Gift ideas to stimulate your child's thinking.
GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) parents put together a gift idea guide. According to their page on the Upper St. Clair School District website, the ideas came from GATE members and gifted teachers. Games: Toys and Trinkets: Books and Magazines: Movies: Suggested Websites: What other gift suggestions do you have? Tell us in the comments.
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Supporters crowded a meeting and a Facebook page has been started.
By the time she reached ninth grade, Emma Pasekoff was already falling through the cracks. The Mt. Lebanon High School teen fell in with the wrong crowd and lost interest in school. She began losing the respect of her parents, who thought she would never graduate. “I started losing hope for myself. I didn’t care about getting good grades,” said Pasekoff, 20, of Sewickley. “Everything was just immensely deteriorating.” As a last-ditch effort, the 10th grader decided with her parents and principals to try the Alternative Center for Education, a separate alternative school on the Parkway West Career and Technology Center campus. Pasekoff focused on schoolwork, took up the culinary arts program at Parkway and turned her situation around, going…
Check out some of the top Upper St. Clair-centric pages available on Facebook.
The following list is in no particular order. Know a really great Upper St. Clair-related Facebook page missing from the list? Tell us in the comments section below!
6:17 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Congratulations and thank you so much for sharing! We'll be sure to "like" your page! more ›
The school board honored 29 students Monday night.
The Upper St. Clair School Board Monday night recognized 14 National Merit Semifinalists and 15 National Merit Commended students. Superintendent Patrick O'Toole said the number of Upper St. Clair High School students who earned the recognition was one of the highest in the region. "I have hope (for the future) because you are here," said board member Angela Petersen. "Thank you for making Upper St. Clair look good!" Every year the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announces the names of approximately 16,000 semifinalists from a nationwide pool of 1.5 million applicants for the National Merit Scholarship Program. Semifinalists have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,300 National Merit Scholarships worth more than…
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The refinancing is expected to reduce the debt service expenses by more than $3 million.
The Upper St. Clair School Board voted Monday night to proceed with the refinancing of its 2005 bond issue. The refinancing is expected to reduce the debt service expenses for the school district by a total of more than $3 million during the remaining 16-year life of the bonds. The 2005 bond issue became callable in July 2012. District administrators did not believe that refinancing would be available, but the continued drop in interest rates and the strong demand for tax-exempt bonds made the refinancing possible. "The reduction in our debt service payments will help address the projected deficits for 2013-14 and beyond. However, projected cost increases, such as the state-mandated pension obligations, remain significant financial …
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11:59 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012
Liberals never vote for real cuts. They vote for decreases in the future rate of growth that they strong-armed during negotiations at the top of economic cycles and then pull their back muscles when they take bows for pretending to be civic minded for accepting realistic growth targets that they should have accepted in the first place. Who you kidding?? more ›
Take a look at who's who for 2012-13 and some positions that have been eliminated.
The following restructuring of the Upper St. Clair School District administrative team represents approximately $100,000 in salary savings for 2012-13, according to information provided by Dr. Patrick O'Toole, superintendent: As part of the reorganization, two district office positions (director of human resources and director of operations, community relations and special projects) and one building-level position (director of high school guidance) have been eliminated.
3:59 pm on Sunday, September 2, 2012
I have another one for yinzes! My daughter is in tenth grade, (Not IB) and came home this first week of classes telling us the teachers in History and English told the class they did not have enough books to go around! Therefore they "SCANNED" the books and put them on the Blended Schools web site for all to gain access. GREAT IDEA? Well number one because of an after school activity my daughter … more ›
School board members discussed the final proposed budget for the 2012-13 school year on Monday night.
Upper St. Clair School Board members Louis Mafrice and Louis Oliverio said they would not support the 1.375 mills proposed tax increase that the school board adopted. A 1.375 mills increase is equivalent to an extra $275 in taxes per $200,000 assessed home value. Mafrice apologized for missing the May vote and said that he was out of the country for work. He said his concern is that adopting a large tax increase this year will create a habit. Oliverio proposed raising taxes by .79 mills instead of 1.375. "I'm interested in exploring the lowest amount that five people will support," he said. Business Director Frosina Cordisco said .79 mills would mean about $1 million less in tax revenue. Superintendent Patrick O'Toole said to cut $1 …
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4:07 pm on Friday, June 15, 2012
Unfortunately, there is not standard for reporting the cost per student. Research by the CATO Institute finds that many public school systems cook the numbers by not including teacher pensions, facility expenses, debt service, etc. So it is dangerous to compare the numbers published by the school system. In fact, using the numbers published by the USC school board in their last annual report, I … more ›
The Fort Couch Middle School PTA voted on whether to become a PTSO on Tuesday. Since the dissolution requires a 2/3 majority, the resolution did not pass.
To the editor: As a paid voting member of the Fort Couch Middle School PTA I would like to convey my sentiments regarding the recent debate and vote to decide if Fort Couch Middle School should remain with the National Parent Teacher Association. I personally feel that the voting process was manipulative and rigged to guarantee a positive outcome for the NPTA and that the nature of the voting process was designed in such a way to not allow for a fair and democratic debate and vote. I understand the final vote was: 20 votes for the NPTA vs. 27 votes against the NPTA and for the PTSO Even though the majority in attendance voted against the PTA, I was informed that a quorum was required to pass the initiative to dissolve Fort Couch Middle …
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7:16 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2012
I was EXTREMELY dissapointed in this vote. Unfortunately I could not attend due to a family committment. Those voting for PTA just cost our children a lot of money!!!! I hope that in the fall they promoted this a lot and hold a night meeting. If they don't reconsider, that will be the last dollar I pay to "join the PTA". Coming from an intense volunteer/PTA and committee chair person, I seriously… more ›
Those who missed buying tickets last month can do so on Thursday and Friday mornings.
Additional tickets for this summer's Upper St. Clair Kennywood picnic go on sale inside the school district's administrative office's lobby on Thursday and Friday. The tickets will be available from 8:30 a.m. to noon. They cost $23 each and only cash and money orders are accepted. The picnic itself is on Monday, June 18. In addition, the school district is offering Kennywood bus tickets with transportation TO Kennywood ONLY at the cost of $5 each. Please note that return transportation from Kennywood will NOT be provided. The bus will leave Eisenhower Elementary School on Kennywood Day at 11 a.m. Bus tickets can be purchased through Friday, June 15.
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The Upper St. Clair School Board is proposing to raise taxes by 1.375 mills. Here's a look at what other boards are doing nearby.
The Upper St. Clair School Board adopted a proposed final budget raising taxes by 1.375 mills, with a total millage of 25.475 mills. That is a 5.7 percent tax increase and equivalent to an extra $275 in taxes per $200,000 assessed home value. The budget includes the elimination of seven fulltime teaching positions through attrition. The final budget will not be voted on until June 20. Here's a look at what other school boards are voting to do around the area: Baldwin-Whitehall The Baldwin-Whitehall School Board adopted a preliminary 2012-13 budget with an increase of 1.08 mills, totaling 24.48 mills. The board president said there would likely be changes to the budget before a final budget is adopted on June 30. Canon-McMillan Canon-…
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2:22 pm on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Ahhh, $275 divided by 12 is $22.91/mo., not "just over $10/month). Still, not a large amount, granted, but I, personally, refuse to drink the Kool-Aid. Also, I very much doubt that some teachers will lose up to $ 25,000 over the next four years. Could you please provide specifics? Thanks. more ›
Becky Brindle
9:54 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
I like the Indie movie idea! more ›