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We are looking forward to our next JELL sessions! The morning will focus on the how & why of data within the instructional cycle, including how to use data to create school-wide goals and a school-wide instructional strategy. The afternoon will be a guided planning time for you and your leadership team.

We will offer a Principal PLC in preparation for the JELL Sessions.
“Ensuring your PLCs Improve Teaching & Learning, Part 2.”

DATE: 
March 14, 2019

TO:   
Principals
2019 Graduating Interns

FROM: 
June LeMaster, Ph.D., Human Resource Administrator
Anthony Godfrey, Ed.D., Associate Superintendent

SUBJECT: 
Intern Graduations 2019


It is a long-standing practice in Jordan School District to allow full time, in state partnership university teacher interns to take one (1) day leave to attend either their own university commencement or convocation, without penalty.  This year, this practice is expanded to allow all full time university interns including teacher interns, school psychologists and counselor interns, etc., the same privilege.  Interns attending both in state and out of state university commencement ceremonies are allowed one (1) day; therefore, some interns may need to choose between commencement and convocation.

If a substitute is needed for coverage, the intern is responsible for requesting a substitute through Frontline (formerly known as AESOP).  The absence reason entered should be “other” and in the blue “notes to administrator box”, the intern should add the following information “District excused 0050 - personal graduation”.  For additional assistance, please contact Juli Martin at 801-567-8219.

See dates for the in state 2019 University Commencement and Convocation Ceremonies on the attached memo.

 

 

DATE:  
February 22, 2019

TO:  
Principals
Special Education Staff
School Secretaries

FROM:
Dr. Anthony Godfrey, Associate Superintendent
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education

SUBJECT: 
Special Education Budget Closeout for the 2018-19 School Year


Please note that Special Education purchase orders/requisitions for the 2018-19 school year must be received by Friday, April 12, 2019 @ 5:00 p.m. Please remember the following:

  • Budgets are not carried over from one year to the next.
  • Remember to deduct any previously submitted amounts from your Special Education budget (so that you know your balance) before submitting new orders. This includes reimbursements submitted through your school. No orders will be processed that exceed your budgeted allocation.
  • Please check with your school secretary to make sure all Special Education reimbursements have been submitted to the Special Education Department by the April 12th deadline. We have provided each secretary with a spreadsheet of currently recorded purchases/reimbursements for the total special education department at your school up through February 22, 2019.
  • When ordering supplies, follow Skyward procedures.
  • Be sure to follow the ordering guidelines outlined in the attached budget information page, as you close out your current year budgets.

Staff will be notified of the new budget allocation amount prior to the start of the new school year.  Keep in mind that new purchase orders/requisitions will not be processed until mid-July when all of the current year’s budgets have been closed out.

As you close out your budgets for the current school year, please note the following:

  1. All purchase orders/requisitions should be routed to Debbie Fairbourn in the Special Education Department.
  2. Use the following codes for purchase orders/requisitions and NPOs submitted through the year.

Coding for Purchase Orders/Requisitions and NPO’s:

FUND TYPE LOCATION PROGRAM FUNCTION OBJECT
10 E (School #) 1295 1090 Use object code

If you have questions regarding your Special Education budget, please call Debbie Fairbourn at
(801) 567-8177.

DATE:  
Thursday, March 7, 2019

TO:  
Elementary Principals

FROM: 
Dr. Anthony Godfrey, Associate Superintendent
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:
Tableau Account Set Up – Acadience Reading MOY Data Dashboard


The Evaluation, Research & Accountability Department is excited to announce the rollout of a new data visualization system that will allow school administrators to drill into their achievement data in new and more meaningful ways at the click of a mouse. We have purchased Tableau, which is a data visualization software platform that allows us to design interactive charts, graphs, and crosstabulations that you can filter by subgroups such as students with disabilities, EL students, socioeconomic status, gender, race/ethnicity, etc. The first release of dashboards will come from your school’s middle of the year Acadience Reading data.

In order for schools to see and use these dashboards, principals will need to set up their Tableau account. Principals will receive an email from Tableau prompting them to join. Please see the attached step-by-step instructions to set up the school account. Once the set up process has been completed, we will push out your MOY Acadience Reading dashboards.

Principals may share Tableau account login information with their assistant principals. Sensitive student and teacher information will be included in these data dashboards; therefore, principals may not share login information with school personnel other than assistant principals. Please contact Ben Jameson with any questions at 801-567-8243 or ben.jameson@jordandistrict.org.

Secondary Principals:

The funding for USTAR is contingent upon the results of the legislative session. Right now it is part of the base budget, but there is a chance that it could be reduced or taken away. The legislative session will end in mid-March.

USTAR funding decisions will be finalized as soon as possible after the close of the legislative session. The application to request 7th period classes is available by following this link: https://goo.gl/forms/pn2SuroC9Pg57pzC2.

DATE: 
Thursday, February 28, 2019

TO:   
All Principals

FROM: 
Dr. Anthony Godfrey, Associate Superintendent
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:    
Research Project - Trauma-Informed Teaching: How Teachers Conceptualize and Operationalize Trauma Theory


The Research Review Committee has reviewed a research project in which your school has been asked to participate.

Project Title:     Trauma-Informed Teaching: How Teachers Conceptualize and Operationalize Trauma Theory

Applicant:     Daniel Harnsberger, University of Utah

The project has been approved by the District Research Review Committee.  The applicant has been directed to contact you to discuss the extent of the project and to obtain your permission to conduct the study at your school.  Participation in the study is at your discretion.  If you have questions or concerns relating to participation, please contact Ben Jameson at 801-567-8243.

The project will involve principals, or their designee, sending out an email to licensed faculty with a link for teachers to take a voluntary online survey.

Thank you for your assistance.

For nomination form and scoring rubric click here:   www.jordaneducationfoundation.org

Submission Deadline: Monday, March 25, 2019

See attached flyer for more details.

DATE:  
Thursday, February 28, 2019

TO: 
All Principals

FROM:  
Dr. Anthony Godfrey, Associate Superintendent
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:  
2019 UEPC School Climate Survey Reminder


We are half way through the 2019 UEPC School Climate Survey administration window.  The survey window is scheduled to close on Friday, March 15, 2019.  Many schools have had great response rates thus far, but there are still some who have not notified parents of the survey and have not given students or faculty/staff an opportunity to take the survey.

Principals are asked to do the following, if they have not already done so:

  • Please notify parents of the school climate survey as soon as possible. Send out a link with the attached sample parent letter (please edit as you see appropriate) via Skylert and post the link on your school’s website.  You may need to send out several reminders between now and the close of the survey window.  In the past, the district’s response rate from parents has reached only 12%.  In order for us to get a healthy response rate from parents, they need as much notice as possible with a few friendly reminders to take the survey for schools.
  • Please schedule a time in which your faculty and staff can take the survey, perhaps during a faculty meeting.
  • Please work with your teachers to ensure that every student second grade and up has a time scheduled during the school day in which they may take the survey.

Principals may check their response rates for each stakeholder survey by clicking on the links below.  Please see the response rates as of Monday, February 25, 2019, attached with this memo.

Response Rate Links:

Faculty/Staff Responses:

https://uepc.co1.qualtrics.com/results/public/dWVwYy1VUl85TnN2ZTc5NE1MNUJZUUEtNWMwYWQ5MDIyNmNjZGIwMDEzNzU0MTY3 - /pages/Page_7ed374a9-bc68-4d7d-b2e2-306bbc1b8a33

Parent Responses:

https://uepc.co1.qualtrics.com/results/public/dWVwYy1VUl85TnN2ZTc5NE1MNUJZUUEtNWM2MmViMjc0ZjBkNWIwMDEzODliYmUz - /pages/Page_932e5fd6-d0b3-4b85-99ba-52154455f84d

Student Responses:

https://uepc.co1.qualtrics.com/results/public/dWVwYy1VUl85TnN2ZTc5NE1MNUJZUUEtNWM2MmVlMTZjMzdmNDQwMDBkZDc3ZDAy - /pages/Page_7205b01b-4d07-4bb9-8f89-4a3d6d6f3108

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) posted a rule in the Federal Register requiring small drone owners to display the FAA-issued registration number on an outside surface of the aircraft. Owners and operators may no longer place or write registration numbers in an interior compartment. The rule is effective on February 25. The markings must be in place for any flight after that date.

When the FAA first required registration of small drones in 2015, the agency mandated that the registration marking be readily accessible and maintained in readable condition. The rule granted some flexibility by permitting the marking to be placed in an enclosed compartment, such as a battery case, if it could be accessed without the use of tools.

Subsequently, law enforcement officials and the FAA’s interagency security partners have expressed concerns about the risk a concealed explosive device might pose to first responders upon opening a compartment to find a drone’s registration number. The FAA believes this action will enhance safety and security by allowing a person to view the unique identifier directly without handling the drone.

This interim final rule does not change the original acceptable methods of external marking, nor does it specify a particular external surface on which the registration number must be placed. The requirement is that it can be seen upon visual inspection of the aircraft’s exterior.

The FAA has issued this requirement as an Interim Final Rule—a rule that takes effect while also inviting public comment. The FAA issues interim final rules when delaying implementation of the rule would be impractical, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. In this case, the agency has determined the importance of mitigating the risk to first responders outweighs the minimal inconvenience this change may impose on small drone owners, and justifies implementation without a prior public comment period.

The FAA will consider comments from the public on this Interim Final Rule, and will then review any submissions to determine if the provisions of the ultimate Final Rule should be changed. The 30-day comment period will end on March 15, 2019. To submit comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for “RIN 2120-AL32.”

As Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao promised last month, the FAA also posted proposed new rules to let drones fly routinely at night and over people, and to further integrate them safely into the nation’s airspace. The comment period for these proposals is now open and ends on April 15.

DATE:   
February 4, 2019

TO:  
Principals
Resource Team Leaders

FROM: 
Dr. Anthony Godfrey, Associate Superintendent
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education

SUBJECT:  
Projected Caseload Process for 2019-2020 Resource Allocations


Based on administrative recommendations, the hiring window has been moved up to meet the increasing demands caused by teacher shortages, particularly in specific job categories. To address this advanced timeline, the Special Education Department will be creating a 1.5 allocation until updated data can be ascertained. Projections and staffing allocations will be made similar to what was done last year. This method should make the workload on special education teachers and team leaders much easier. Please read through this information carefully. Based on updated information, data may be updated by the end of February. If you have any questions, please contact your assigned teacher specialist.

Caseload Information

  • No mid-year SCRAM report will be required. Please continue to send in SCRAM changes as they occur throughout the year. You will still be completing an End-of-Year SCRAM report.
  • Your December 1 SCRAM report will be used as the baseline for next year’s caseload estimate.
  • A 3-year average of incoming students to your school has been calculated to provide an estimate of incoming students in the youngest grade at your school. This number was added to your December 1 SCRAM numbers.
  • The number of students leaving your school in the exiting grade has been calculated. This number was subtracted from your December 1 SCRAM numbers.
  • Finally, we’ve maintained a trend line (for some schools since the 2002-03 SY) that shows estimated caseload versus actual caseloads on Oct. 1 and Dec. 1 SCRAM. We will use this trend line to make adjustments to estimates as needed.
  • All allocations will be conservative and may be re-evaluated at the end of this school year or after the Oct. 1 2019 count has been finalized.

Timeline

  • Initial allocations of certified special education FTE will be provided to the Human Resources Department in time for your 2.0 FTE Allocation.
  • Each Principal will receive a letter outlining their estimated caseload numbers for 2019-20 and the projected resource FTE allocation for 2019-20.
  • We will only be sending the allocation letter to each school’s principal.

Requests for Resource Instructional Assistants

In April, we will send a packet of information to each Resource and Support Class team to request instructional assistants for 2019-20. This will include a regular resource assistant allocation and the information needed to request Critical Needs Instructional Assistants. This timeline should allow your teams to have a better idea of which students with additional staffing needs will be attending your school for 2019-20.

DATE:  
February 14, 2019

TO: 
Secondary Principals
Secondary Media Specialists

FROM: 
Administrators of Schools
Dr. Shelley Nordick, 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 2019-20 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 18, 2019 (ASB PD Classroom)
  • October 16, 2019 (Viridian Center)
  • November 20, 2019 (Location TBD)
  • January 15, 2020 (Location TBD)
  • February 19, 2020 (Location TBD)
  • March 2020 (UELMA Conference)
  • April 15, 2020 (Location TBD)
  • May 13, 2020 (ASB PD Classroom)

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.

DATE:  
February 14, 2019

TO:   
Elementary Principals
Elementary Media Assistants

FROM: 
Administrators of Schools
Dr. Shelley Nordick, 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 2019-20 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 20, 2019 - ASB Auditorium
  • October 2, 2019 - ASB Auditorium
  • January 22, 2020 - Viridian Event Center
  • April 1, 2020 - 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.

DATE:  
February 7, 2019

TO: 
School Psychologists, Elementary Counselors, and Social Workers

FROM:  
Dr. Anthony Godfrey, Associate Superintendent
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Fulvia Franco, Program Specialist – Guidance

SUBJECT: 
February Guidance Meeting


A Guidance meeting has been scheduled for Friday, February 22 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Jordan School District Auxiliary Services Building Auditorium (7905 South Redwood Road). Douglas Goldsmith, Ph.D., Psychologist in Independent Practice, will provide us with a presentation on “Parents Behaving Badly: Working with Children Experiencing Trauma and High Conflict Divorce.”

Part-time Staff: I would appreciate it if you could adjust your schedules in order to attend this meeting.

cc:
Principals

Please see the parent brochure (available in English and Spanish) regarding the Utah Aspire Plus test for 9-10th graders. School administrators are encouraged to distribute these flyers in whatever appropriate manner you deem necessary.

Principals:  Please take note - I will be out of the office on Friday, March 29th for a family wedding. I won't be available to help you on that last day when Land Trust plans are due. Please plan accordingly so I can help you, if needed, before the due date. Thanks! Nadine

 

Due Friday, March 29, 2019

  • 2018-19 Midyear Progress Report - this needs to be opened and completed first. Once you open it you can see the allocation for 2019-20. Principals of the new schools, your schools should be uploaded into the system by the end of this week.
  • 2019-20 School Land Trust Plan
  • 2019-20 School Community Council/Land Trust Signature Form

Thanks for all you do to keep us in compliance with our Land Trust! Attached are the guidelines to help you with accounting codes.