift the southeast boundary of Director District 2 east to Hipkins Road and south to 104th Street Southwest, reducing Director District 3
C. Shift the southern boundary of Director District 3 south between Gravelly Lake Drive Southwest and Butte Drive Southwest/Vernon Avenue Southwest to Veterans Drive Southwest, reducing Director Districts 5
D. Shift the eastern boundary of Director District 5 around Gravelly Lake from Nyanza Road SW west to Gravelly Lake Drive Southwest, enlarging Director District 4
E. Shift the western boundary of Director District 4 north of American Lake west to Veterans Drive Southwest, reducing Director District 5
F. Shift the southwest boundary of Director District 4 on Joint Base Lewis-McChord west to Railroad Avenue and 2nd Division Range Road, reducing Director District 5
Map of Option 3:
If Option 3 is ultimately approved by the board, Director Paul Wagemann would no longer reside in Director District 5. Director Wagemann would have the ability to serve out his term, which ends in December 2023, and would be eligible to run for the board seat in Director District 3 when that position is up for election in 2025.
Details of the draft plan are available on the CPSD website, www.cloverpark.k12.wa.us. The board will hear public comment at its Sept. 12 regular meeting. Links to presentations to the board on this topic are available on the CPSD YouTube channel: Jan. 10 (1:13:10) and Aug. 29 (22:09). The board is expected to vote on final adoption of a redistricting plan at its Oct. 10 board meeting.
Questions or comments about the draft plan may be directed to John Boatman at jboatman@cloverpark.k12.wa.us or Clover Park School District, 10903 Gravelly Lake Dr. SW, Lakewood, WA 98499.
