Virtual Open House Information
Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - Vol. 5
Open House / Curriculum Night (Information Review)
We are off to a great start this school year in both our in-person instruction and our virtual academy. Through your continued partnership, our students started the school year and were quickly engaged in their learning, allowing our teachers to make important connections.
Our Open House is an important way that we can keep the positive energy moving forward. The Open House allows our teachers and parents to address course expectations for students and establish avenues for communicating during this school year. Please plan on taking part in our school’s Open House at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, September 28. Please note for elementary virtual academy families – you will be attending an open house for the academy that will be held on Wednesday, September 29th. You will be receiving additional information regarding meeting your child’s teacher from the program administrator, Dr. Blum.
This year, our Open House will be held virtually using a Teams format. The virtual Open House is consistent with health and safety protocols to limit large gatherings inside our school. Within the next couple of days, I will be sharing additional information with you regarding how to access this direct link to your child’s teacher(s).
The home-school partnership is an integral part of our school’s success. We look forward to meeting with you to provide updates on our school, hear directly from your child’s teacher(s), and continue the conversations on how we continue to work together for the success of all of our students.
Your Proud Principal,
Mrs. Hathcock
Virtual Academy Open House
Time: TBD
Location: This is a VIRTUAL event
Information: Dr. Blum will be reaching out to all Virtual Academy students with information about this event.
Open House Schedule- Tuesday, September 28th
All virtual meetings will be conducted via Microsoft TEAMS
Transition Time: 6:30 pm - 6:40 pm
Session 1: 6:40 pm - 7:15 pm Superintendent and Principal message / Teacher Presentations
(Classroom teachers, EL, Special Education, Speech, and Specialist Teachers)
Transition Time: 7:15 pm - 7:25 pm
Session 2: 7:25 pm - 7:50 pm Additional Teacher Presentations (Classroom teachers, EL, Special Education, Speech, and Specialist Teachers)
SchoolSoft Account
Families enrolled in UCS during the 2021-22 School year should already have a SchoolSoft account and should’ve already received an Email from appointments@SchoolSoft.com notifying you that the sign-up for Open House will begin tomorrow morning. Please note that the email references “parent teacher conferences” because SchoolSoft has limited category options. This email is for Open House, not Parent Teacher Conferences which are coming soon in October! Please note that the word “Conference” and “Open House” are used interchangeably in these directions.
If you attended conferences last year for any UCS building, you already have an account. Please go to the following website to login: https://utica-dekeyser.schoolsoft.com/
Directions for accessing and setting up your SchoolSoft Conference Account are included below. We’ve also included an attachment you print off with step-by-step directions and a video. The links are below:
Directions: https://bit.ly/3CdBT7t
Video: https://youtu.be/pdLAyiLM5cY
Families of new enrollees coming into UCS this year will need to create a SchoolSoft account by following these steps:
- Go to the following website: https://utica.schoolsoft.com.
- Register for a parent account. To register click the REGISTER NOW button and complete the registration page. Once registered you will be able to immediately log in to the Conference Manager. An email will also be sent to the address you specified. This email restates your username and password and should be saved, as you will use the same username and password when booking future rounds of Parent-Teacher Conferences. If you forget your password, you can reset it using the FORGOT PASSWORD link under the login button.
- When registering, if you have multiple students, you should enter all of them at the same time.
- If you have a student at more than one school (for example CSI and the Virtual High School), you will need to assign the student to multiple buildings, for example:
John Doe DeKeyser Elementary
John Doe UCS Virtual Academy
Booking Your Sessions
Once you’ve registered your students and set up your account, you can log in to the Conference Manager any time. The directions below are how to book your Open House sessions when they open up this week.
- Click the BOOK NOW button and select an open house session in the date drop-down that appears. Then, select the teacher you wish to meet with and click the NEXT button.
- Click on an available time slot for the teacher you selected and complete the booking form that appears. The first timeslot will be longer to facilitate a message from Principal and Superintendent.
- Confirm your appointments have been booked by looking at the “CURRENTLY BOOKED CONFERENCES” box on the right of the screen or click on the MY CONFERENCES tab. Only appointments that appear in the CURRENTLY BOOKED CONFERENCES box or on the MY CONFERENCES page are confirmed bookings.
- When finished booking, click the log off button located at the top right of the browser window. You will have the opportunity to provide feedback regarding the use of the Conference Manager to the school administration through a user survey before completely exiting. We appreciate you completing the survey as this helps guide our decision-making regarding how conferences are booked in the future.
- You will receive a link to your video conference from Appointments@schoolsoft.com the day of conferences. At the appropriate time, click on the link for that hour and the teacher will admit you to the room.
Week At A Glance
Monday, September 20th
- Register for Virtual Open House
Tuesday, Sept. 21st
- Restaurant Night - Panera 4-8pm
- PTCG Meeting 6pm - Outdoors @ DeKeyser - Bring a chair
Wednesday, Sept. 22nd
Thursday, Sept. 23rd
- MENU CHANGE - Beef meatballs with sweet & sour cup, fried rice, baby carrots, fruit
Friday, Sept. 24th
Save The Date!
Friday, October 15 - Fun Run
Friday, October 22 - Spooktacular
2021-2022 Calendar Dates
The Utica Community Schools teacher/student calendar for 2021-2022 continues to be mutually developed through the collective bargaining process. In the interest of planning, the following dates are confirmed and may be shared with students, staff, parents, and community.
*Additional dates and calendar elements including but not limited to potential further closed dates, half-days, exam schedules, conference windows continue to be considered and will be released once determined.
September 2021
Sept. 21: Restaurant Night - Panera Bread - 4-8pm
Sept. 21: PTCG Meeting 6pm Outdoors @ DeKeyser - Bring a chair
Sept. 28: Virtual Open House/ Annual Title 1 Parent Meeting 6-7:50 pm
October 2021
Oct. 15: Fun Run - Information Coming Soon
Oct. 20: Fire Drill
Oct. 22: Spooktacular - Information Coming Soon
Oct. 29: 1/2 Day of School - 12:24 dismissal - End of 1st Marking Period
November 2021
Nov. 2: No School - Election Day
Nov. 11: 1/2 Day , Conferences
Nov. 24-26: No School - Thanksgiving Break
December 2021
Dec. 20: 1/2 Day
Dec. 21: 1/2 Day - End of 2nd Marking Period
Dec. 22- 31: No School - Winter Break
January 2022
Jan. 3: Welcome Back
Jan. 17: No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
February 2022
Feb. 21-25: No School - Mid-Winter Break
March 2022
April 2022
Apr. 1: 1/2 Day - End of 3rd Marking Period
Apr. 4-8: No School - Spring Break
Apr. 15: No School - Good Friday
May 2022
May 27: No School
May 30: No School - Memorial Day
June 2022
June 9: 1/2 Day
June 10: 1/2 Day - Last Day of School