Trustee Area Map Background
At the April 10, 2018, Board Meeting, the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Education approved a resolution to direct staff to lead the school district to the change from at-large elections to by-trustee area elections. Trustee areas will include five (5) areas that make sure the 5 areas are each represented by an elected Board member who will live within a specific trustee area.
At its September 14, 2021, and October 12, 2021, meetings, the Board considered information presented by the District’s professional demographer National Demographics Corporation (“NDC”) regarding the process and potential criteria for drawing the trustee area boundary maps, and the Board held statutorily required public hearings to receive input from the community on the trustee area map creation process, pursuant to Elections Code section 10010(a)(1).
On November 19, 2021, the District timely published three proposed trustee area maps on the District’s website for consideration by the Board and the community. On November 30, 2021, the District also received several maps submitted by the community. It timely posted those maps to the website on December 7, 2021.
On December 14, 2021, the Board received a second presentation from NDC on the proposed by-trustee area maps. The Board then held the second of two statutorily required public hearings on the proposed by-trustee area maps. Based on input from that meeting, an additional “purple map” was created and timely published on the District’s website on January 11, 2022.
On January 18, 2022, in response to requests from the community, the Board held an additional public hearing to receive additional input on the proposed by- trustee area maps.
On February 8, 2022, the Board held a public hearing on the proposed maps. The Board selected and approved, trustee area map referenced as the Purple Map (see below).