December 12, 2008

Open Letter to Stu Madison, President, CISD Board

Stu :

I am not surprised that you oppose single member districts. I had hoped to sit down to discuss the issue with you since I think that is a much better way than emails. However, since you choose not to do that I will send you my basic stance.

The Board is NOT representative of the community as a whole. There are no Blacks on the Board. There are no Hispanics on the Board. The Board (except for M. J. Larrison and Brent Easdon) lives within about a two-mile radius of Gerard Elementary in Southwest Cleburne .

The Board is not representative of the student body which is 57.4% White, 35.8% Hispanic, 5.4% African-American, 1.4 % Other (TEA Report for 2008). If the Board were representative, we would have one African American member about half the time, two or three Hispanic members, and 4 White members.

The White/Hispanic ratio is changing rapidly. Two years ago (05/06), the White percentage was 61% and the Hispanic was 32%.

I am not rigid on how the districts should be drawn. We have seven Elementary attendance districts so ideally I would like to see one Board Member from each district. I realize that these districts were drawn on the basis of school capacity and student population and therefore would not contain equal populations. Some adjustment would be required to draw voting districts.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, the change to single member districts is usually accomplished by a lawsuit and a court decision. In looking through the myriad of cases I have not found any where the courts have ruled for a total at-large board.

Lubbock decided on 5 SMDs to coincide with city council districts and two at-large members. They did this outside of court but under threat of a lawsuit. Lubbock had recently lost a lawsuit on a SMD city council.

Thank you for serving. I am still convinced you are the best Board member to be President. And thank you for any consideration you can give this matter.

Alden Nellis

Cc: Dr. Ronny Beard
Dr. Monte Geren
All Board Members
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