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.

The Bethel 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.

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

In 2021, the district contracted with Sammamish Data Systems to develop a proposal for new director district boundaries based on the latest census data. The Board requested two options, and has chosen to move forward with Option 2. You can see the proposed options under “Director Boundary Redistricting” in the Sept. 13, 2022 School Board Meeting: http://go.boarddocs.com/wa/bethel/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=CHUPLK65267F

The proposed new boundaries would balance the populations so that all five districts would have approximately 24,800 residents.

A presentation and public hearing on this proposal will be held at the September 27, 2022 school board meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. It will be held at the Educational Service Center (516 176th St. E., Spanaway 98387). A link to watch the meeting via Zoom will be available at: https://www.bethelsd.org/Domain/4618