Parent Communications
The Upper St. Clair School District makes a concerted effort to enhance the ways we communicate with our families and the community and to enable that communication to become more effective, efficient and timely. The information outlined below is intended to serve as a quick reference for families. Please let us know if you have suggestions for other resources that would make this page more helpful. Email us at tvojtko@uscsd.k12.pa.us. Thank you!
Please note that some of the resources below (Parent Portal and SchoolCafe) will require your student's ID number to create an account. This information is available from your school office.
Parent Portal/Focus
Focus/Parent Portal is used annually for Back-to-School Online for ALL students K-12 and provides families with secure online access to information regarding their child(ren)'s academic progress, including report cards, attendance and schedules.
We want to emphasize how important the Back-to-School Online process is to the health and welfare of your child while at school. When you receive your Back To School email in August, please take a few minutes to go online and verify the data that we have for your child via Parent Portal.
We want to emphasize how important the Back-to-School Online process is to the health and welfare of your child while at school. When you receive your Back To School email in August, please take a few minutes to go online and verify the data that we have for your child via Parent Portal.
Canvas
Canvas is a Learning Management System (LMS) that all Upper St. Clair students and teachers use. In essence, Canvas helps to bring a lot of different tools into one platform. For instance, in previous years, Blended Schools housed classroom resources; Showbie was the location for submitting assignments; Focus was the go-to for grades, and district web pages were used for homework listings. Canvas, over time, will help to bring most of these tasks to one place, beginning with classroom resources and homework calendars now, and assignment submission in the near future.
Not only will Canvas help to create a "one-stop-shop" experience for parents, but it will also customize access to information specific to the student and it provides the opportunity for much greater detail than before, as the integration makes many tasks not only more feasible for parents, but also for teachers.
School Calendar
A two-page PDF of the school calendar - indicating all days off and early dismissals - can be easily downloaded and printed for your reference. School calendars are typically drafted for public review in February and approved by the school board in March for the following school year.
Cafeteria Information
Monthly menus are posted online and are easily accessible from the menu icon on the district's website. Upper St. Clair utilizes a point of sale system (POS), SchoolCafé, a state-of-the-art online service that offers you the convenience and information you need to manage your student’s meal account.
Weekly Recap
Every Friday, a Weekly Recap is sent via email to all families and staff members with all of the latest district news, upcoming events, bulletin board flyers and links to media coverage of the school district. The latest edition of the Weekly Recap is also available on the district's website.
USCSD Automated Alert System
In the event of a school-wide or district-wide urgent situation (i.e. school delays/cancellations, evacuation, lockdown, relocation, emergency dismissal), information will be shared via our USCSD Automated Alert System (School Messenger). Emails and/or phone calls will be sent to the numbers/emails that are designated by parents/guardians through the Back-to-School Online process.
In addition, School Messenger will be used to contact families via email with news and other information related to the district and/or specific school that their child attends. Please DO NOT UNSUBSCRIBE from the emails as you will also be opting out of the urgent phone messages too.
Volunteering in USC schools
Hundreds of parent and community members volunteer each year in our schools and classrooms. Background checks, which are valid for 5 years, are required for school volunteers. The Upper St. Clair School District Human Resources Department manages the volunteer clearance process for the district. Click here for information the step required to become an approved volunteer.
Bulletin Board
The USC Online Bulletin Board provides information about non-district sponsored community events, activities, camps, classes, concerts, and other opportunities that might be of interest to our families and community members. Information is updated as it is received - check back often for the latest information. Click here to visit the Bulletin Board. To access the Bulletin Board from the main page, select the lowercase "i" in icon bar under the rotating photo.
Social Media
Like/follow us on Facebook, X/Twitter and Instagram. The district utilizes social media to communicate and share district-wide news, upcoming events, photos, videos and more. Find us @uscschools