Between North Bend’s Riverbend neighborhood and the top of Snoqualmie Ridge, there are people and houses, but few roads, and, arguably, little in common. So any system that groups the two neighborhoods together is, in Paul Sprouse’s opinion, crazy.

“I live (in) North Bend, and my director will either be on the Ridge, or I, or someone in my neighborhood would be on the board, representing the Ridge,” Sprouse told the Snoqualmie Valley School Board and some 40 supporters of his position Thursday, April 28, during a public hearing. “I just think that’s insane.”

The school district’s proposal to realign the director districts, presented at the 45-minute hearing, included that very grouping, and three others that “sliced up Snoqualmie like a pizza,” according to Snoqualmie parent Laurie Gibbs.

Jeff Hogan, executive director of instructional technology, explained briefly how that happened, starting with the requirement for the school district to realign director districts every 10 years following the U.S. Census. He added that the board had made the realignment a priority, since three seats are up for election in the fall, District 2 (Caroline Loudenback), District 3 (Craig Husa) and District 5 (Dan Popp). The board wanted to make sure all the district boundaries were clearly outlined in time for the June 6-10 candidate filing period for the election, he said.

Snoqualmie Valley hired Sammamish Data Systems, the only company in the state to offer the realignment service, to prepare the new district map, which was published to the Web Friday, April 22. The criteria for the realignment were for the new districts to be nearly equal in population and compact, to not discriminate against racial or political populations, and to respect communities of common interest, he said, but the statute does not specifically refer to cities.

“Using internal director district boundaries as a starting point for population realignment,” is an accepted practice, Hogan said, “on the premise that current boundaries are an existing historical community of common interest.”

Snoqualmie, which is in director district 3, had explosive growth in the past 10 years, to 13,000 people, while most of the other districts had populations between 5,000 and 6,000. The target population per district following realignment was 7,011 people.

“The current district 3 boundaries were quite a bit bigger,” Hogan said. “In their recommended proposal it was necessary to essentially grow districts 5, 2, 1 and 4.”

Therefore, all director districts but district 1, primarily rural North Bend, were expanded to encompass part of historic Snoqualmie or Snoqualmie Ridge.

Hogan’s brevity of presentation allowed more people an opportunity to speak at the hearing, and nearly all of them urged the board to reject the proposed plan in favor of the “Citizens’ Plan,” presented by Gibbs and Carolyn Simpson.

“We would really just like to see a more equitable, fair, distribution across the board, and we also think that leads to better decision making,” said Gibbs.

Simpson, also of Snoqualmie, described the proposal, which would create two districts in North Bend, two in Snoqualmie, and one in Fall City as more fair in representation, and better compliant with the state criteria requiring compactness, adhering to natural and geographic boundaries, and preservation of communities of mutual interest.

Although their proposal would affect two seats on the board—Loudenback would no longer live in District 2, and Popp (District 5), and Husa (District 3) would live in the same district and have to run against each other—the women assured the board there was nothing personal about their proposal.

They also said it was not an attempt to create a Snoqualmie contingent, adding that their proposal was more fair in that respect, since the district’s proposal could lead to four directors being elected from Snoqualmie.

Most of the audience agreed with Simpson and Gibbs, emphasizing different points.

Brian Holloway of the Snoqualmie City Council reaffirmed the city’s position on the proposal, calling for the board to adopt a proposal that gave Snoqualmie residents assured representation on the board.

Michelle Kauffman spoke directly to Husa, saying “It’s hard to see such a large community not getting representation,” and “The citizens of Snoqualmie are telling you, the city is telling you, that we oppose this plan, and you represent us, so I would expect you to vote the way that we’re asking you to.”

“Director districts serve a purpose and were established years ago for good reason,” Danna McCall wrote in her statement. The three districts that came together to form Snoqualmie Valley School District represented diverse communities, she wrote, and “they wanted ideas and voices from all areas, So no one area could decide everything… You are considering a plan that opens the door to Snoqualmie having four board seats, which goes against the very reason for establishing the director districts.”

“As a North Bend resident, I resent the prospect of my school board directors residing in Snoqualmie, but representing the interests of North Bend, and making important school board decisions that favor the interests of Snoqualmie over North Bend,” Stephen Kangas commented.

Like several audience members, he called the district’s proposal an obvious attempt at gerrymandering. Fellow speaker David Spring suggested the board was trying to “disenfranchise an entire community” with its proposal.

Former school board member Rudy Edwards chastised the group for using the term.

“I’m a Southerner. Gerrymandering is a real, nasty term down south, and in highly populated areas, where there are minority people who have to deal with this every day. We do not have to deal with this out here in Snoqualmie Valley!”

He emphasized the need for the district to gather the right information and use the right science to correctly manage the director districts.

Should the school board accept the proposal without changes, it could be approved at the district’s May 12 meeting, 7:30 p.m. at the district office, 8001 Silva Ave.