YPSILANTI, MI - Christina Oliver decided to send her son to Ypsilanti International Elementary School with the understanding he would be able to continue on the International Baccalaureate track through middle school.

Now, that plan is in jeopardy as demand for Ypsilanti Community Schools' International Baccalaureate programs has outpaced the space available at Washtenaw International Middle Academy (WIMA).

"I don't want to have to school shop, but I'm telling you I'm going to if my child does not get to go to WIMA or continue the IB track through middle school," said Oliver, whose son currently is in third grade.

Ypsilanti Schools opened Ypsilanti International Elementary School as an International Baccalaureate school for preschool through second grade in the 2016-17 school year, and it expanded to add third through fifth grade this school year.

Families were drawn to the rigorous curriculum with an emphasis on global citizenship -- and the promise that enrolling at YIES would guarantee their children a spot at Washtenaw International Middle Academy, an IB school for sixth through eighth graders.

However, YIES grew so quickly that now there will not be enough room to accommodate the school's current third graders - including Oliver's son - if they all want to go to WIMA when they reach sixth grade.

The district is facing a crossroads for the 2020-21 school year and beyond.

"If we don't think about what we're going to do now, we're going to have a community problem on our hands," said Superintendent Benjamin Edmondson during a board of education workshop on the future of Ypsilanti's IB programs on Tuesday, April 17.

WIMA has room for 64 incoming sixth graders each year, and YIES currently has 69 students in third grade and 70 students in second grade.

If YIES students fill all the seats at WIMA, that leaves no room for students from other Ypsilanti elementary schools who may want to attend WIMA or Schools of Choice students who live outside the district and want to transfer to WIMA.

Celeste Hawkins, vice president of the school board, noted that it was never the school board's policy to guarantee YIES students admission to WIMA, although district administrators touted the promise of seats at WIMA to families considering the new IB elementary school.

The board has not yet made a decision on whether it will continue to guarantee YIES students a spot at WIMA. In the meantime, district leaders are exploring options for adding on to the IB programs.

Edmondson said he's anticipating 20 percent of YCS students to be enrolled in an IB program in the 2018-19 school year.

To add more middle school IB seats in response to growing demand, he proposed gradually expanding YIES into a preschool through eighth grade program.

Extra classroom space could come from relocating the preschool through eighth-grade program to the current Ypsilanti Community Middle School building, which will be vacant starting in the 2018-19 school year; adding on to the current YIES building, located at 503 Oak Street, Ypsilanti; installing portable classrooms at YIES; or building a new school.

Funding for some of those options would require district residents to pass a sinking fund, which would generate additional property tax revenue for the school district, Edmondson said.

Board members Meredith Schindler and Maria Sheler-Edwards pushed back on the idea of creating a preschool through eighth-grade program as well as potentially moving YIES to the current YCMS building.

Schindler pointed out that the district is moving sixth through eighth graders out of Estabrook Learning Community going into the 2018-19 school year, because combining elementary and middle school grade levels in one school didn't prove to be successful.

Sheler-Edwards worried about creating instability for YIES by relocating the program.

"The school's thriving. It hasn't even finished its second year. ... I think the best thing you could do to destabilize a program is to start messing around with your configuration and your location," she said.

In general, the trustees expressed support for expanding the school district's IB offerings to include another sixth- through eighth-grade program, but they want to take more time to hear from parents and consider other options.

Another option Edmondson raised would be to move WIMA out of the building it shares with Washtenaw International High School and into a space where the middle school could accommodate more students - although that idea got little traction during the board's discussion.

Washtenaw International Middle Academy and Washtenaw International High School (WIHI) currently share a building, although the middle academy is part of Ypsilanti Schools and the international high school is under the authority of the Washtenaw Educational Options Consortium.

Starting in the 2018-19 school year, both schools will be run by the Washtenaw Educational Options Consortium, which is a collaboration of Washtenaw County's nine traditional public school districts and intermediate school district. Even as a WEOC program, Wasthenaw International Middle Academy will continue to enroll only Ypsilanti students.

Sheler-Edwards also proposed installing portable classrooms at WIMA as a way to add classroom space there without building a separate middle school IB program. Another option suggested by Schindler would be to create a middle school International Baccalaureate program within Ypsilanti Community Middle School.

The five parents who addressed the school board all voiced similar concerns about wanting to see equity within the school district in terms of which students have access to the IB programs and ensuring there are other high-quality options outside of International Baccalaureate.