The Bryan County Board of Education unanimously approved Monday new school board districts that could eventually force a change in the make up of the sitting board members.

The districts approved during the board’s called meeting at G.W. Carver Elementary School are based on the proposed county districts that were expected to be voted on by county commissioners during their regular meeting Tuesday in South Bryan.

The proposed changes would shift the southern border of District 2 in North Bryan into the northernmost part of the current District 3 in South Bryan and would be served by the District 2 representative, which is currently BoE member Dennis Seger.

Because that area is where District 3 BoE member Charlie Johnson resides, the change would cause Johnson to lose his district to District 4 BoE member Joe Pacenka. This is because the shift shrinks the geographical size of the current District 3 while expands that of the current District 4.

These changes won’t take effect until after they approved at the federal level, so Johnson would remain in office until his term expires in 2012.

According to BoE Chairman Eddie Warren, Johnson would then have the option of running for a countywide seat of chairman or vice chairman, or running for the District 2 seat, which also goes up for grabs in 2012. Pacenka would automatically become the District 3 BoE representative until the end of his term in 2014, and a new representative would be elected for District 4 in 2012, he said.

Warren said the BoE does not have to have the same districts as the county. However, he said the board feels residents in Bryan County would “be better off” if the school districts coincide with the county districts.

Read more in the Aug. 10 edition of the News.