Council Advances Next Decade’s Ward Maps, COVID Vaccine Mandate for Students

It’s beginning to look at lot like Census here at the Council, and we’ve just settled down for a long winter’s map. While Census tracts and boundary adjustments might not make for the merriest holiday conversation, they are the gift that keeps on giving, since they by definition last a decade.

Decennial redistricting has at its core a profound and essential democratic and philosophical core value—the concept of “one person, one vote.” Across a decade, as population shifts, the residents of the most populous wards are technically under-represented, since a disproportionately large number of voters are sharing a single ward councilmember. Conversely, residents of under-populated wards are somewhat over-represented, since comparatively fewer voices select that ward’s councilmember. This time around, Ward 6’s population had grown too large, and Wards 7 and 8 were comparatively under-populated.

At its most recent Legislative Meeting, the Council approved, in the first of two necessary votes, the next decade’s ward boundaries. Leading up to this moment, a purpose-formed subcommittee of the Committee of the Whole did yeoman’s labor, holding eleven hearings, including one on each ward, to ensure that public input on the process was maximized. Data and mapping resources were opened up to the public as well, so that the community could not just comment on the redrawing of map boundaries, but also participate in establishing them. In fact, three community-drawn maps formed the basis for later-stage subcommittee discussions of how ward mapping should proceed.

The map the subcommittee approved based on feedback received on these community discussion maps formed the core of what the full Council just approved. Just four modifications were made by the Committee of the Whole to the subcommittee’s map, based on public response to the release of the that map.

The second and final vote on the proposed new ward map will occur at the Council’s next Legislative Meeting on December 21. Once the ward boundaries are finalized and set into law, the process of redrawing Advisory Neighborhood Commission boundaries, as well as the Single Member District boundaries within each ANC, will begin in earnest, and will wrap up in June.

Also at its most recent meeting, the Council approved, in the first of two necessary votes, a COVID vaccine mandate for DC’s students. Absent funds for immediate implementation of this mandate, and to allow time for it to be put into place, a Fall 2022 enforcement deadline was chosen. The mandate will only apply to those vaccines that have been fully approved for each age group, but, unlike federal policy, it would include boosters in the definition of “fully vaccinated” if and when boosters are fully approved.

The Council’s decision on whether or not to pause the mayor’s authority to remove homeless encampments during hypothermia season was postponed until December 21. An effort will be undertaken to develop a consensus policy that prioritizes housing first, avoids the excessive enforcement of past administration efforts, but perhaps allows certain limited public spaces, such as school property, to remain encampment free.

In a long-anticipated move, the Council also took the first of two necessary votes to strip the name of President Woodrow Wilson from Wilson High School, and to instead dub the school “Jackson-Reed High School.” This new name will honor two iconic educators: Edna Jackson, the school’s first Black teacher, and Vincent Reed, the school’s first Black principal, and later superintendent of DC Public Schools.

The Council will hold an Additional Legislative Meeting on December 21 and its next regularly scheduled Legislative Meeting on January 4, 2022.