Undeniably, the most common question was about "District directors versus At-Large" board members. I heard, "I don't understand the entire issue. Can you explain it to me?" Our conversations were great and residents walked away with a better understanding of what the special election is all about and why it is so important to plan your vote.

Here are the facts

  • Every ten years our government conducts a census. This is why redistricting must be done every ten years.
  • By law each District must be a similar population size, within 10%.
  • District 4 contains all of Dallas Center, the rural parts of Grimes and a very small portion of western Grimes. This is to ensure that District 4 meets the requirement in the second point above.
  • By keeping Districts, Dallas Center residents have the greatest probability of retaining a seat on the school board because the majority of District 4 is composed of Dallas Center and rural Grimes.
I will be voting NO on the question of whether Dallas Center - Grimes CSD should switch the composition of our school board

Both Dallas Center and Grimes residents benefit from having a District representative that is from their neighborhood elementary school.

Both Dallas Center and Grimes residents can continue to elect At-Large board members from either community.

District directors ensure that more constituents, regardless of their affluence, are represented on the school board.

I'm a teacher so let me present this analogy as an example

The school board is very similar to a small scale version of Congress. The director of each District is similar to a Congressional Representative. The At-Large members are similar to Senators. Both roles are critical. My District director is more readily available to me just as my Congressional Representative. We wouldn't eliminate Congressional Representatives and move to only Senators, so why would we eliminate District directors and move to all At-Large members?

I will be voting NO on the question of whether Dallas Center - Grimes CSD should switch the composition of our school board from 7 board members with three At-Large and four District directors to all At-Large board members.

This is an equity issue and representation matters!