Ypsilanti Community Schools

The amount of waste generated in schools per academic year can be staggering.  Fortunately, schools in Washtenaw County seek to change that.  This week, we talk with Randy Trent, director of operations for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, about introducing recycling programs in local schools.

Classes begin next Tuesday, September 6th in the Ann Arbor Public School District.

There are more than 17,000 students in the district making it the sixth largest district in the state.

I spoke with Dr. Jeanice Swift, who, this year, begins her fourth year as Ann Arbor's public school superintendent.

Ypsilanti Community Schools superintendent Dr. Benjamin Edmondson is entering his sophomore season in the position and says he's looking forward to raising his batting average.  

That means making some positive changes and continuing the momentum they have so far and approving student achievement and overall morale.

A vacant Ypsilanti Community Schools building will serve as temporary home for more than 400 displaced students from Allen Elementary in the Ann Arbor School District. 

School is out for most of Michigan, but many local school officials are still hard at work determining what's next for their district.

For some, that means looking for ways to improve the bottom line.

I spoke with Ypsilanti Community Schools' Superintendent Dr. Benjamin Edmondson about how his district is looking after his first year on the job.

The Ypsilanti community will gather this afternoon to remember a 14 year-old middle school student who died recently on school property.

Ypsilanti Community Schools' Grizzly Robotics team will compete in a national  contest this week. 

Ypsilanti Community Schools has decided to move forward with getting more information on the possibility of demolishing vacant school buildings.  

The principal of Ypsilanti Community High School Tanya Bowman has been placed on administrative leave.

The Ypsilanti Community Schools board of education will meet tonight. 

Ypsilanti Community Schools face some tough issues right now.  Doctor Benjamin Edmondson says there's a lot of work to be done but he is determined that high expectations are met not only in the schools but in the community.

Ypsilanti Community Schools is in the early planning stages to open an international elementary school in the district.

The Secretary of State’s mobile office will be issuing children’s ID cards to Ypsilanti parents at no cost tomorrow.

Varsity football at Ypsilanti Community Schools will now be lead by former University of Michigan running back coach Fred Jackson.

The announcement was made Wednesday by YCS  superintendent Ben Edmondson.

Jackson spent 24 years as an assistant coach at the U of M. He says he wants to raise Ypsilanti’s football program to the level of recognition the district’s basketball program has.

Jackson says,

More than 800 Ypsilanti Community Schools students will receive brand new tablets to use this school year, for free. 

Every student at Washtenaw International Middle School and 600 at Ypsi Community Middle School will have a new Samsung tablet and 24/7 internet access through the academic year.

Yen Azzaro is with the district:

“They’re really going to be on the cutting edge of using classroom software that hasn’t been used in a widespread fashion in the past. So we will be models for other schools that are looking to do similar programs.” 

Around 100 volunteers showed up this morning at eight Ypsilanti Community Schools to cheer students on as the new school year began. 

Staff and community leaders will help show off the work and achievements of students at Ypsilanti Community Schools Middle School . An inter-disciplinary educational program focused on sustainability culminates on Thursday, June 11 with a Sustainability Summit. Science and Humanities teacher Cheryl Plouffe guests on this week's 'Issues of the Environment.'

The Ypsilanti Community Schools Board of Education will have a much different look following Tuesday's election, and there are a couple of reasons for that.

For one, the board will be comprised exclusively of women.  The five men serving on the original board were not elected. 

And only two incumbents will be returning - Maria Sheler-Edwards and Dr. Celeste Hawkins. 

Voters Tuesday chose to return just two of the incumbent Ypsilanti Community Schools Board of Education to the panel.

One of them was Maria Sheler-Edwards, who says the district needs to "stay the course."

“We put some great programs in place,” Sheler-Edwards says, “we have a balanced budget this year, and we need to make sure that we continue being financially responsible, bring up our achievement and stabilize our enrollment.”

The union representing teachers and support staff in Ypsilanti Community Schools is out with its list of school board candidate endorsements.  Only one of them is an incumbent.

Ypsilanti Community Schools Education Association President Kelly Powers says the endorsed candidates have a "great vision for the future of our district."  She says they "also see some of the concerns that are there and will address them in an appropriate manner."

Enrollment in Ypsilanti Community Schools is down from a year ago, but that does not come as a surprise to district administrators.

Superintendent Laura Lisiscki  says count day enrollment came in at about 4,300 students, right around what the district budgeted for. 

That's compared to 4,542 students last year. 

Lisiscki expects this year's numbers to go up once adult education and preschool numbers are added.

Some help is on the way for Ypsilanti Community Schools students who want to go to college but can't afford the tuition.  The Ypsilanti Promise scholarship program is similar to the Kalamazoo Promise.

It would pay for college at Washtenaw Community College or Eastern Michigan University for students who graduate from Ypsilanti Community High School. 

Karen Gabrys chairs the committee setting up the scholarship program. 

With the start of classes just a few days away,  Ypsilanti Community Schools would still like to hire  five to seven more bus drivers.

The Washtenaw Intermediate School District handles transportation for Y-C-S students. 

The principal at Ypsilanti's Holmes Elementary School says they're making progress toward climbing out of the bottom 5 percent in the state's top-to-bottom rankings of schools.

The Ypsilanti Community Schools Board of Education got an update from Charles Raski and other school staffers at Monday night's meeting. 

Cameras are everywhere these days.  On building corners, utility poles, cell phones, you name it.  And starting this fall, you'll also be able to find cameras in Ypsilanti Community Schools district busses.

Superintendent Laura Lisiscki says putting cameras on busses is being done for the safety of everyone on that bus.

 "It's just about making sure that we understand that it's just one more tool in the toolbox for keeping kids safe in this day and age," Lisiscki says. "That's it."