School Board chooses new boundaries

The St. Charles School Board voted last week on new district boundaries that could go into effect later this year.

The plan that the board chose will provide a higher concentration of minority residents in districts 1 and 5, located mainly in the Hahnville and St. Rose areas.

The new district lines will take the minority population from 61 percent to about 66.5 percent in district 1 and from 51 percent to about 60 percent in District 5. The plan achieves these percentages by adding some neighborhoods while taking away others.

District 5 gained E. Terrace St. and a portion of 9th St. in New Sarpy, but lost the entire Bar None subdivision in St. Rose. While District 1 did not gain any ground, it did lose a large chunk of Hahnville, including everything between Luling Estates Drive west almost to the Fashion Plantation Estates.

The new plan leaves the overall deviation for the district at about 8 percent.

Kevin Belanger, chief executive officer with the South Central Planning and Development Commission, said that the plan should be in place for the October 2013 elections, as long as it is approved by the Department of Justice this summer.

The board held an open public forum before accepting the reapportionment, but no one from the public attended.