Redmond, Wash. – Every ten years, after each U.S. Census is completed, school districts must review the boundaries of their board of director districts to ensure equitable geographic representation. Lake Washington School District is divided into five geographic regions or districts, one for each board seat. Candidates for school board must run for the seat of the director district they live in. By creating five equal director districts, geographic diversity is ensured on the school board. Each position is elected by all district voters, so each of the five directors represents the entire district in their board actions.

These boundaries are completely unrelated to school attendance boundaries: this process will not change any neighborhood school boundaries.

In April 2011, the district contracted with Sammamish Data Systems to develop a proposal for new director district boundaries based on the latest census data. Since the last realignment of director districts, there has been a substantial shift in population growth. Currently, our director districts vary in population from a low of 31,091 in District 1 to a high of 41,757 in District 5.

The proposed new director district boundaries would balance these populations so that all five districts would have approximately 35,500 residents. 

A public hearing on this proposal will be held at the October 10th school board meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. Large detailed maps will be on display at the meeting. Current and proposed maps are also available on the district website, www.lwsd.org. The second reading of the proposal and potential adoption of the proposal is scheduled for the October 24th board meeting. The board must adopt new director districts by December 4, 2011.

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About Lake Washington: Lake Washington School District is a high-performing public school district serving Kirkland, Redmond and Sammamish, Washington. It is the sixth largest district in the state of Washington, with over 24,000 students in 50 schools.