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Month: July 2017

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Don’t forget the annual Administrative Leadership Conference scheduled for August 3-4, 2017 at Elk Ridge Middle School. On Thursday, August 3rd a light breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m. with the conference beginning promptly at 8:00 a.m. at Elk Ridge.

The activity on Friday, August 4th will begin at Mulligans Golf and Games. Assignments for the activity will be emailed in the next few days.

See you then!

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DATE:
July 31, 2017

TO: 
Principals

FROM:   
Administrators of Schools

SUBJECT:  
Crucial Concerns and Policies 2017-18

Jordan School District Employees are responsible for knowing and adhering to all District policies and procedures. The Crucial Concerns and Policies acknowledgement process has been put in place to provide employees a summary of important policies and procedures to be reviewed each year. The policy review will be available to all District employees in Skyward through “Online Forms.” The review provides summaries of selected policies and asks that employees review the summaries and then sign an acknowledgement of completion and agreement. Employees will be asked to read the summaries of policies but will not be required to answer any questions. In addition to acknowledging completion of the review, employees will also acknowledge agreement to the Employee Acceptable Use Policy and the JSD Social Media Guidelines. You will not have to collect signature pages as you have in the past.

Care has been taken to select important points of the selected policies to save administrators time from having to review each policy and to save employees time from having to read the entire policy. Please emphasize to employees the implications of not being aware of policies and encourage them to review the summaries and read the actual policy where needed. Also emphasize to your staff that the summaries are not policy and it is imperative to read applicable policies in their entirety when dealing with school, student, and personnel issues.

The Crucial Policies and Concerns process will be available to all employees July 21. A message will appear upon login of Skyward Employee Access for the employee to complete an “Online Form.” Employees can complete the steps at that time or can return to the review at another time by selecting “Online Forms” under “Employee Information.” Employees will need to review the policies and complete the acknowledgement before September 30, 2017. Reports of completion will be available through Skyward so you can verify that your staff members have completed this process. If you or any staff members need technical help, please call USER support at
801-567-USER (8737).

The lists of crucial policies and concerns for both classified employees and licensed employees included in the review, as well as instructions for completing the review, are attached.  Please note: JPAS Orientation and Testing Ethics are not included in this review and will need to be shared with appropriate staff. State law now requires child abuse prevention training for all employees using materials approved through the Utah State Board of Education.

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Dear Employees:

In conformity with Utah Code Ann. § 63A-4-204 (4), please find attached a PDF document containing information regarding the coverage for legal liability provided a school district employee of this state by the Risk Management Fund under Title 63G, Chapter 7, Governmental Immunity Act of Utah; and under Title 52, Chapter 6, Reimbursement of Legal Fees and Costs to Officers and Employees.

This information includes:

(A) the eligibility requirements, if any, to receive the coverage,

(B) the basic nature of the coverage for a school district employee, including what is not covered,

(C) whether the coverage is primary or in excess of any other coverage the risk manager knows is commonly available to a school district employee in this state; as well as

(D) comparisons the risk manager considers beneficial to a school district employee between the Risk Fund coverage and other coverage the risk manager knows is commonly available to a school district employee in this state.

We have chosen to provide this information in an electronic format in the hopes that it will be easier for you to distribute, store and refer to if needed.

If you have any questions, please contact Human Resources at 801-567-8150.

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DATE:  
July 17, 2017

TO:  
Principals
All Special Educators and Service Providers

FROM:  
Laura Finlinson, Administrator of Curric./Staff Development & Special Programs
Lisa Robinson, Director of Special Education

SUBJECT:   
SCRAM for 2017-18 School Year

See attached memo for guidelines and multiple deadlines.

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Classroom Setup Safety Reminders

As we are preparing schools and classrooms in advance of students coming for the new school year, it is important keep safety in mind. 

Teachers and staffs need to keep themselves safe during setup.  Use ladders safely, instead of standing on tables or chairs. Lift heavy objects with your legs, or ask for assistance, to prevent back injuries.  Stage classrooms so they are not only stimulating for students, but are also safe and functional.

Please see the attached PDF, 2 page document:  Common Safety Violations in School Classrooms. This can be used as a guide to setup and maintain a safe learning environment.

Have a great school year!

Published on

DATE: 
July 14, 2017

TO: 
High School Principals

FROM: 
C. Brad Sorensen, Administrator of Schools, Herriman K-12 Feeder

SUBJECT:   
Athletic Trainer ID Badges

Due to the heavy involvement of our athletic trainers at each high school, it has been requested for Athletic Trainers to receive an annual ID badge to have better access in and out of building facilities.  Because they are not employees of the district, cabinet has approved an exception for one athletic trainer per high school to receive an ID badge if the school chooses to grant them access.

The following steps must still be followed in order to obtain an ID badge:

  1. Identify the “one” athletic trainer that will be issued a badge. Please provide my office with the name of your athletic trainer before August 18th.
  2. Fill out the HR Volunteer Information Form. Under the “other” category, write in “athletic trainer”. Both principal and trainer must sign this form prior to submission.
  3. Send athletic trainer with signed form to HR to complete the fingerprinting & background check process. The $37 fee needs to be paid by the trainer; they will be provided a receipt and can then be reimbursed by the school. Fingerprinting is done between the hours of 7:30-4:30.
  4. Picture will be taken at HR and sent to Sandi Abplanalp to create ID badge and send it to the school to distribute.
  5. Hours of access for the badge will be on Monday-Friday from 3:00pm - 10:00pm and Saturdays from 7:00am - 12:00pm. If additional hours are needed for a Saturday game, please notify Sandi at least one week in advance.
  6. This process will need to be completed when a new trainer is assigned. It is the school’s responsibility to retrieve the old badge and notify Sandi Abplanalp to deactivate the badge.

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To All Full-time JSD Educators:

Jordan Education Foundation (JEF) announces that applications for the JEF 2017-18 Classroom Grants will be open on August 1, 2017. The Google Form Application will be listed on our website and available to access on August 1: www.jordaneducationfoundation.org.

APPLY EARLY, even though the application period will stay open through November 20, 2017.

Historically, over the past few years, the Gates Foundation and a couple of other major funding foundations (including Chevron that will match applications in September and October) will randomly pick a day to match donations. If your application is already listed on Donors Choose, then JEF can send in an amount to be matched and stretch the JEF dollars designated for Classroom Grants. Thus increasing the number of teachers receiving grants.

You increase your chances of being funded by applying early.

See the attachment for details or call us at the Foundation Office 801-567-8125 with questions. Thank you for being an educational professional in Jordan School District.

Steven Hall, Director

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The Administrative Leadership Conference is coming up! Plans are being made, speakers will be arriving, food has been ordered. Be sure to mark your calendar and plan to join us! If you haven't filled out the activity survey you received by email please complete it by July 17.

See you there!

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Secondary Principals:

A mistake was found on the principal checklist that was included in JAM last week. It has been corrected and replaced within that edition of JAM and a revised form can also be found below.

Please take note that when you send in the fee waiver forms to Mike Anderson or Nadine Troxel there are two different forms that need to come in, the Principal Checklist and 2 (two) copies of the Certificate of Compliance.

Thank you!

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Free and reduced eligible school meals applications for the 2017-18 school year are now available for parents to complete and submit online at:

Free and Reduced Meal Application 2017-18

Hard copy applications are also available from your school office or from Nutrition Services. If parent/guardian is completing a hard copy application the completed application can be given to the lunch clerk at your school or sent to Nutrition Services at 7905 So. Redwood Road, West Jordan, Utah  84088.

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DATE:  
July 7, 2017

TO: 
Principals
Special Education Teachers (Preschool and School-Age)
Speech-Language Pathologists

FROM: 
Laura Finlinson, Administrator of Curric./Staff Development & Special Programs
Lisa Robinson, Director of Special Education

SUBJECT:  
Extended Year Special Educator Stipends 2017-18

See attached memo and documents outlining changes for the 2017-18 school year.

Published on

DATE:
July 5, 2017

TO:
All School Principals and School Head Financial Secretaries

FROM:
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Heather Ellingson, Director of Accounting, Budgets and Audits
Daniel Ellis, Accountant/Internal Auditor

SUBJECT:
Unclaimed Property

 “The Utah Unclaimed Property Act (Section 67-67-4a) requires that a holder report to the State Treasurer property which is presumed to be “abandoned” or “unclaimed” after the stated dormancy period.”

For school purposes, unclaimed property is defined as property (checks, book refunds, lunch refunds, or other unclaimed balances, but not current school lunch balances) that is due to a payee but have never been cashed or collected and that are dormant for a period of one year as of June 30, 2017.  Checks written BEFORE July 1, 2016 AND not cashed by June 30, 2017 are considered unclaimed property.

Every effort should be made to contact the student or payee and ensure that they receive payment that is due to them.  If you cannot locate a student or payee, then the money must be sent to the State.  It is preferable to void an old check and reissue a new one than to send the money to the State.  Schools may not simply “write off” a check and add the money back into school accounts just because it was never cashed.  Nor may a school take uncollected refunds and add the money back into school accounts.  It is illegal.  If an outstanding check should legitimately be voided, then documentation must be made as to why the check was voided.  Otherwise, the State will consider a voided check without documentation to be unclaimed property.

Attached is a reporting form that must be completed and sent to Dan Ellis by September 29, 2017 along with a school check written to Jordan School District for the amount of reported unclaimed property.  If you have no unclaimed property, report $0.00.

All individual items that are under $50 per item may be combined and reported in one lump sum.  For example, if you have 10 checks and/or unclaimed book refunds individually each for less than $50, then you may have one line item on the report for the total of those items.  You should put “aggregate” in the column requesting the owner’s name, the total aggregated in the column of amount due owner, and MS99 in the property code column.  You do not need to report each item less than $50 individually.

Checks issued prior to July 1, 2016 that are currently outstanding should be voided in Skyward.  You will need to write a check to Jordan School District charging the account(s) that were charged with the original check.

Please call Dan Ellis at (801)567-8389 with any questions.

Published on

DATE:       
July 5, 2017

TO:  
Secondary Principals
Secondary Media Specialists

FROM:    
Administrators of Schools
Laura Finlinson, Administrator, Curriculum/Staff Development
Norman Emerson, Instructional Support Services/Fine Arts Consultant

SUBJECT:  
Networking Meetings for Secondary Media Specialists

In order to prepare and train secondary library media specialists to effectively provide services to their schools and to build consistency across the District’s library programs, several networking meetings have been scheduled for the 2017-18 school year. The participation of your media specialists in these meetings is appreciated.

The meetings will be held on the following dates from 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.:

  • September 20, 2017
  • October 18, 2017
  • November 29, 2017
  • January 24, 2018
  • February 21, 2018
  • March 9, 2018 (UELMA)
  • April 25, 2018
  • May 16, 2018

Please feel free to contact Norman Emerson (801-567-8364) if further information is needed. Thank you for your continued support of the library media programs in Jordan District.

Published on

DATE:    
July 5, 2017

TO:
Elementary Principals
Elementary Media Assistants

FROM: 
Administrators of Schools
Laura Finlinson, Administrator, Curriculum/Staff Development
Norman Emerson, Instructional Support Services/Fine Arts Consultant

SUBJECT: 
Quarterly Training Meetings for Elementary Media Assistants

In order to prepare and train elementary library media assistants to effectively provide services to elementary schools and to build consistency across elementary library programs, several training meetings have been scheduled for the 2017-18 school year. The participation of both of your library assistants in these meetings is appreciated. The meetings are to be included in the assistants' allotted 17 hours and are scheduled on Wednesdays, the day recommended for their scheduled overlap time.

The meetings will be held at the venues shown below from 9:30-11:30 a.m.:

  • August 23, 2017-ASB Auditorium
  • October 4, 2017- ASB Auditorium
  • January 24, 2018--Viridian Event Center
  • April 11, 2018--ASB Auditorium

Please feel free to contact Norman Emerson (801-567-8364) if further information is needed. Thank you for your continued support of the library media programs in Jordan District.

Published on

DATE:  
June 29, 2017

TO:   
All Administrators

FROM:  
Laura Finlinson, Administrator, Curriculum & Staff Development
Norma Villar, Consultant, Student Intervention Services

SUBJECT:
Suspension to a District-Level Hearing

You might be interested to know that during the 2016-2017 school year we held 102 appeal hearings.  The breakdown is as follows:

High School                          21
Middle School                      55
Elementary School              26
Retention/Acceleration       0

The Board Policy AS67, Discipline of Students, Handbook for Administrators is a resource for administering the policy. It will answer many frequently asked questions regarding this policy. Please feel free to contact Student Intervention Services to clarify any information in the guide.

Please go through your files and any files in your attendance office to discard all old forms relating to this policy. All forms continue to be updated online.