Invest in Kids Map Justification

Central Unified School District

Communities for a New California Education Fund has brought residents together to inform a map for Central Unified School District. The Invest in Kids Map keeps communities of interest whole, provides a more accurate balance of representation, and ensures the smallest possible percentage of population deviation; all while in line with federal and state laws.  

The Invest in Kids map reflects countless community of interest notes from residents. An outline of specific changes are included below district by district.

The Supreme Court recognizes keeping communities of interest whole as a key part of the map-drawing process and the FAIR MAPS act has established this as a priority in California. A jurisdiction’s communities of interest are its overlapping sets of neighborhoods, networks, and groups that share interests, priorities, views, cultures, histories, languages, and values. There are many elements that can define a community of interest, like: 

• Racial & ethnic compositions, cultural identities, & language.
• Schools, housing, & transit. 
• Income & education levels. 
• Churches, temples, mosques, homeowner associations, & community centers.

An example of a Community of Interest that we have identified as part of this map creation in Central Unified is Biola. It is a rural community that is overwhelmingly Latino. The families there largely work as Farmworkers. These similarities make Biola a Community of Interest (COI).

As you read through the document you will find more specifics on how each Trustee Area was grouped neighborhood by neighborhood.

Trustee Area 1

Grantland Ave, Corridor District

District 1 areas include:

• Island Water Park

• West of Hayes Ave

• North of Olive Ave

• East of Grantland Ave

• Harvest Elementary

• Glacier Point Middle School

• Justin Garza High School

The Grantland Avenue. Corridor District predominantly consists of newer neighborhoods with many things in common. Though it has the lowest Black CVAP, neighborhoods are still very diverse as the makeup consists of many Latino, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and White families. Many of the people living in these homes are multi-generational families. The incomes are mixed, however, the neighborhoods feel diversely similar as you travel through this district.

This Trustee Area has the highest Asian CVAP.

CVAP Data

• Total POC: 68.5%
  • Latino: 43.8%
  • Asian: 20.6%
  • Black: 2.9% 
• White: 31.5%

Trustee Area 2

New Fig Garden 

District 2 areas include:

• New Fig Garden

• West of 99

• River Bluff Elementary,

• Saroyan Elementary

• Rio Vista Middle School

• Marketplace at El Paseo

• Save-Mart / GB3 Shopping Center

The New Fig Garden Trustee Area is mostly kept together by Herndon Avenue, Freeway 99, and Cornelia Avenue. This ends up keeping the New Fig Garden area whole. To balance the population, this Trustee Area also takes in the neighborhood between Grantland Avenue, Bullard Avenue, and Highway 99. It keeps this neighborhood whole. This district is very diverse making up a total of 61.4% Person of Color Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP).

CVAP Data

• Total POC: 61.4%
  • Latino: 38.4%, 
  • Asian: 12.7%, 
  • Black: 7.6%, 
• White: 38.6%

Trustee Area 3

Northern Trustee Area

District 3 areas include:

• Herndon/Milburn

• Riverside Golf Course

• Bluff Pointe Golf Course

• Liddell Elementary

• Herndon-Barstow Elementary

The Northern Trustee Area encompasses everything within the district bordering the San Joaquin River. It keeps whole the neighborhoods north of Herndon, east of Freeway 99, west of Blythe, and south of the river. The western end of the district ends at the intersection of Shaw Avenue and Sycamore Avenue. Shaw Avenue is the southernmost point of the district. It does, however, use Garfield Avenue and Grantland Avenue minimally as a boundary. It had to absorb parts of the neighborhood on Bullard Avenue and Garfield Avenue to balance out the population deviation of the entire map. Though it's the least diverse Trustee Area in this map, it has a Person of Color CVAP majority at 55.5%. The White population has its highest percentage at 44.5%. 

CVAP Data:

• Total POC: 55.5%
  • Latino: 31.4%, 
  • Asian: 15.0%, 
  • Black: 8.8%
• White: 44.5%

Trustee Area 4

Rural & Clinton/Brawley Neighborhood District

District 4 areas include:

• Biola, Clinton/Brawley, rural areas 

• Roosevelt Elementary

• Madison Elementary

• McKinley Elementary

• Hanh Phan Tilley Elementary

• Houghton-Kearney Elementary

• Kearney Park

• Jaswant Singh Khalra (formerly Victoria) Park

• Save-Mart / CVS Shopping Center

This Trustee Area is the district with the most geography and slightly with the least amount of people. All this was intentional to ensure that rural areas are kept whole as much as possible because of their similarities. The population in the rural areas is very low so the population balance was completed by also incorporating the neighborhood mostly south of the Clinton & Brawley area. We feel that this neighborhood makes the most sense to incorporate with rural areas like Biola because of the cultural similarities, income levels, and overall educational needs. 

The area significantly uses Shaw Avenue. as a northernmost boundary with other districts as well as Grantland Avenue, Olive Avenue, Blythe Avenue, and Clinton Avenue. 

CVAP Data

• Total POC: 65.9%
  • Latino: 44.5%
  • Asian: 11.4%
  • Black: 8.5%
• White: 34.1%

Trustee Area 5

Highway City District

District 5 areas include:

• Highway City 

• Teague Elementary

• Inspiration Park

• Highway City Community Science Center / Park

• Highway City Thrift

The biggest feature of this Trustee Area is that it keeps the Highway City sphere of influence intact. Highway City is currently divided. A significant amount of our Communities of Interest collected prioritize keeping this area whole. This area is primarily kept together by Ashlan Avenue to the south, Hayes Avenue to the west, a canal as its distinguishing boundary to its northernmost point at its historic core above Shaw Avenue, and Golden State Blvd. to the east. This trustee area features Polk Avenue as its primary north/south corridor, and Shaw Avenue. as its primary east/west corridor, with the Shaw and Polk Avenue intersection at the heart of the district.

The area has the highest Latino CVAP at 46.8% and a very high POC total CVAP at 76.5%, just shy of being the highest. It also has the highest Black CVAP tied with Area 7 at 13.5%, which strengthens the voice of that demographic. 

CVAP Data

• Total POC: 76.5%
  • Latino: 46.8%
  • Asian: 15.5%
  • Black: 13.5%
• White: 23.5%

Trustee Area 6

Central East/Cornelia Corridor Neighborhood 

District 6 areas include:

• Central East High School

• Polk Elementary

• El Capitan Middle School

• John Steinbeck Elementary 

This is another Trustee Area that can perform well for POC at 71.3%. The Asian CVAP would be the second-highest at 19.7% and the Latino CVAP is strong at 41.2%. The diversity is similar to all the districts but what stands out is that it does its best to keep the older part of the district together near Central East High School. This District primarily uses Polk Avenue, Blythe Avenue, Olive Avenue, and Ashlan Avenue to create boundaries. 

CVAP Data

• Total POC: 71.3%
  • Latino: 41.2%
  • Asian: 19.7%
  • Black: 8.2%
• White: 28.7% 

Trustee Area 7 

Shields/Brawley Neighborhood

District 7 areas include:

• Shields & Dakota Intersection

• Mostly Apartments - Shields / Parkway

• Central Unified Adult Education

• Freshco Food Center

The heart of this Trustee Area is Shields and Brawley Avenues. This district has the smallest radius along with the Highway City district and the highest total POC CVAP at 77.9%. With the White CVAP at 22.1%, this district has the most diverse CVAP in general. 

The boundaries of this district are Cornelia and Dakota Avenues to the northwest, Ashlan and Blythe Avenues to the furthest mid-point north, Clinton Avenue to the south, and the historic Parkway Drive, which runs parallel to the new Freeway 99 four-lane extension, where Shields Avenue terminates, and now connects to Marks Avenue.

CVAP Data

• Total POC: 77.9%

Latino: 43.3%

Asian: 18.0%

Black: 13.5%

• White: 22.1%