Chehalis School Board Asks Voters to Approve Dissolving Subdistricts

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The Chehalis School District is asking voters to approve a measure that would allow the district to dissolve its five-subdistricts, reform three of them and transform two of the school board seats into at-large positions, a move the district hopes would make it less restrictive for people to serve on the school board.

The Chehalis School Board voted back in May to place the measure, titled Resolution 20-21-014: Dissolution and Reapportionment of Directors Districts, on the November ballot. The board formally endorsed the measure during a meeting on Oct. 19.

The school board currently has five separate directors subdistricts and qualified school board candidates can only run for their subdistrict’s seat, even though the voters aren’t limited to their subdivisions — all voters within the Chehalis School District vote for all five subdivision directors.

“What it means is it's a restriction of who can serve on the school board, because if two people happen to live in the same subdistrict, they can’t both serve,” said District 5 Director J. Vander Stoep.

The school board ran into that problem earlier this year when Brennan Bailey, a 2008 W.F. West graduate who served nearly 10 years on the Chehalis School Board, moved out of District 2 and into a subdistrict represented by another school board director.

Bailey resigned in April of this year, and Alan Browning was appointed to fill his seat.

If the board had at-large positions — which only require the candidate to live within the school district, not within a specific subdistrict — then theoretically two people living within the same subdistrict could serve on the board at the same time: one in the subdistrict-specific seat and one in an at-large seat.



Since state law only allows the board to have a maximum of two at-large seats the school board, the Chehalis School District would still have to have three subdistrict seats if the measure passes.

Those three subdistricts would be defined in early 2022 if the measure passes in November; but because of the recent census, the school district will go through a redistricting next year regardless of the election outcome.

“The reason to pass this measure now regarding the school board districts is because every 10 years, after the census, every district across America has to do a redistricting. The U.S. constitution requires equal size districts no matter what the political jurisdiction is, and we have to do that every 10 years,” said Vander Stoep, “So this is a very logical time to redo these districts and then make them in conformity with the new census.”

But even if the measure passes this election cycle and the redistricting is done next year, the seats won’t change until the incumbents at the time of redistricting reach the end of their terms.

Two of the school board’s five director positions are on the ballot this November for four-year terms, one position is on the ballot for a two-year term, and the remaining two are up for election in 2024.