Parents/Guardians of YPA Student(s):

It has been eventful over the past couple of weeks as YPA has moved out from concept to reality! Each of the teachers and staff at YPA has been richly blessed to have the honor of serving each of your children and look forward to the year already in motion in being as successful as we all expect. Might we add, this reality would not have come to fruition without your efforts and caring to grow this school to what it has become; thus, we thank you all deeply for your personal contributions.

Curriculum "Open House" night at YPA is this Thursday, September 2nd. Please plan to attend! Note the times:

6:30 - 7:30 PM is for Elementary grades K - 5 homerooms.

7:30 - 8:30 PM is for Middle School grades 6 - 8 homerooms.

During this event, you will have the opportunity to experience your child’s daily routine and see some of his/her completed works. We look forward to seeing all parents and students for this open house event!

Language Arts and Mathematics placement is starting this Wednesday, September 1^st for grades K – 5. Due to students records coming in much slower than promised by local schools the elementary teachers of YPA have been busy compiling and analyzing data as it has been secured. Further, all grade 1 through 3 students have been administered the DIBELS assessment to confirm the best placements of your elementary children. Please note that if your child had a GT letter, your child was placed according to this document and the DIBELS assessment as not introduced to your child. These placements are in tandem to the parental conferences that took place in the latter part of July and coupled with the certified teaching staff’s own informative assessments. YPA is confident that this placement process has been worth the wait. Again, elementary children will start these new placements by Wednesday morning, September 1st.

All materials are established for this year and continue to be sent in from the State book depository. Materials are in place to teach each child at YPA. Until all materials have been received, students may be using classroom sets of books until the orders come in full. We appreciate your patience in this area. We anticipate book orders lagging by the State to be made complete within the next week.

MAPS testing will commence three times at YPA this year, with the first testing block to commence in the middle to latter part of September. This will be followed by a December and April assessment for progress purposes. A full testing schedule can be found on the YPA Master calendar: i.e.: MAPS, ITBS, PASS, etc.

Again, thank you for your contributions in making YPA a reality. Further, we appreciate your dedicated devotion and continuous feedback to make YPA the best it can be. Please let us know what we can do to make this the most satisfying option for you and your family’s educational purposes.

Best and warmest regards,

Corey Helgesen

Dr. Corey Helgesen, EdD

YPA Managing Director

The mission of the York Preparatory Academy (YPA) is for the faculty, staff,students, parents, and community to provide an engaged learning environment that leads to the success of each individual student, while also challenging these students to become life-long learners, independent thinkers, respectful individuals, and responsible citizens thus preparing them for a 21st century global economy.

With this mission, in accordance with the South Carolina Charter Schools Act, YPA will:

• Improve student learning
• Increase learning opportunities
• Utilize productive teaching methods
• Establish new forms of accountability for schools
• Create new professional opportunities for teachers

To succeed in this mission, the individual need of each learner is the core of YPA’s mission striving toward South Carolina’s goal of achieving excellence though individual successes with every child served.