PUSD reviews proposed trustee area boundaries

Three different maps proposed for use in future Pleasanton Unified School District trustee board elections were given an overview at a special town hall meeting on Tuesday.

“We do seek your input and your expertise,” Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Ahmad Sheikholeslami said during the Jan. 11 livestream event. “This is your community. You guys have been living here many, many years and you all know the streets and roads better than us.”

When the map is finished, PUSD’s enrollment boundaries will be divided into five separate areas that would be used in Board of Trustee elections, starting in the November general election. Each trustee will represent one of those areas and be required to live with the area they represent. A target population of approximately 16,203 residents has been suggested in each district area.

Voters will be limited to electing one trustee from among the candidates living in their area every four years, instead of electing from a pool of at-large candidates. Should nobody declare candidacy for a vacant trustee seat, a representative from that trustee area will be appointed by the board.

In addition to having communities of interest — such as a large population that speaks another language than the one shared by the broader community — new trustee area maps can be “compact,” “contiguous,” “predictable and not jagged,” and also identifiable by using natural boundaries, major roadways, “and other boundaries identified by residents.”

Similar boundary shapes are shared in all three versions, with Trustee Area 1 encompassing west of I-680 and south of I-580, down to Sunol, along with both Lydiksen Elementary and Foothill High School. Donlon Elementary would also be included in the district’s preferred version of Area 1.

Area 2 would be south of I-580, east of Hopyard Road, north of Pleasanton Sports Park, and run along the Arroyo Mocho, ending at El Charro Road in east Pleasanton. Hart Middle and Fairlands Elementary School would also be within Area 2’s boundaries.

At the center of all three maps is Area 3, which in the district’s preferred Map 1 is west of Santa Rita Road, east of I-680, south of the Arroyo Mocho and Pleasanton Sports Park, and ends south at the Union Pacific railroad tracks. The proposed boundaries for Area 3 include Amador Valley Community Park and would run along parts of Black Avenue, Hopyard and Ridgewood roads, plus Division and St. Mary streets, with both Walnut Grove Elementary and Harvest Park Middle School included in the boundaries.

Area 4 would include Amador Valley High plus Mohr and Alisal Elementary, with its boundaries extending east to El Charro Road, south of the Arroyo Mocho, north of Vineyard Avenue and Kottinger Drive, and west to Santa Rita. Area 5 would be just south of Vineyard and Kottinger, west of Vallecitos Road, east of I-680 and north of the city boundaries, with both Vintage Hills and Hearst Elementary as well as Pleasanton Middle School included.

PUSD could be ready for the November general election, when both seats currently filled by Board President Mark Miller and Trustee Joan Laursen will be up for grabs. Miller and Laursen have both said they do not plan to seek reelection.

No public comments about the proposed maps were received that evening but another community workshop about the remapping process is scheduled in early March. Regular updates will also be delivered at upcoming board meetings. An interactive map and more information about the district’s transition from at-large to by-trustee-area elections can be found here.