Transition to By-Trustee Area Election System & California Voting Rights Act (CVRA)

Transition to a New System of Electing Board of Trustees Members

April 27, 2023

Dear Castro Valley Unified School District Community:

I am writing to update you and to encourage your participation in an important process led by the Castro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees.

On April 26, 2023, the District initiated the process of transitioning the method by which the Board of Trustees are elected.  Under the current “at-large” system, all registered voters in the District’s boundaries can vote for all candidates for Board.  Under the new proposed system, candidates will be elected by “trustee areas.”  This means only voters within a given trustee area can vote for candidates who reside within that same area.  The intent of this proposed system is to offer greater opportunities for Board representation for candidates that might not otherwise be elected under an at-large system.  

Transitioning to this new system will require the Board to hold public hearings on proposed trustee area boundaries (or maps) prior to asking the County Committee on School District Organization to approve the change.  If the Committee approves the change, “by-trustee area” voting would be held starting with the 2024 Board of Trustees election, on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.  

The District will be utilizing the services of a professional demographer to prepare draft trustee voting area plans for community and Board review.  The demographer will work with the District’s legal counsel to ensure that all draft trustee area map options are in compliance with the California Voting Rights Act (“CVRA”) and other districting requirements.  The process of establishing the trustee areas will involve using the demographic data from the 2020 Census, in addition to other, accepted population and demographic information.  Please note, that this process has no impact on student and school attendance boundaries.

Before draft map options can be prepared and presented to the community, the law requires the District to hold two public hearings to solicit comments and feedback regarding potential trustee areas.  Thereafter, the District will be hosting a series of public hearings regarding the map options, once created.  The dates/times and locations of the upcoming public hearings are shown below.  You are invited to attend as many as you would like.  If you cannot attend a hearing or meeting and wish to review and/or comment regarding potential trustee areas as well as on the proposed “trustee area” maps, once created, please do not hesitate to submit your comments and feedback to the email address below.  Following the initial public hearings, the proposed maps will be created and posted on the District’s web site.  

Please feel free to contact Aimee Cayere, Executive Assistant, with any comments or questions by calling 510-537-3000 extension 1211 or by email at [email protected]

We look forward to your participation in this important process in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Parvin Ahmadi 
Superintendent