REPORTS TO THE BOARD

Yale Report

Yale
Asha Riley, Director of Learning
September Update

October 4, 2011

TO:                 Michael Green, Superintendent
FROM:           Asha Riley

RE:     Yale

Kindergarten Program

As you are aware Kindergarten enrollment at Yale exceeded our initial projections causing a need to re-evaluate the feasibility of offering full day K to those students. With an overall class size of 27 students in our K-2 classroom as well as other key factors we determined we could not offer this option without significantly impacting our instruction and staffing. Therefore, we met with the parents to develop a survey to get input from families about the best way to respond. The survey results indicated the community wanted to take Stephanie Bishop up on her offer to provide a Kindergarten Enrichment program in the afternoons. This is an optional program offered in the spare classroom after lunch Tuesday through Friday for either a small fee or a donation of time helping in the class. At our last PTO meeting feedback on the transition was positive and I believe we have found a successful way to continue learning for our Kindergarten students without overburdening our staff or the community. I am grateful to both our staff and Stephanie Bishop for coming together to make this happen.

Accommodating Lewis River Academy

To accommodate the instructional needs of a few Yale valley LRA students we have reorganized the office area and will convert part of it into a mini-classroom for Mr. Knudson. He will conduct an LRA open lab Monday and Wednesdays there. This space will also accommodate Mrs. McClarin when she comes out to provide speech services to students on Fridays as well as a Mrs. Ray when she provides counseling services.

New Security Cameras

Thanks to the combined support of my predecessor, yourself, and our technology department we now have security cameras mounted outside our building to monitor both student safety and building security. The Yale staff is grateful for the additional surveillance, especially to protect the new basketball courts and green house.

Yale PTO

The Yale PTO is up and running full steam. It is a pleasure to work with this team of parents and observe their full support of Yale students. We have many fun fall events on the calendar and I invite you to attend any of the following activities.

October 14^th - Movie Night

October 20^th - The great pumpkin search

October 29^th - Halloween Community Harvest Party