The proposed countywide International Baccalaureate program got a boost Wednesday night last night when members of the Ann Arbor school board voted unanimously to join the program.

Despite some trustees’ reservations about the location of the new Washtenaw International High School and other concerns, board members said they believe they have to give Ann Arbor students the opportunity to participate.

“It is worth adding this to what I like to call the smorgasbord of educational opportunities in our district,” said vice president Susan Baskett.

The IB curriculum is a rigorous program of learning used around the world. More than 3,000 IB programs involving about 1 million students exist in 139 countries. There are 33 IB schools in Michigan. The Washtenaw Intermediate School District would run the new school. Other Washtenaw County districts are considering joining the program. The deadline is the end of October.

There would be 600 students at the school, with 150 students entering each of the first four years. Each participating district will be allocated a number of student slots according to its size. Students will be selected by random lottery.

Trustee Andy Thomas expressed the most reservations about joining the program. He said he is concerned about the site chosen to house the program, East Middle School in Ypsilanti.

Among his concerns were the conditions in the neighborhood surrounding the building, the distance from the western districts in the county and a possible lack of support from other districts in the county.

“All things considered, I really feel that I have no choice but to support … this plan, but I do have a lot of reservations,” he said. “Of all the many, many places in Washtenaw County I don’t feel this is the single best location for what is going to be a high visibility, elite program.”

Thomas asked Naomi Norman, WISD director of assessment, planning and research, if other sites could be considered if East is determined to be unsuitable.

Norman said that's a possibility.

“In the consortium agreement, we did factor in the potential of having multiple campuses,” she said. “It could be there’s a serious concern about a site location or it’s great and so popular that we want to open a second school to meet demand.”

Norman had told the board at its Sept. 29 meeting the WISD would front $250,000 to start the program in the first years. The proposed budget for the first full year of the program, the 2011-12 school year, is about $1.4 million. Participating districts would also help fund the program. Their cost would be determined by how many students participate.

Baskett also raised concerns about how teachers would be hired into the new school. She wanted to know if districts from the consortium, specifically Ann Arbor, would be given priority during the hiring process over teachers from outside districts.

Norman said teachers, who will still be employed by their districts and not by the WISD, will be hired in proportion to the size of the school districts in the consortium, similar to the student allotment.

“We are making a commitment in this hiring process to start with teachers who are current employees,” she said. “Only if we couldn’t find what we needed in terms of highly qualified teachers would we go outside.”

Trustee Glenn Nelson gave an “enthusiastic yes” to the program, saying it could be something that draws families from around the world to the Washtenaw County area.

“People form all over the world could be thinking to relocate to this place called Michigan and live near Detroit and they will find out about Ann Arbor and the IB program and will say great!,” he said. “I can go there two years and know what I’m getting and can go back to Japan or Germany or wherever and be fine.” Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.