Schools

Easton School District Redraws Boundaries

School board wants to give equal representation to its three regions.

The Easton Area School Board has redrawn the district map in order to provide more equal represenation to its residents.

The new map -- approved last week by the board -- moves parts of Easton's Ward into Region II -- which is mostly Easton -- from Region III, which is dominated by Forks Township. Meanwhile, the College Hill portions of Region II will move into Region III. 

The changes don't effect which board members represent which parts of the district, school officials say.

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But solicitor John Freund said the new boundaries give each of the district's three regions a "remarkable closeness" in terms of representation.

Under state law, each of the district's regions can't have more than a 10 percent difference in population.

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Before the change, Region I -- Palmer Township and part of the city of Easton -- had close to 23,000 residents. Region II -- which was most of the city -- had close to 13,000. Region III -- Forks Township, part of Lower Mount Bethel and some sections of the city -- had 27,000. 

The board also considered, but rejected, the idea of having at large representation.

"If we go to at large, it becomes who turns out wins," Vulcano said. "Easton gets no votes, they’re not stakeholders anymore. This way, everyone’s a stakeholder."

The school board is scheduled to hold its regular committee meeting Monday night at 6 p.m.


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