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Rylee Barnsdale's Feature Article: Ypsi middle school relocates, expanding facilities and programming
Ypsilanti Community Middle School
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You're listening to 89 one WEMU. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. School is back in session, and Ypsilanti middle school students are in a new home this year. As of Monday, August 26th, Ypsilanti Community Middle School's new home is 235 Spencer Lane, taking up residence in the former Willow Run Middle School's 175-square foot campus. With me to talk about how this move was possible and what exciting things are in store for the school is YCMS Principal Charles Davis. Principal Davis, thanks so much for being here!
Charles Davis: Thank you! It's my pleasure!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, this is a pretty momentous move. This campus is twice the size as the previous middle school location. How long did it take to get from talking about moving to 235 Spencer to where we are now?
Charles Davis: So, I think the board approved us maybe December of 2023. And after that board meeting, it's been every day working logistics and planning and even bringing in students, parents, staff members just to get everybody's input on how we do it and the manner in which we do it.
Rylee Barnsdale: The phrase "it takes a village," I've heard, get thrown around a lot over the past few weeks of this move.
Charles Davis: Yep. Our facilities department and the technology department has been invaluable in this whole process and the move. And I always have to say our board just to having a trust in us to be able to expand and grow because it's that facility is what's best for our kids, because it's the newest building in our district and just a lot of the amenities that we have our kids deserve to actually use.
Rylee Barnsdale: And we mentioned the size being one of the major differences between the two locations. But what are some of the other key things kind of setting this building apart from the last, as far as the facilities go? What's new for the students this year?
Charles Davis: So, for us, we feel really blessed because being the only middle school in the district, there is an eight-lane pool. The high school at Ypsi High is a six-lane pool. We have two gyms, 800-plus seats for the auditorium, the two story media center. We have a makerspace that we're developing right now. There are just so many different amenities. The choir room, the technology room, the band. We want that to grow, too. We have space for Bright Futures, and 826Michigan will be there. It's just...I don't know. We're just really, really blessed to have just this space and we're filling it up!
Rylee Barnsdale: And the motto for YCS, as a whole, is "Stronger Together." How did the school community really come together in the decision making processes for how this new building would look and feel? You mentioned there was a lot of community back-and-forth between the school and the board, the families, the staff. How did folks really come together for this?
Charles Davis: So, I think the board voted and, I don't know if it was a lot of input on if we were going to do it, but what we did is we opened it up to how should we do it and the manner in which it should be happen. And they've used their facility to do Grizzly Learning Camp for years. And so, we didn't do it that year. They redid floors and installed over 100 cameras and put big cue boards--the smart boards--in every room. I mean, thousands of ceiling tiles. I mean, new furniture. All the furniture in our building is new. So, that alone was a lot of money. It's sort of like building a house trying to come up with all the amenities. And so, talking to students and different grade levels, even the fifth graders that were coming into our building, we didn't have the ability to bring a lot of the fifth graders over so they could see the space. But there's not another middle school around that our students go to that have a pool. So, we want all of our kids to learn how to swim and things of that nature. So, it's just a lot of asking--like you said, stronger together. But you also got to find out what they want and what they need to feel like they are part of it.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm Rylee Barnsdale talking with YCMS principal Charles Davis. Principal Davis, as you mentioned, this move comes after the school district receiving National Fostering Diverse Schools grant program in order to expand STEAM and International Baccalaureate programming. How do you see these new and updated facilities now that we're in them also impacting the way students are learning? How are they interacting with teachers in the classrooms and things like that?
Charles Davis: So, we were blessed to get this magna school grant. It's almost, I think, it's five years, almost $15 million. And so, part of being a magna school is a shift in our district. A lot of our best students in Ypsi were going to YMI and Y-Hi Elementary with us and go there because of the IB program, so us having a IB program and the high school having an IB program. So, you have Y's and then you had a middle school and you had a high school. So, it's a vertical alignment. So, that's a huge part of that, I think, just more than anything. I came in last year, and we changed the culture. The behavior went down a lot. Academics went up. We just started National Junior Honor Society. Student council came back. We took kids to Washington, DC. We also took kids from engineering to Atlanta and Charlotte. We went to Africa and Amsterdam. So, when you think about some of the changes that took place, it started with the behavior and really focusing on classroom management. We went from 90 minutes to 45 minute classes. So, it wouldn't be a lot of downtime. So, it's a lot of those kind of things that has attributed to where we are. And because our behavior got better, it's easier to focus on more academics once you have everything else in place.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure. This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with Charles Davis, principal of Ypsilanti Community Middle School. And I know some other YCS and community resources are also on the campus, just on the opposite side of the building that the middle school is in: things like the YCS Resiliency Center and Homeless Youth Program, as well as the local community kitchen, Rosie's Kitchen. Is there a hope that, with all of this additional space, that this may lead to even more community partnership opportunities for the school? Is that something that you are hoping to pursue once everything is settled?
Charles Davis: So, partnerships are always good. I think the tough part is how do you have a school with 500-plus kids and have community partners inside? So, I know we had a church at one time, but now the church has moved on, but we don't really do a lot of school on Sundays, so that wasn't a hard thing. The Resiliency Center is one of the most amazing...I almost want to say is the best kept secret because they work with our neediest students, and it's amazing what they have over there to offer. We are always open to partnerships. The Aquinas group, they just gave us a grant. And we're going to be doing neuroscience activities.
Rylee Barnsdale: Oh, wow!
Charles Davis: CIS is a great partner that we have, the Ra Center. We have a clinic right in the building. So, you can get a lot of that stuff in: your shots and they do mental health things. They also do physicals and things like that. They're right there in the building. We filled up the building. We don't have a whole lot extra space, but we definitely have always we have room for community partners to come in. I know Parkridge is a huge partner for us. And Ozone, they come in and they do a lot of work with a lot of our kids. So, yeah, we're definitely open, but we don't have as much space as people think we do. Bright Futures is another program that is in our building through EMU. So, they do a lot of afterschool programing with us. So, yeah, we are open, but it's a big building--
Rylee Barnsdale: It filled up fast!
Charles Davis: Yup. We filled up all of it and still looking for more space.
Rylee Barnsdale: So, Principal Davis, we kind of talked about folks getting acclimated with the new space. Now that school has started, what has the reception kind of been like? How are students and staff...are they starting to feel at home in the space?
Charles Davis: Yes, I think we all are! Having the facilities department doing such an amazing job of moving everything from the middle school at the east campus to the new campus, it's set us up for success. The number of students and parents and people in the community that came to our ribbon-cutting--it was more than amazing! Just the vibe, I mean, you were there. It was a lot of people there.
Rylee Barnsdale: Yeah. It was wonderful!
Charles Davis: It was. And I think having the people, the $42 million being forgiven and our superintendent did a great job with getting that taken care of and relieving the the debt from the people in that area. Everybody over there wanted to know why we're not using that building. And so now, we're using it. And, again, that's where we want to people to know, like the kids--we're pushing them to do sports. So, they're there after school. We want to be more of a community center school. So, they're there from seven in the morning to generally 7:00 at night. So, we want them to feel comfortable. We want everybody to know that we're open, and they don't have a reason to go anywhere else.
Rylee Barnsdale: Principal Davis, I want to thank you so much for being here to give us a look into YCMS's new home. I am sure that you and the whole YCMS family is just so excited to see what the rest of this year and the coming years look like. It's looking like, I mean, a bright future ahead!
Charles Davis: Absolutely, absolutely!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at wemu.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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