By Elizabeth Lowe
Staff writer

Goodrich ? With a likely housing development promising scores of new students, some Goodrich parents think it’s time to explore options, including redistricting.
‘We will have to add trailers for classrooms, hold classes in hallways and gyms, and cut programs like art, band, choir, and athletics,? said parent Karen Warner in a recent statement to the Goodrich Board of Education regarding the proposed Glendale Farms Partnership. ‘I am requesting that the Goodrich School Board formally request the Grand Blanc School Board to redistrict.?
The proposed 315-acre development is situated near Vassar and Baldwin roads in Grand Blanc Township. If approved, the development will add a total of 538 units to the Goodrich School District including both single and multiple- dwellings, said Atlas Township Supervisor Paul Amman in a September interview with The Citizen. The influx of students to Goodrich schools is projected to be nearly 1,000 over the next 10 years, based on an average of 1.9 students per household.
Too many new students at once would inflict intolerable growing pains on the district, say parents.
‘We have built two new schools in the past six years to ease the (previously) expected growth of 60 to 100 new students per year,? said Warner. ‘We do not have the facilities to handle the rapid influx of new students.?
Goodrich Board of Education Trustee Michael Tripp will represent the board at the Grand Blanc Township Planning Commission public hearing, scheduled to be held during the commission’s 7:30 p.m. meeting Nov. 6 at the Grand Blanc Government Center, located at 5371 S. Saginaw St. in Grand Blanc. Goodrich Schools superintendent Raymond Green plans to send a letter opposing the development.
Green has directed school attornies to investigate redistricting in case the development is approved by the Grand Blanc Township Planning Commission.
‘People are already paying 7.75 mils, they’re not anxious for more students,? said Green.
Although redistricting property continguous with a school district’s boundary lines normally begins with resident land owners, the Goodrich School Board could initiate the action, said Martin Ackley, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Education in Lansing.
The Goodrich Board of Education could pass a resolution requesting the Genesee Intermediate School District approve transfer of the property to Grand Blanc Schools. The GISD would then hold a hearing with both districts before issuing a decision, Ackley said.
Grand Blanc Schools is already struggling with growth, having added 540 students in the past year.
‘We’ve grown by close to 1,500 students over the last five years,? said Grand Blanc Schools Superintendent Gary Lipe, who doesn’t feel taxpayers would welcome expansion of the district’s boundary lines. ‘We’re anticipating growth by more than 45 percent over the next five to seven years, just with what’s already been approved.?
Short of redistricting, Goodrich has few options except to prepare for expansion.
‘We could probably borrow enough to build additions without raising the 7.75 mils,? said Green, ‘but you’d pay longer into the future.?
Fred Goldberg, who is a partner in developing the Grand Blanc Township property that’s been in his family for more than 40 years, says the Glendale Farms Partnership hopes to build the development in five phases, depending on economic conditions.
‘It could take three to five years or longer, but first we’ve got to get it approved,? Goldberg said.
Green estimates it would take a minimum of four years to build additions on the schools.