Upper Saint Clair School Board reviews wide-ranging curriculum recommendations; votes deferred to February

The Upper Saint Clair School Board on Jan. 12 heard a series of fast-track curriculum recommendations across grade levels and subjects and was told final votes will be taken at the board's February meeting.

Board members and staff spent most of the evening listening to department chairs and teachers present changes meant to clarify course titles, align instruction with state requirements and pilot new resources. Dr. Fender introduced the presentations and reminded the board that the recommendations were for review and not for adoption tonight.

Steve, the high school math presenter, outlined a plan to rebrand junior-level FST (Functions, Statistics and Trigonometry) into two clearer course titles: precalculus (formerly academic FST) and "algebra 3 with statistics" (formerly conceptual FST). "We found that over the past several years, 95 percent of students who have taken conceptual FST move on to a statistics course," Steve said, and argued the change will help students, parents and colleges better understand transcript entries.

Elementary reading leads recommended a K–4 review of ELA instructional materials to align with new evidence-based practices and Act 135. "We also are going to look at aligning tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 ELA supports," said Katie, who proposed piloting a standards-based assessment tool to produce more actionable K–4 data.

In separate presentations, the art department chair proposed renaming "three-dimensional studio" to "sculpture studio" to reduce confusion in course scheduling; Nikki Colella of the business department proposed offering the state-mandated 1-credit personal finance course to juniors beginning in 2027–28 and formally adopting a pilot college-credit marketing course offered through Robert Morris University; and the business department also recommended piloting the College Board's Career Kickstart "Business with Personal Finance" course for grades 9–10.

High school English teacher Melissa Tungate proposed resource updates including adding Radium Girls to the English 9 nonfiction unit and adding The Devil in the White City to the AP English Language synthesis unit, alongside a consumable creative-writing workbook for an elective. The English recommendations also included reworking the communications pathway so multimedia journalism is collapsed into intermediate communication arts to streamline the sequence for students.

Other recommendations included a proposed expansion of the school's orchestra program and a new digital music production lab described by Dr. John Seibert; a Shop at USC enrollment change to include ninth graders presented by Michelle Zernkapo; and a multi-year overhaul of middle-school world language instruction proposed by Angie Tenna that emphasizes proficiency targets, common assessments and consistent rubrics tied to ACTFL standards.

Brad Wilson presented a study recommendation on AI literacy and tools, stressing that the board is being asked to support a study (not an immediate policy change) that would establish workgroups to define teacher professional development, evaluate classroom tools, and map AI literacy training for students. "This recommendation, to be clear, is a study rec," Wilson said.

Board members asked clarifying questions during nearly every presentation, ranging from how a text would be scaffolded in an AP unit to whether college credits for a pilot course would transfer. Presenters repeatedly emphasized they would return with refined materials and that formal adoption of the fast-track recommendations would be scheduled for the February meeting.

The board allowed student guests who presented the national anthem to leave early for finals and thanked the district's curriculum teams for months of work. The meeting then moved on to routine business and votes later in the agenda.