6/24/21, letter sent about 3:00 pm Hearing with Attorneys on 2021 Redistricting Process

While I will be attending this hearing, there was no place scheduled in it for public comment. This is an email I sent to the Board regarding embarrassing errors made by DISD in 2011 that appear to be in the process of being repeated.  A link to this letter is included at www.Dallasisd.us.

============== Letter sent to DISD Board 6/24/21 11:45 pm ============

Honorable President Mackey, Dr. Hinojosa, and all Dallas ISD Trustees,

In 2011, and since, I have been very involved in multiple redistricting processes including the City of Dallas, DISD, Irving ISD, Texas House, and Senate, and U.S. Congressional Districts for Texas.  Redistricting is a major weak spot in our Democracy.  Since 2011 I have become an active member of the League of Women Voters.  I consider them to be the masters of these issues.

We must redistrict so that the public is not confused by strangely shaped districts that do not reflect their communities.  We can shape districts so that voting is encouraged and increased by compact, community-centered districts that use significant boundaries and do not break up neighborhoods by using residential streets.  I strongly agree with you that complete high school feeder patterns should be in one district to the fullest extent possible!  I am very willing to work to achieve that noble goal.

In 2011 Dallas City Council took the lead in Texas by having what was probably one of the most public and transparent redistricting processes in the nation!  There was maximum public involvement with probably one of the smallest percentage expenditures being on attorneys for redistricting by Dallas.  Dallas ISD appears to be starting again with a more fully attorney-ran redistricting process that shuts out the public.  I hope that perception is wrong.  

There has been an explosion of redistricting software since 2011, including free software that the public can use.  All they need is a DISD csv map file which you can easily make available so that the public can do the redistricting for you for free.  You do not need to pay expensive attorneys to draw a map. 

This is a link to the August 26, 2011 blog I posted to compare Dallas City Council Redistricting with DISD Redistricting: http://dallasredistricting2011.blogspot.com/2011/08/redistricting-disd-vs-dallas-city.html.  

Please learn from the City of Dallas and the improvements they have made for 2021.  More improvements must be made, but Dallas is seeing wonderful progress.

Please make the DISD process public wherein the public can draw their own maps online for submission to a DISD Redistricting Commission.  Have many public meetings for this process.

Please have DISD high school level government classes involved so they can learn from how the City of Dallas and Dallas ISD go about the redistricting process. This is a priceless opportunity for education.

Please post all maps submitted on DISD Redistricting pages so that the public can more easily understand the process and hopefully more of the public will become involved.

This is a priceless opportunity for DISD to fulfill their public goals of teaching about our democracy and the elements that help achieve one person one vote. 

Thank you for listening.  I am willing to help you achieve these goals.

Bill

Bill Betzen, volunteer

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