At PS 57 in East Harlem, students arrived for the last day of school with flowers for their teachers.
"My teachers say I'm good and I do all my work," a third grader, Mareek Nowell, said.
"My son did a lot of activities and he passed to the fourth grade which is really good, and my niece passed the eighth grade which is a beautiful thing," a parent, Maggie Saamayoa, said. "It's a wonderful school with a great principal."
The principal is Israel Soto who has been at PS 57 for ten years and overseen a transformation. He joined Chancellor Joel Klein to wish families a happy summer.
"When we look back ten years ago, this school was on the verge of being closed down," Soto recalled. "Only 14 percent of the kids were meeting the standards in reading and math. Today, 75 percent are meeting standards in reading and more than 90 percent in math. Those are significant gains."
Across New York City, students made great strides this year. More children than ever are meeting and exceeding standards in math and reading. The graduation rate has topped 60 percent for the first time since the State started tracking this data.
This week, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein congratulated this year's valedictorians and salutatorians at a BBQ at Gracie Mansion
"Things don't come easy for me so I spent as long as it takes studying so I could get the best grades possible," Townsend Harris High School Valedictorian Jordano Sanchez said.
Beach Channel Valedictorian Chris Gopie, who has cerebral palsy, brought his mother to tears.
"He's very determined, since he was a little boy" Sati Gopie said through tears. "It's very difficult to talk about."
Congratulations to all of our graduates and have a great summer!
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