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Thursday, April 4, 2013

IB Primary Years Program Informational Meeting Planned for Thursday

The purpose of the meeting is to provide an overview of the program at Streams Elementary.

An informational meeting is available tonight, April 4, to families considering the IB Primary Years Program that is used at Streams Elementary. The informational meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Streams gym.  The purpose of the meeting is to provide an overview of the IB PYP that will soon be used by all grade levels, kindergarten through fourth grade, at Streams.  "This overview will be helpful to families considering placement for their child. Families already enrolled or on the waiting list do not need to attend," according to an Upper St. Clair School District online announcement. The school board voted to convert Streams to an all-IB school in February 2012. Students who are in the Streams district can choose to enroll into the…

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

2013 Kindergarten Registration Begins

An informational meeting about the new IB kindergarten program is scheduled for April.

The Upper St. Clair School District kindergarten registration begins today, Feb. 26, for Baker Elementary. Registration for Eisenhower will take place Wednesday and Streams on Thursday. See the schedule below. All children five years of age on or before September 1, 2013, are eligible to register. The 2013-14 is the first school year that International Baccalaureate kindergarten will be available. It's only available at Streams Elementary. An informational meeting about the IB Primary Years Program is scheduled for April 4. Required documents for kindergarten registration are: Click here to view the attendance area map to determine which school your child will attend. If daytime registration doesn't work with your schedule, a special …

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Informational Meeting About New IB Kindergarten Program Set For April 4

The meeting is for any elementary parents who are interested in learning about the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program at Streams.

Upper St. Clair School District will hold an informational meeting for elementary parents who wish to learn more about the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on April 4 in the Streams Elementary School gym. The 2013-14 school year will be the first time IB kindergarten is offered in the Upper St. Clair School District. The move comes as Streams is converting to an all-IB school.  There is a waitlist that is maintained annually for the PYP program. Due to space limitations, preference is given to students whose home school is Streams.   The deadline for PYP application forms (K-4) is April 25. Parents of students in the Streams attendance area who do not wish to enroll in PYP may enroll …

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

How to Enroll in Kindergarten in USC School District

This will be the first year that IB kindergarten will be available.

The Upper St. Clair School District has released its kindergarten registration information for the 2013-14 school year. All children five years of age on or before September 1, 2013, are eligible to register. The 2013-14 is the first school year that International Baccalaureate (IB) kindergarten will be available. It's only available at Streams Elementary. The following information was provided by the school district: Parents are requested to register their kindergarten-aged children at the elementary school located in their attendance area. Click here to view the attendance area map to determine which school your child will attend. Registration packets can be picked up at the schools anytime after Feb. 13. Parents are encouraged to pick …

Kinley

1:17 pm on Monday, January 21, 2013

So if I decide not to enroll my daughter in the IB program, will she still go to Streams? Or is Streams all IB now?   more ›

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Upper St. Clair Year in Review 2012: Best Photos

Here are some lasting images of 2012.

Cameras are out and snapping photos with nearly every story posted here at Upper St. Clair Patch, some more distinguished than others. Above are some of those standout images from 2012. The links to the accompanying stories are below.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

USC Administrators Recommend Making Streams All IB

The traditional program would be phased out over the next three years.

Administrators formally recommended Monday night the school board vote to convert into an all-International Baccalaureate school. If the board adopts the recommendation, students who want to be in the traditional program would be moved to over the next three years. In the 2012-13 school year, first and second graders in the traditional program would move to Baker. In 2013-14, traditional third graders would move and the kindergarten program would be converted to PYP. And finally in 2014-15, fourth graders would move. Superintendent Patrick O'Toole provided two main reasons for the decision. Number one, students are being offered more and more options when it comes to education. Upper St. Clair School District is in competition with private…

Jay Bahr

11:58 pm on Thursday, March 1, 2012

USC administrators “recommend” making streams all IB . . . . “Recommend” just doesn’t seem like the appropriate word in this context. Let’s try “sold out” . . “caved in” . . . “screwed over” . . . “spend too much” . . . “threw away” . . . “violated wishes of” . . . . “overstepped” . . . .   more ›

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

IB Decision for Streams Elementary Delayed

The traditional program may be 'phased out.'

The decision on whether to make Streams Elementary School an all-IB school will be made in February at the earliest. Superintendent Patrick O'Toole had previously thought a decision would be made in January. He told school board members Monday night that all curriculum recommendations will be delayed until February because of the amount of work that has had to go in creating an early preliminary budget and the process to apply for a state tax exception. Dr. O'Toole said he would be contacting the International Baccalaureate Organization to see if they would allow Upper St. Clair School District to phase out the traditional program at Streams. That means students currently enrolled in the traditional program would be able to remain at …

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Becky Brindle

10:40 am on Tuesday, February 28, 2012

For commenters who haven't seen the update, the board voted to convert Streams into an all-IB school last night. Here's the story: http://patch.com/A-rkWF   more ›

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

School Board Reviews IB Numbers

The latest news from the Upper St. Clair School Board.

Superintendent Patrick O'Toole presented Primary Years Program student data Monday night as the Upper St. Clair School Board hopes to decide whether to make Streams Elementary an all IB school by the end of January. PYP is the International Baccalaureate program designed for elementary students. It is currently available at Streams Elementary. Dr. O'Toole said keeping both the traditional and PYP programs at Streams has become operationally difficult. The board must decide whether to abandon the PYP program or make PYP the only program available at Streams. O'Toole said 58 percent of students at Streams were enrolled in PYP in the 2007-08 school year. Currently, he said 81 percent of students are enrolled in PYP. Looking strictly at first …

Jay Bahr

12:02 am on Friday, March 2, 2012

There are 2 reasons Eisenhower is so full. 1. Principal Miller is a rock star – I mean the guy is flat out terrific and his reputation is affecting where people with elementary school students want to live. 2. Streams is going to all IB and that school is no longer a neighborhood school since they are busing kids in and the curriculum is not from the United States, let alone USC’s . That school …   more ›

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Administration Preparing a Recommendation for PYP and Streams

The school board voted on Monday night to authorize the administration to prepare a recommendation for target dates for decisions regarding the possibility of making Streams Elementary an all IB school.

The Upper St. Clair School Board unanimously voted Monday to authorize the administration to prepare a recommendation for target dates for decisions regarding the possibility of making Streams Elementary an all IB school. Superintendent Patrick O'Toole said he would like the decision to come in January, when district curriculum recommendations are normally made. The International Baccalaureate Organization is mandating that the district designate one elementary school entirely to the Primary Years Program, which is the IB program designed for students grades one through four. Streams Elementary is the school that would become all IB if the district decides to keep the PYP program. Students enrolled in the traditional program would attend …

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Mark Trombetta

6:05 pm on Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Interesting that choice would be of concern, when the IBO is demanding the entire school. There will be no choice for the Streams area students. Additionally, None of the private schools to which our students are bused offer IB except Vincentian Academy.   more ›

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

District Officials, Residents Debate Value of IB Program at Streams

The Upper St. Clair School District must decide whether to make Streams Elementary an all-IB school.

The audience was divided in opinion Monday night at the Upper St. Clair School District's second meeting held to discuss the possibility of converting Streams Elementary School into an all-International Baccalaureate school. Nearly 50 people attended the "open microphone" meeting held at Boyce Middle School, according to the sign-in sheets. Voices grew loud and audience members argued at times, as Superintendent Patrick O'Toole warned, "This will be civil and respectful or it will be over." Some residents attended the meeting to speak out against the IB program, other residents came to support the IB program and the rest of the crowd seemed as if they were simply trying to figure out if they should enroll their children in the IB program …

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Another Teacher

5:45 pm on Monday, October 3, 2011

In 2006 and 2007 Upper St. Clair School Administration repeatedly underreported the cost of the IB Program by 90% and they did this knowing full well that the information was vital to the highly controversial decision over whether to keep IB. And that is not the only time information about IB has been kept from the public. In 2007 citizen members of the IB Review Committee wrote a Minority Report…   more ›

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