The Kern High School District is continuing the process of re-drawing their voting lines to be more inclusive to Latinos.
In March, trustees voted to redraw lines in the face of a potential lawsuit by the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which claimed gerrymandering by the district to exclude Latino representation in districts.
Monday night, the board listened to the public's input on how the new voting lines should be drawn.
The Dolores Huerta Foundation and its supporters argued that three of the boards five trustees live within a few miles of one another in the Rosedale area, therefor keeping the concentration of power in the northwest when they each maintain a district.
The board argues that their proposed maps combine the Latino majority community of Shafter with Arvin and Lamont, therefor strengthening the Latino majority in District 3.
Board trustee Jeff Flores adds that the voting maps proposed by the district are consistent with those used by the county, senate, congressional, and assembly districts.
According to the district's timeline, a final map is expected to be approved by the end of May.
