To understand how our board members are elected, you need to know a little about Visalia Unified School District history. VUSD was unified in 1965, pulling together Visalia City Schools and outlying small schools. The district reaches from Goshen to Ivanhoe. Until the 2011 election, there were seven board members representing five districts.
With a population of over 130,000 and a student enrollment of 27,000, Visalia outgrew the original board election structure and it made much more sense to establish seven trustee areas. The school board took action in 2011 to change how school board members were elected.
In the November 2011 election, the change affected three of the seven board members by moving from five trustee areas to seven trustee areas and shifting to what is called “by-trustee” area elections. This simply means that the district is divided into seven areas and trustees must live in and be elected by voters in that area. This November, the remaining four trustees will be elected from the new “by-trustee” areas.
Generally, the trustee areas represent elementary school attendance boundaries. The new system makes it easy to know which area you would represent if you are interested in running for school board. All you need to know is which elementary school attendance your home is in, and you can figure out the trustee area.
The trustee areas that are open for election this fall are:
- Area 1 (Veva Blunt, Willow Glen, and Manuel F. Hernandez)
- Area 2 (Elbow Creek, Four Creeks, Golden Oak, and Ivanhoe)
- Area 3 (Annie R. Mitchell, Mineral King, and Pinkham)
- Area 4 (Goshen, Hurley, Oak Grove, and Shannon Ranch)
In order to run for office, candidates must file with the County Elections Office between July 15, 2013, and August 9, 2013. Election Day is on Tuesday, November 5, 2013.
Being a school board trustee carries a tremendous amount of responsibility, but it is also very rewarding when you know that you are contributing to the families of our community. It takes a great deal of time, energy, and commitment–it isn’t for everybody. Visalia is a wonderful community, and we need committed individuals to step forward and serve on the Visalia Unified Board of Trustees!