Iberville Board Moves Forward With Redistricting

PLAQUEMINE, La. (AP) — The Iberville Parish School Board can ignore a 2010 Louisiana law requiring a reduction in membership from 15 to nine because the special mandate had not received pre-clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice.

However, Glenn Koepp, of Redistricting LLC, told the board Monday it could still submit a redistricting plan mapping out a nine-district setup if it chose to convert to the new model anyway.

The board is required to adopt a redistricting resolution by Dec. 31, following the release of population data from the 2010 census.

Koepp told The Advocate the board can draft and adopt plans with a varying number of members as long as the parish's 30,000 people are equally divided into districts that comply with state law and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.