Another school year is rapidly coming to a close, but it's been a wonderful year and so many great things have happened. I hope you had a chance to enjoy our special edition Portfolio. I have the pleasure of letting you know that we have been named one of 226 Rapidly Closing the Gap Schools for New York State. We are very excited by this accomplishment because it means that we are making strides in Student Achievement and that students at Yates, besides having a lot of fun, are getting better and better at what they do. The NYS Commissioner of Education said "Rapidly Improving" schools and districts are those that were below the State standards in one or more subjects but showed improvement and made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. The percentage of schools and districts showing improvement and helping to close the achievement gap has greatly increased since last year. This record number of schools is a positive sign and steels us for the work ahead." Our Superintendent Mr. Ely has said "The things we have been doing are resulting with improvement. We are happy with this news and want to continue to steadily move upward." We know that we couldn't have done it without you and your support.

Summer is almost here and we are excited about that, however we still have a few more weeks and we really need that support to remind the children that our four school rules are still in effect. The heat sometimes makes the children forget that they have to treat everyone in a fair manner. Also with the heat comes a reminder that our school building can get very hot by the afternoon so the children are encouraged to dress in layers so they can take off a jacket or a shirt for early morning coolness and afternoon heat.

June 4 through June 8 is "No Complaint Week" and every member of our Yates school community is trying hard not to complain for a week. We're hoping everyone still has their bracelet on Friday afternoon for a summer treat. It isn't easy, but we're all trying.

Summer is a great time for reading and I hope you and your families get to spend some quality time with some of the great books that are out there. We'll see most of the children and you, our Yates families, in September and wish those moving on to middle school a successful start to next year.

Teddy Bear wishes for a Restful, Relaxing and Reading Summer.

Valarie A. Scott
Principal