To: Woodland Public Schools Board of Directors
From: Michael Green, Acting Principal of Yale School
Date: October 2023
Regarding: Yale Elementary School Report
Yale School is an amazing little place that traditionally serves students and their families very well. This fall is no exception. Yale has experienced an unexpectedly large enrollment dip, from 53 last spring to 39 this fall. We anticipated a dip with the loss of a comparatively large fourth-grade class (12 students) and a smaller incoming kindergarten class (7 students). We did not anticipate that we would also lose 9 first through third-grade students. This sort of attrition is highly unusual for Yale.
There was some initial consideration of reducing staffing at Yale because of the enrollment drop, but we found this problematic given the scale of the school and the realities of serving students at five different grade levels.
School Improvement Plan
We are in the process of reviewing data in reading and mathematics for last year. In addition, staff have collected data from DIBELS (Reading assessment) and iReady (Math assessment), upon which we are building goals for this year's SIP.
Grade
Students at Benchmark for End-of-Year Grade Level Reading Proficiency (DIBELS)
Students at Benchmark for End-of-Year Grade Math Proficiency (iReady)
K
28%
No data
1
70%
10%
2
83%
20%
3
72%
14%
4
78%
44%
Recognition
Yale School, being Woodland Public School's “Remote and Necessary School” requires that staff wear many, many hats. They do an amazing job with this and cohesively run the school very well. Of note is Nikki Jolly. Nikki holds the title of “Cook/Custodian” and essentially manages the school plant for Yale. She starts her morning by raising the flag and cleaning classrooms and hallways, prepares breakfast for the kids, manages visitors and deliveries that come to the school, coordinates with maintenance to ensure the facilities needs are timely addressed, ensures the building is safe and secure, prepares and serves lunch, manages mail distribution, pitches in a hand wherever it is needed, and does all of this with a positive can-do attitude.
Upcoming Events
Yale School has an active and involved PTSA. They work well with staff to coordinate activities and events for children at Yale who, by virtue of location, typically have fewer opportunities for out-of-school activities and engagement (though I did run into a Yale parent in Kalama last Wednesday who takes her daughter to “dance” twice a week…. A 45-minute drive each way).
The big fall event is the Harvest Carnival, planned this year for October 28 from 6-8 p.m. at Yale School. Last year there were 150 people who attended! It would be great to have directors show up to support the volunteer effort. If you are interested in supporting, please let me know, and I will put you in touch with Cassie, our PTSA president!
With staff changes and reductions due to the failure of the EP&O levy, we have reconfigured the way specials are offered, and this year, we do not have music classes at Yale. This will impact our traditional offerings of school-sponsored winter and Veteran’s Day events. The staff and I are working to ensure appropriate events can occur for this community.