Sidney City Schools are preparing for the start of classes. Open houses at numerous buildings are scheduled for this week, and classes are scheduled to start next week.
New this year, Sidney City Schools is using PaySchoolsCentral.com for meal payment and free/reduced meal applications. To use PaySchools Central, families need to create an account. Once logged in, they will need to add students to their account using their child’s student ID. Student IDs and more login information will be given to each student prior to the start of the school year.
Students who had a balance in the old meal pay system will find that that balance has been transferred to the PaySchools account. Families may also continue to send in cash or check with their child to add money to their lunch account.
Also new this year, Sidney City Schools will be using ParentSquare Communications for school-to-home communication This unified communications platform keeps parents and guardians informed and encourages greater engagement and connection with Sidney City Schools. It provides a safe and secure way for district administrators, school principals, teachers, staff, and parents/guardians to communicate with each other.
All district and school, grade-level and classroom information will now be sent to families via email and/or text. For even more convenience, families can download the ParentSquare app (available for free for iOS and Android devices).
The district will send an initial communication using ParentSquare to help get families connected to the new platform. Similar to their old communications platform, Sidney City Schools will still send urgent announcements (school-hours and non-school hours) via phone call communications.
Families should make sure their contacts are updated in PowerSchool. They are encouraged to access their ParentSquare accounts so they can download the mobile app and update their preferences on when and how they are notified.
Open houses are scheduled to take place from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday f atEmerson/Longfellow Primary Schools, grades K-2, Northwood Intermediate, grades 3/4, and Sidney Middle School, grades 6-8.
An open house is scheduled for Monday from 4 to 6 p.m. for Whittier Early Childhood Center. Sixth grade orientation is scheduled for Sidney Middle School on Monday from 4 to 5 p.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. and ninth grade orientation is scheduled for Sidney High School on Monday from 5 to 6 p.m. Orientation for grades 10 to 12 at Sidney High School is scheduled to take place from 6 to 7 p.m. on Monday.
The first day of school for students grades five through 12 will be Tuesday. Families of preschool and K-4 students should note that their children will start on a staggered schedule.
This has been done in the past for kindergarten and K-2 during the pandemic years; because it was received so well by students, staff, and families, the staggered start schedule is expanding to preschool through fourth grade (PK-4). Families will be notified which group their children will begin on – Group A, B, or C.
All classroom/teacher assignments and schedules will be live in PowerSchool on August 14. Some schools may also send information through the mail in early August.
Back-to-School Hub
More information about heading back to school at Sidney City Schools can be found on our back-to-school hub at https://tinyurl.com/mj5f7bec.
The Back-to-School Hub has everything from free and reduced meal information and school supply lists to open house dates and times and staggered start information.
