NEW ORLEANS — The majority of students now attending Jefferson parish public schools are from minority communities.
According to school district numbers, 38% of the students are African American, 31% are Hispanic, 25% are white, 5% are Asian and 1% are from other ethnicities.
The current 9-member school board has six white members, two African Americans members and one Hispanic American.
“Our community has changed a bit,” school board member Billy North said. “We need listen to folks that feel like they need representation.”
There is now a push to redraw election districts to potentially grow the board to 11 or 13 members to reflect the parish’s mixed demographics more closely.
Nearly a third of the district’s 81 campuses now have majority Hispanic enrollment.
Diane schnell is currently the only Latin American on the board.
“I represent a group of people that do want to have a voice, deserve a voice and should have a voice,” Schnell said.
Rafael Saddy from the Kenner based Latin American Civic Association says when you look at the numbers, his community should have not one, but two seats on the board.
“The growth of the Hispanic community is not stopping,” Saddy said. “It’s going to continue to grow. We know that.”
Larry Dale, a former school board president, now with the Jefferson Business Council says the idea of expanding the board just came up last week.
He revealed the business community has concerns the public has not had enough time to comment on the matter.
North disagrees.
“We’ve been working on this since December of last year. I think it’s time to make a decision,” he said. “What’s going to happen tonight, I don’t know.”
At Wednesday night’s meeting, the Jefferson Parish School Board was expected to vote on redistricting plan that keeps the current election boundaries pretty much intact.
“We need to look at the numbers, the population and do it the right way,” Schnell said. “That’s what I believe is fair for everybody.”
If the school board expands to 11 members, the board may opt to also carve out an additional African American district.