Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Revised boundaries for the Steamboat Springs School District's five director districts won't affect its current School Board members or student placement, but will bring the school system into compliance with state law.

The school district uses a director-district system to establish boundaries for School Board representation. One person from each of the school system's five director districts is elected to serve on the School Board. The districts are supposed to have a relatively equal number of residents.

Last fall, Superintendent Donna Howell told School Board members that its director districts had not been balanced in at least six years. State law requires balancing director districts every four years.

After several months of work, attorney Mike Holloran has finalized updated boundaries for the five director districts. The School Board is scheduled to vote on the revisions at its Monday meeting.

Using census data from 2000, Holloran and some of his associates balanced the districts and made their boundaries contiguous. The redistricting effort didn't result in any current School Board members being placed in a district other than the one for which they were elected to represent, Howell said.

The new boundaries shouldn't affect voters because the district uses at-large elections, meaning candidates from each district are elected by everyone who resides within the school district's overall boundaries.

The school district doesn't use director district boundaries to determine school placement for elementary students, so families who find they reside in a new director needn't worry about transferring to a different school, Howell said.

"This is strictly for the School Board members -- the area for which they are representing," Howell said.

The district should consider evaluating its director districts again in 2007, Holloran told School Board members last week, though without new census information until at least 2010, the evaluation will be more of a "rubber stamp."

The district plans to post the revised director district maps on its Web site once they are approved by the School Board. The maps also may be available for viewing at the district's central office on Seventh Street.

-- To reach Brent Boyer call 871-4234

or e-mail bboyer@steamboatpilot.com