Plymouth-Canton Educational Park - Campus

Campus

The campus is 305 acres (1.2 km²), although much of this is athletic fields. Students may have classes in all four academic buildings, even though each student is assigned to one "home school" from which he or she is to graduate from and play sports for. Students are permitted 10 minutes passing time to walk among their classes. There has been criticism that it is unsafe for students to walk though several inches of snow, but the superintendent still gives snow days as rarely as possible. State Law, however, does require that passage between buildings be halted in the event of lightning, though this has happened only twice since the beginning of the 2008-09 school year. One advantage to the 3-in-1 idea is reduced cost: there is only one auto shop (at Canton), one culinary arts facility (at Salem), two darkrooms for photography (both at Canton), one varsity football field (at Canton), two swimming pools (at Salem & Canton), two soccer and football fields (at Canton and Plymouth), one Robotics Shop (At Salem), and one band complex (at Plymouth).

For most of its history, the campus has contained Canton High School and Salem High School, with a great rivalry built between the two neighbors. For many years the campus operated under block scheduling, seen as an innovative way to allow for longer periods of uninterrupted teaching time. After many years, The Park resorted back to a traditional schedule with 6 classes per day and 2 semesters of classes per year. Currently, The Park is considered a "Closed Campus," meaning no student may leave during the school day without a pass from the office.

Prior to the summer of 2006, the Cady family barn was also a part of the campus. It has since been moved to the Canton Township Cherry Hill village area next to a historic home. Included on the campus grounds is also a small strip of forest that backs a nearby neighborhood. Various trails are scattered throughout the wooded area. An Artesian well can be found in the wooded area, and is visited by earth science and ecology classes yearly. A creek that is part of the Rouge River watershed runs through the campus, separating Salem High School and Phase III, which are to the north of the creek; Plymouth High School is located to the south. Environmental science classes held at the park regularly take water samples to monitor water quality from this creek.