The Santa Clara County Board of Education redrew its lines for county school districts, putting Gilroy’s representative in a tight spot for 2014.Â
Area 7, now represented by Trustee Julia Hover-Smoot, formerly a Morgan Hill Unified School District board trustee, has added Evergreen Unified and part of Oak Grove school district to the area that includes Morgan Hill Unified, Gilroy Unified and Aromas-San Jose Unified. The new additional school districts were previously in San Jose’s area 6 represented by Trustee Craig Mann.
When both trustees terms expire in 2014, the two will have to go head to head if they want to continue on the County Board of Education, as their residential areas qualify them both to represent area 7. The redistricting will be reflected in the elections this November, as four-year terms for county board trustees is staggered with elections every two years.
Area 7 previously encompassed Morgan Hill Unified, Gilroy Unified, Alum Rock Union Elementary and Mount Pleasant Elementary. Mann’s area 6 previously included Evergreen, Oak Grove and Franklin-Mckinley. Alum Rock and Mount Pleasant are now part of area 6.Â
The 10-member Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization adopted the new trustee areas unanimously Feb. 15.
After each census, the last in 2010, the trustee areas must be reevaluated to meet population criteria. Four seats will be up for election this November including Leon Beauchman of San Jose, current president of the board Joe di Salvo of San Jose, Grace Mah of Palo Alto and Anna Song of Santa Clara.Â
