United Parents of South Carolina (UPSC) Mission Statement 2021-2022

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United Parents of South Carolina (UPSC) are comprised of South Carolina parents, guardians, teachers and community members. UPSC is a non-partisan advocacy group which works strictly for the interests of children and the school community.

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UPSC was created on April 20th of this year in response to the ongoing complexities and concerns surrounding the public health policies implemented in schools impacting our children. UPSC continues to rapidly grow. Currently, we have over 6,000 members many who represent their entire family unit.

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UPSC members are committed to actively participate throughout the school year to:

           - inspire a unified school community

           - support the best possible learning environment 

           - support the best possible educational outcomes

           - support the best possible physical, social and emotional health outcomes for our

children.

 

UPSC is looking forward to working effectively alongside other stake holders to create the best possible learning experience in a unified, safe environment:

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• UPSC believes it is imperative to strive for policies in our schools that support the best possible educational outcomes for our children while ensuring social, emotional and physical wellbeing.​

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• UPSC strongly encourages that school policy be clear, concise and supported by appropriate source documents and data. Adequate justification to school community members is especially essential when a policy may have potential negative social, emotional and/or physical impact on children and the school community at-large.​​

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• UPSC will respectfully be asking and holding the appropriate government agency, elected official or school system administrator accountable to justify particular policies which may include public health mitigation strategies, curriculum or other school policies. UPSC requests these policies to be clearly documented on the appropriate websites.

• If necessary UPSC be requesting risk vs benefit assessments for specific public health policies. UPSC will also be requesting scientific evidence justifying specific public health policy’s safety and effectiveness to ensure students are being supported in the best possible way.

• Unsupported or unsubstantiated policies erode trust, causing elected officials, government agencies and school system leadership to lose credibility. Unsupported polices also are more likely to cause division which is detrimental to the school community.

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• UPSC expects fair and equal treatment of all school community members. EVERY child is deserving of the support and opportunity in our schools to go after their goals to achieve their dreams. Discrimination of any kind is unacceptable and should not be tolerated or encouraged in the school environment. Students or Staff discriminating against individuals for any reason, including personal choice need to be held accountable for such behavior.

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• UPSC supports the informed consent ethic. Informed consent is when an individual is given an objective disclosure of the risk vs benefit of a medical procedure, pharmaceutical product or public health intervention. The individual then has the ability to voluntarily accept or decline that procedure or product.​

  • In the case of minor children complex medical decisions are decided by the person who holds the best interest of the child which are parents or legal Guardians.

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• UPSC encourages members and school stake holders to prioritize open, respectful dialog on the complex issues that our school community is faced with presently and in the future. UPSC believes in order to propel our school community forward in the best possible way, school stake holders need to have the ability to participate in healthy discourse which promotes dialog so important issues that impact students, teachers and the school community at-large can be resolved.

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UPSC is looking forward to participating in supporting a safe, happy and successful 2021-22 school year.