Novi Times

The South Lyon Community Schools' Board of Education is exploring a redrawing of elementary school boundaries.

At its Feb. 7 board meeting, members heard a proposal concerning the new Hasenclever Farms housing development. It is currently under construction and will soon have a total of 50 homes between phase I and phase II. 

The neighborhood is west of Griswold Road and north of 8 Mile road. Eighteen of the 20 homes from phase I are already occupied, and the 30 homes of phase II are under construction. 

There is at least one family in this neighborhood with a child in the district, although the boundary changes will not affect where the student attends. The neighborhood is currently split between two schools, with the phase I homes to attend Sayre Elementary and phase II homes to attend Salem Elementary. 

“Much cleaner from a transportation standpoint,” said Steven Archibald, superintendent of South Lyon Community Schools. “When we make the decision, we talk to the principals in both schools, we talk to the pupil accounting department, and we talk to transportation. 

"We're looking at multiple factors because so many things are interconnected that you may change something over here and have the unintended consequence over here." he added. "But this seems to be a straightforward, common-sense move.”

The district prefers not to split up neighborhoods between different schools. It would greatly improve the ease of transportation to keep all of Hasenclever Farms development on one bus route.

The school district proposed enveloping all of the neighborhood into the Sayre Elementary borders, attending the school to the north. Salem Elementary already has a much broader footprint than Sayre. 

The district also took into consideration classroom space and enrollments before making the decision to ensure any families moving into the new neighborhood will have no issues with their students enrolling at a school. This change does not affect the middle school or high school boundary lines, although Sayre boundaries are cut in half by both jurisdictions.

The board also made some amendments to the school code pertaining to children of non-resident school employees. Children of South Lyon employees are allowed to attend the school in which their parent works, and this will not change. 

The change will allow a student to finish the year if their parent resigns, but after the academic year, they will have to change schools.