By Erin Wiltgen
chh@heraldsun.com; 419-6654
PITTSBORO -- With Chatham County's population growing fastest near the Orange County line, the Chatham County Board of Education is seeking to revise its residency districts to match the election districts for the Chatham County Board of Commissioners.
"Currently, we have confusion regarding having four Board of Education districts, when there are five Board of Education members," said Sally Kost, chairwoman of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners. "Two school board members are elected from District Four."
"After the 2010 US Census, all the districts will need to be redrawn. It will be more efficient and more transparent if the Board of Education districts and the Board of Commissioner Districts are the same," said Kost. "The Board of Education has asked us to consider this request, and we would like to hear from Chatham County citizens as to whether they think this is a good idea."
A public hearing on this request will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Superior Courtroom in the Historic Courthouse in Pittsboro.
Currently, school board members are elected countywide but must live in designated districts that are consistent with voter election precincts. The County Commissioner residency districts were revised in 2007 for a more balanced population representation.
And that population balance is exactly what the Board of Education seeks to emulate. At one time, the population in Chatham County centered heavily on Siler City, a district that currently houses two board members. But in the past 20 years or so, that has changed.
"The population of Chatham County has shifted a little bit towards the northeastern part of the county, more toward Chapel Hill," said Beth McCullough, public information officer for Chatham County schools.
With that shift, board members began thinking that the distribution of representation might not be as balanced as it should be, thus requiring a change. But while the idea has made for idle chat for years, the recent death of board member Gerald Totten on Dec. 2 made the time ripe for revision.
Deb McManus, school board chairwoman, said that since Totten was one of the two board members in the Siler City district -- and she the other -- his unfortunate death allows the board to move that seat to another district without affecting any sitting members.
"If he had not passed away, and he and I both planned on running again, we would have two incumbents running against each other," she said. "Which is an unfortunate situation. You don't want to hurt anyone when you re-draw districts."
Although the timing may seem perfect, the resolution still sits in a waiting period. While board members originally hoped that the County Commissioners had the authority to consider the change, the Board of Education attorneys declared that the General Assembly would have to review it before a decision can be made.
Which just means a longer time table, McManus said.
The Board of Elections voted at its Dec. 17 meeting to move for the revision after years of casual talk on the subject, said McManus, a seven-year board member.
"This has come up many times during that seven years, that we need to look at restructuring the board, the district," McManus said.
But whatever the decision ultimately is made, McManus said, a revision shouldn't affect any remaining board members. Nor would it affect the community at large, McCullough said, because board members are still elected county-wide.
"Everyone in the county should still have representation because the districts cover everyone in the county," she said.
And while Chatham County Board of Education members must live in a specified district, McManus said, since the whole county votes on each member, each member in essence represents the whole county.
"We may know more about our district," she said. "But we're responsible for the whole county."
