Grand Blanc Community Schools

Grand Blanc Community Schools
Grand Blanc School District
Location
Genesee County, Michigan
United States
District information
President Mike Blondel
Superintendent Norman Abdella[1]
Other information
Intermediate District Genesee
Website grandblanc.schoolfusion.us

Grand Blanc Community Schools, or Grand Blanc School District, is a school district that serves the city of Grand Blanc, most of the Grand Blanc Township, parts of the City of Burton, Mundy Township, Atlas Township in Genesee County, Michigan and part of Holly Township, Michigan in Oakland County, Michigan.[2]

History

Grand Blanc was home to what was believed to be the first school between Waterford and Mackinaw, a frame structure built in 1830 on Perry Road by pioneer settler Edmund Perry. By the 1880s, there were eleven one-room schoolhouses in Grand Blanc Township, with names including the Whigville, Sherwood, Grand Blanc, Butler, Cook, Walker, Mason, Porter, Halsey, Hoffman and Lunn Schools. The Grand Blanc Village School was originally built in 1867 at the corner of Saginaw Street and Perry Road as a two-story brick building. It was demolished in 1890 and replaced with a two-room brick structure.

The first consolidated school in the state was formed in Grand Blanc when the Cook and Porter Schools united with the Grand Blanc School in 1903 and 1904, respectively. Students were brought to the school by two horse-drawn buses. In 1919 the Walker and Hoffman Schools consolidated and the Grand Blanc Rural Agricultural School was formed, establishing a ten-grade high school. Anyone who wished to finish the 11th and 12th grades had to travel to Flint High School. The Grand Blanc Township Unit School was formed in 1920, uniting all of the individual one-room schools and the central school as one school district. The main building burned to the ground on December 9, 1920; the result of a stove in the home economics classroom exploding.

The following March, construction began on a 15-classroom school building on the same site. It opened on January 9, 1922 with an enrollment of 350. The first high school class, of three students, graduated that year. As enrollment grew, additions were made to the building in 1924, 1926, 1938, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1964. As the population of Grand Blanc grew after World War II, three elementary schools were built in the 1950s. The first, the Paul McGrath Elementary School, opened in 1956. This was followed by the Myers Elementary School in 1957 and the A. J. Brendel Elementary School in 1960.

A new high school building was built just to the south of the original building in 1962, opening in 1963. The original school became a junior high school; it was renamed for school board member Ezra Perry in 1967. The Reid and Indian Hill Elementary Schools, identical buildings, were opened in 1964. The McGrath School became a junior high school in 1967, necessitating the construction and opening of the Cook and Anderson Elementary Schools the same year.

Overcrowding at the high school lead to split schedules in the late 1960s, and plans were made for a new high school. It was built just west of the current building, opening in 1976 as the West Campus High School. Both buildings were used in one high school campus. Not long after, enrollment began to decline in the district and in the Reid, Cook and Anderson Schools were closed. Both junior high buildings were consolidated into the West Campus building, which was renamed Grand Blanc Middle School. The original school building from 1922 became a multi-use district building.

As enrollment increased in the 1990s and 2000s, the elementary schools were reopened. A large addition was made to the high school, opening in 2000. Additions were made to the Reid, Brendel and Indian Hill Schools in 2002, followed by the construction of the Lillian Mason Elementary School, which opened in 2003. The most recent additions to the district were two middle schools, built in the east and west sides of Grand Blanc Township, which opened in 2006. At the same time, a new field house was added to the high school.

In 1992, the School District shut down its alternative education program. In 2007, Grand Blanc Schools restarted its alternative education program, The Center For Student Success, on the High School west campus.[3]

Athletics

Grand Blanc
School Grand Blanc High School
Conference Lakes
Kensington Lakes Activities West
Athletic director Jared Dohm
Varsity teams Boys: Basketball, Football, Ski Lacrosse;
Girls: Cheerleading, Basketball, Swim & Dive, Water Polo, Golf, Pom, Lacrosse, Softball, Volleyball
Nickname Bobcats
Colors Red, Black, and White
              
Website Grand Blanc Athletics
League Start End
County B 1950 1960
Big 8/9 1960/1962 2009
KLAA 2009 present

[4]

In 2006, the entire Big Nine Conference applied for membership in the Flint Metro League to encourage discussion on a merger with only a single team accepted.[5] Grand Blanc Schools moved to the Kensington Lakes Activities Association starting in 2009-2010 season.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rabinowitz, Nyssa (July 26, 2011). "Grand Blanc Board of Education approves hiring Dr. Norman Abdella as district's ninth superintendent". The Flint Journal. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  2. ↑ Shively, J. "Genesee ISD" (PDF). Michigan Center for Geographic Information. State of Michigan. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  3. ↑ York, Sally A. (October 2, 2007). "Grand Blanc School District brings back alternative education". The Flint Journal.
  4. ↑ "Grand Blanc Bobcats". Michigan High School Football. BusStop Computing. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  5. ↑ Khan, Bill. "Kear sley invited to join Metro League". Flint Journal (Advance Newspapers). p. 2. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  6. ↑ Grand Blanc to leave Big Nine Conference for Kensington Lakes league next fall

External links

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