Public Input Needed for SSFUSD District Election Map by August 30th

South San Francisco, CA July 30, 2019 Submitted by Nalani Allen-Cantley Senior Executive Assistant to the Superintendent, SSFUSD

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO (July 30, 2019) – With the South San Francisco Unified School District’s Board of Trustees switching to a ward-based system of representation prior to next year’s election, District officials today said they are seeking public input as they map out what the

areas trustees will represent.

“We want to make sure our school board is representative of the community it serves,” said SSFUSD Board President John Baker. “Having trustees elected by our community’s diverse neighborhoods is one way to facilitate that representation.”

The District has two proposed maps made by National Demographics Corporation in hand, but is seeking additional submissions from the public. Those sample maps are also available at https://www.ssfusd.org/2020redistrict. Also at that site, members of the public can download base maps on which they can draw their own proposed election wards.

Maps can be downloaded at home or on computers available for free public use at the South San Francisco Main Library (840 W. Orange Avenue), Grand Avenue Library (306 Walnut Avenue), and the Serramonte Branch of the Daly City Library (40 Wembly Drive). Paper copies will also available at all of the above locations, as well as the District Office, 398 B Street, in South San Francisco and the Boys & Girls Club of North San Mateo County (201 W. Orange Avenue).

For more advanced cartographers with mapping software, such as ArcGIS or Google Earth Pro, GIS shapefiles and census block figures for the District are available on the District’s webpage as well.

The following criteria to be considered when designing election districts. The five wards:

Should have approximately equal population (less than 10 percent variance).
Must not exhibit racial gerrymandering (per court rulings, race is not supposed to be a factor in designing wards except to the extent that wards not be designed to dilute the voting power of an ethnic group.).

Should consider “communities of interest” (Historical neighborhoods, etc.).
Should be compact.
Must be contiguous.
Should take into account visible (natural & man-made) boundaries (e.g., major highways).

May consider planned future growth.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Shawnterra Moore, Ed.D.

John C. Baker

Eddie Flores

Daina R. Lujan

Patricia A. Murray

Mina A. Richardson

The SSFUSD has five trustees, two of whose spots will be up for election in 2020, with the other three in 2022. The Board has requested that current trustee residences not be taken into account when designing maps.

In order to have sufficient time for interested candidates to prepare, the SSFUSD Board hopes to select election ward boundaries in early Fall 2019. Therefore, it is requesting any proposed maps be submitted before Aug. 30, 2019.

For more information, please contact Superintendent Shawnterra Moore, smoore@ssfusd.org, or at (650) 877-8705.

The South San Francisco Unified School District has 15 campuses in three cities and serves almost 9,000 students from South San Francisco, Daly City