On Thursday, the Burbank Unified School District held a public hearing that lasted five hours and 34 minutes at the council chambers to put together and gather input regarding the potential composition of trustee area boundaries.
The Burbank Unified School District’s Board of Education is currently elected via an “at-large” election system, where board members are elected by voters of the entire district.
On May 4, the fifth and final hearing will be held on the matter as the board will have an opportunity to consider all of the map submissions with the express purpose of choosing one final district map.
Some background on what occurred previously.
On December 15, 2022, the board adopted a resolution and by doing so signaled its intent to transition to a by-trustee area elections commencing with the 2024 election cycle.
Moreover, in a by-trustee area election system, each board member must reside within the designated trustee area boundary and is elected only by the voters in that trustee area.
At the meeting, the district’s demographer provided additional information on the transition process, including the review of the districting criteria and trustee area boundary maps submitted by the public and developed by the demographer.
The demographer also spoke about the federally mandated one-person, one-vote notion and also talked about the different maps that are available including an interactive map.
He also spoke of geographical communities of interest which he noted the vast majority understand what this means.
This was the second board hearing at which the public and board can review and comment on the draft maps and also provide direction on any regarding new or revised maps.
On a separate matter, the full board voted and unanimously adopted the resolution that May 2 be Day of the Teacher and May 1 through May 5 as Teachers Appreciation Week.
Additionally, the board adopted and unanimously approved that April 24 being the district’s Days of Commemorative of the Armenian Genocide (1915 through 1923).
Also, May 10 was adopted as School Nurse Day.
