Next week, Tustin Unified School District will undergo a major change when board members select a by-trustee map to replace at-large elections.

In two of the four proposed maps, all five current trustees live in different precincts — a detail that has raised some eyebrows. Scattered complaints of “gerrymandering” have popped up in Facebook posts, emails to local media and communications with district board members.

“I have encountered many community members asking the same questions,” said Jonathan Abelove, president of the Board of Trustees. “Many perceive the four options as gerrymandering to benefit current trustees.”

However, he said, the maps have been objectively drawn to fairly represent the district’s voters — not to protect trustees already in office.

“Each map has approximately 26,000 people, and two areas have a majority of minority populations,” he said. “Area 4” is predominately Latino, while “Area 2” is predominately Asian-American.

Traditionally, five board members have been chosen district-wide for four-year terms in staggered elections. Now they will run within precincts according to their home addresses.

Faced with potential litigation regarding the district’s at-large election system, board members voted in May to divide their currently shared jurisdiction into five precincts. Civil rights advocates argue that at-large elections, in which all voters choose from the same slate of candidates, can violate the California Voters Rights Act (CVRA) by overwhelming the minority voice.

Directly after holding its third and final public hearing to weigh the proposed maps, the Board of Trustees will select one of the drawings on Monday, July 10.

In April, Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman sent a letter to Tustin Unified demanding it carve out precincts.

“TUSD appears to have never elected a Latino board member,” he wrote, adding that Latinos comprise almost one-third of the district’s population.

Last month, Tustin Unified posted on its website four interactive map options — labeled cranberry, green, orange and teal. Viewers can click to see where TUSD’s four high schools, seven middle schools and 19 elementary schools would fall in the various precincts.

Trustee areas will not affect attendance boundaries, and incumbents will be allowed to complete their terms.

In two of the prospective maps — cranberry and green — none of the five current board members would ever face off against one another.

In the other two maps — orange and teal — James Laird and Francine Scinto would vie for Area 2 in 2020 should they choose to run. Both of those maps would leave Area 4 open to a newcomer in three years.

Regardless, Abelove said, “Each map meets the requirements of the CVRA and its overall objective to develop several areas which mirror the total population of the TUSD.”

The first hearing, sparsely attended, took place June 20. Justin Levitt with Glendale-based National Demographics Corp. — hired by the district to come up with logical boundaries — explained to trustees the rationale behind each map.

Board members expressed confidence in the blueprints, particularly applauding the fact that all high schools and most middle and elementary schools would be represented by more than one trustee.

“Overlap helps avoid fractionalization, in terms of paying attention only to the people who vote for you rather than to the entire district,” Scinto noted. “After all, we’re all human.”

Demographer Levitt said his firm attempts to take into account incumbency when possible.

“It is one factor among many that we consider,” he said. “The principle is that residents have elected them democratically.”

But Shenkman said incumbency should not be considered, pointing to the court’s decision in his victory five years ago against Palmdale — which, although 50 percent Latino, had never seated a Latino city council member. Palmdale lost to the tune of $7 million, including $4.6 million in reimbursement fees to Shenkman.

Since that ruling, most city and school district entities approached by Shenkman have fended off lawsuits by swiftly conceding to by-precinct elections — including in Buena Park, Costa Mesa, San Juan Capistrano, Garden Grove, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and, now, Tustin Unified.

In the Palmdale ruling, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark Mooney ordered that a special election be held six months later, saying incumbents “obtained their office through an unlawful election.”

Shenkman also questioned the timing of the elections.

“In each of the four maps, Area 4 — which has the largest Latino population — is not up for an election until 2020,” he said in an interview. “Yet this is the area that has been historically underrepresented on the school board.”

Area 4 includes neighborhoods near the intersection of the 55 and 5 Freeways and in the city of Santa Ana.

Lynn Davis, who lives in unincorporated North Tustin, and Abelove, who lives in Tustin Ranch, will be up for reelection in 2018.

The other three trustees were reelected in 2016 to serve until 2020: Laird and Scinto, both of North Tustin, and Bullard of central Tustin.

District spokesman Mark Eliot said that folding area 4 into a precinct that will be up for election next year was not feasible given demographics.

“The strength of the Latino voting bloc would be significantly decreased should the boundaries of area 4 stretch to include one of the two trustees with expiring terms for the 2018 election,” Eliot said. “Therefore, areas 1, 2 and 4 are open for election in 2020 – a presidential election year, where voter turnout is often at its highest.”

Whatever map is selected, it will be reanalyzed in 2021 after the 2020 Census Bureau is released, Levitt said. Demographers had to use 2010 statistics this time around, and since then, hundreds of homes have been added to the Tustin Legacy planned community.

And, whatever their precincts, Abelove assured, “Trustees will continue to represent and make decisions for the entire district.”