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Author: npage

Published on

DATE:   
Thursday, July 25, 2024

TO:  
High School Administrators

FROM:  
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:  
ACT Changes and Enhancements

ACT recently announced changes to the ACT test for both national testing as well as the state-mandated 11th grade administration. The official announcement from ACT may be accessed in its entirety here. Following is a summary of the announced changes:

New National ACT Testing Options

The following ACT test enhancements for national testing will be rolled out starting the spring of 2025:

  • The ACT test enhancements are designed to offer more flexibility and choice for states, districts, and students.
  • The test sections of English, math, and reading will remain as the core sections of the ACT test that will result in a college-reportable composite score.
    • Science will be removed from the ACT test. However, students will have the option to take the ACT, the ACT + Science, the ACT + Writing, or the ACT + Science and Writing.
    • Students can choose to take the science and/or writing section, but they will not be included in the ACT composite score. If the science test is taken, it will be used to calculate a STEM score.
  • The test length will be reduced by up to one-third using shorter reading passages on the English and reading sections and fewer question items in all sections (44 fewer questions in all).
    • The new core test (without science) will take about two hours to complete.

State-mandated 11th Grade Administration

The ACT test enhancements for the 11th grade administration will be rolled out beginning in the spring of 2026 (no changes for the 2024-25 11th grade administration of the ACT):

  • The core ACT test sections of English, math, reading, and science will remain.
  • The test length will be reduced by using shorter passages in English and fewer question items in three of the four sections (44 fewer questions in all).
  • The science section will have the same number of items (40), but more time to complete them (45 minutes).
  • New science content has been added that will relate to the three-dimensional standards, thus helping it align better with the Utah SEED standards.
  • Utah will continue testing science on the 11th grade administration until the end of its contract with ACT in 2027.

For questions about these changes, please contact Ben Jameson in Assessment, Research & Accountability.

Published on

DATE:      
Thursday, July 25, 2024

TO: 
Elementary School Administrators
Middle School Administrators
High School Administrators

FROM:  
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:     
Fall 2024 Testing Bulletin

Check out your level specific testing bulletin.

 

Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, July 25, 2024

TO:  
Middle and High School Administrators

FROM:   
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:  
2023-24 AP Results Updated in Tableau

The AP Analysis Dashboard has been updated with 2023-24 AP exam data in Tableau. School administrators may access both district and school dashboards here.

School administrators will be able to view participation rates, pass rates, and a distribution of scores by school, discipline, and assessment from 2014 to 2024. In addition, the dashboard also contains scores by AP teacher and student.

Please contact Ben Jameson in Assessment, Research & Accountability with any questions about the AP Analysis Dashboard.

Published on

TO:
All Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning

The district-wide professional development day is on August 13th, 2024.

All licensed personnel are required to select and attend a keynote speaker in the morning and are required to attend a corresponding session to their assignment in the afternoon.

Please remind your teachers to sign up for a keynote ASAP if they haven’t already.

Please contact your AOS if questions arise about teachers with unique assignments. Administrators who are NOT hosting at a particular location should be in attendance with teachers. Divide your administrative team accordingly.

To register for a morning keynote:

  1. Please choose a speaker and then register for a keynote speaker using this link. Keynote speakers are NOT content specific. The topics and location information for each keynote speaker are included in the registration information.

Review Your Assigned Afternoon Grade Level/Content Area Schedule

  1. Please review the following flyer to see the lineup of presenters at your content area location. The afternoon breakout sessions on August 13th, ARE specific to content area and grade level. You do not need to pre-register for the afternoon breakouts. You will have time to eat lunch and transition to your content location after the morning keynote.

 

Published on

DATE: 
July 25, 2024

TO:
All Elementary Principals

FROM:     
Administrators of Schools
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning Department
Norman Emerson, Instructional Support Services/Fine Arts Consultant

SUBJECT:   
Utah Symphony Performance at Abravanel Hall for 5th-Grade Students

We are pleased to announce Utah Symphony concerts for the 5th-grade students at Abravanel Hall. The performance dates are February 4 and 5, 2024 at 10:00 and 11:30 a.m. Your school’s date and time are provided on the attached spreadsheet. Please note that there are no assigned seats. School groups will be seated upon arrival.

The Utah Symphony will provide study materials to prepare your students before the performance.

Please have your administrative assistant complete a transportation request on Skyward (your school's date and time are shown on the spreadsheet). The number of teachers (which may also include a parent and two chaperones for each class) should be included in your school’s final count. When entering your busing request, please include the correct group name (e.g. Daybreak, 115 Curr). This will ensure that the Teaching and Learning Department will cover the busing fee.

Transportation requests should be completed as soon as possible. Due to the number of buses needed for the Symphony concerts, there will be a moratorium on other transportation requests for these dates.

Published on

DATE:   
July 25, 2024

TO:   
All Elementary Principals

FROM:  
Administrators of Schools
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning Department
Norman Emerson, Instructional Support Services/Fine Arts Consultant

SUBJECT: 
Utah Symphony Performance at Mountain Ridge High School for 4th Grade Students

We are pleased to announce Utah Symphony concerts for your 4th-grade students at Mt. Ridge High School. The performance dates are November 4 and 5, 2024 at 10:15 and 11:35 a.m. Your school’s date and time for attending the performance are provided on the attached spreadsheet. School groups will be seated upon arrival.

The Utah Symphony will provide study materials to prepare your students before the performance.

Please have your administrative assistant complete a transportation request on Skyward (your school's date and time are shown on the spreadsheet). The number of teachers (which may also include a parent and two chaperones for each class) should be included in your school’s final count. When entering your busing request, please include the correct group name (e.g. Daybreak, 115 Curr). This will ensure that the Teaching and Learning Department will cover the busing fee.

Transportation requests should be completed as soon as possible. Due to the number of buses that need to be used for the Symphony concerts, there will be a moratorium on other transportation requests for these dates.

Published on

TO:
Directors

FROM:
June LeMaster, Administrator Human Resources
Jane Olsen, Recruiting, Licensing & Hiring in Human Resources

Last Chance to reserve a table!

Greetings!

As part of the 2024-2025 New Educator Induction we are offering an opportunity to interact with our anticipated 400 new educators.

During our lunch break on August 9th an optional Meet & Greet will be held at Bingham High. Arrival/setup time would be 11:00 A.M. and departure/take down time would be 1:45 P.M. *Please take note that lunch is only provided for our new educators. *

See the documents below for all of the details.

Published on

DATE:   
July 26, 2024

TO:
Secondary Principals
Secondary Media Specialists

FROM:  
Administrators of Schools
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning Department
Norman Emerson, Instructional Support Services Consultant

SUBJECT:
Networking Meetings for Secondary Library Media Specialists

To prepare and train secondary library media specialists (teacher-librarians) to effectively provide services to their schools and to build consistency across the District’s library programs, networking meetings have been scheduled for the 2024-25 school year. The participation of your school’s teacher-librarians in these meetings is appreciated.

The meetings will be held on the following dates:

  • September 11, 2024 (Riverton High) 8:00-11:00 a.m.
  • October 30, 2024 (Viridian Center) 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
  • November 13, 2024 (South Jordan Middle) 8:00-11:00 a.m.
  • January 8, 2025 (Copper Mountain Middle) 8:00-11:00 a.m
  • February 5, 2025 (Oquirrh Hills Middle) 8:00-11:00 a.m
  • March 2025 (UELMA Conference, Date TBD)
  • April 16, 2025 (South Hills Middle) 8:00-11:00 a.m
  • May 14, 2025 (ASB Auditorium) 8:00-11:00 a.m

Please share this information with your school’s teacher-librarian.

Please 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 26, 2024

TO: 
Elementary Principals
Elementary Media Assistants

FROM: 
Administrators of Schools
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning Department
Norman Emerson, Instructional Support Services Consultant

SUBJECT:  
Quarterly Training Meetings for Elementary Media Assistants

To prepare and train elementary library media assistants to effectively provide services to elementary schools and to build consistency across elementary library programs, training meetings have been scheduled for the 2024-25 school year. The participation of both of your library assistants in these meetings is appreciated and expected. The meetings are to be included in the assistants' weekly allotment of 17 hours. Except for August 21, 2024, they have been scheduled on Fridays.

The meetings will be held as follows:

  • August 21, 2024 - JATC South, 9:00-11:00 a.m.
  • October 18, 2024 - JATC South, 8:30-10:30 a.m.
  • January 24, 2025 - Viridian Event Center 8:30-10:30 a.m.
  • April 25, 2025 - JATC South, JATC South, 8:30-10:30 a.m.

Please share this information with your school’s elementary media assistants.

Please contact Norman Emerson at 801-567-8364 if further information is needed. Thank you for your continued support of the library media program in the Jordan School District.

Published on

DATE:        
July 25, 2024

TO:   
Principals
Assistant Principals
School Resource Officers

FROM:   
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, School Safety Coordinator

SUBJECT:  
District SRO Training

The annual District School Resource Officer training will be held as shown below and is required for each SRO and at least one administrator. Additional administrators are welcome if desired.

Date: Friday, September 6th
Time: 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM
Location: ASB Presentation Room

Please contact District School Safety Coordinator, Matt Alvernaz at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org or by phone at (801) 567-8623 if you have any questions.

Published on

DATE:  
July 25, 2024

TO: 
Elementary Principals

FROM:  
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Norman Emerson, Fine Arts Consultant

SUBJECT:
BTSALP Funding for 2024-25 School Year

During the 2024 legislative session, the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program funding formula was changed. Instead of allocating up to 80% of BTS Arts educators’ loaded salaries to LEAs, a uniform amount is being provided to districts per teacher. This will negatively impact some schools since they would need to come up with an amount that perhaps would exceed 20% of the loaded salary under the new funding formula.

To prevent most schools from paying unexpected increases for the new school year, the district will subsidize the school’s portion for the 2024-2025 school year and keep the current funding structure of 20% in place as in the past. Moving forward the district will work to equalize funding to offset increasing costs, but an increase in overall BTS expenses is anticipated.

Your school’s financial dashboard has been updated to reflect the BTS FTE allotment you will receive and the percentage your school will be expected to pay this year. Further information will be provided at the principal’s meeting in August.

Published on

The following are new administrative assignments:

New Assignments effective July 1, 2024:

  • Raimee Jensen, assistant principal at West Jordan Middle appointed principal at West Jordan Middle.
  • Ethan Walsh, administrative intern at Sunset Ridge Middle and West Jordan Middle appointed assistant principal at West Jordan Middle.

Published on

TO:
All Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Mike Heaps, Director of Information Systems
Jeri Gamble, Customer Support in Information Systems

The HR and Finance year end process was completed successfully on Monday, July 1.

Don’t forget that we don’t close out the 2023-24 year until October, so when you add Journal Entries and Cash Receipts, please make sure you select 2024-25.

21 Fund Summary Budgetary Data Mining Report: Accounting will roll June balances over to 2024-25 later this month. If you run the 21 Fund Summary report for the month of July, the balances will not be correct until after Accounting has rolled the balances.

JULY 1-9
Parents will not be able to make food service or student fee payments online from Monday, July 1 – Tuesday, July 9 while we complete year-end processes and the rollover.

JULY 3
Payroll: Begin entering 2023-24 time off.

JULY 5
Payroll: June Payroll is due.
Payroll: True Time Submissions due.
Inventory/Purchasing: Continue entering 2023-24 Inventory and Purchase requisitions. Warehouses resume delivery schedules.

JULY 7
Payroll: True Time 1st approvals due.

JULY 9
Skyward Student Rollover: Skyward Student will not be available during this time.
Student Fees: Do not enter any student receipts in Skyward Fee Management after midnight Monday, July 8, through July 9.

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Caleb Olson, Enrollment Consultant in Planning & Enrollment

A reminder to all administrators of annual discipline refresher trainings. All administrators are encouraged to attend a session to prepare for the new year.

Session 1:
Thursday, July 18: 9-11 AM at the ASB Auditorium

Session 2:
Thursday, July 18: 1-3 PM at the ASB Auditorium

NEWLY ADDED Session 3:
Monday, July 29: 1-3 PM at the ASB PRESENTATION ROOM

Use this LINK to sign up for a session to attend

Published on

DATE:        
June 26, 2024

TO:
All Principals, Directors and Supervisors

FROM:    
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Sarah Palmer, Director of Payroll

SUBJECT:  
DP375 – Vacation Schedule for Administrative Personnel

Clarification of administrator vacation days carryover:

  • Administrators receive 20 frontloaded vacation days on July 1st of each year. These frontloaded days are earned throughout that current year.
  • Administrators may carryover up to 20 earned vacation days from the previous year. Any earned days over 20 not used by December 31st of each year will be forfeited.

Therefore, as of December 31, 2024, any unused vacation days above 40 days will be forfeited. These 40 days consist of the 20 days that will be frontloaded on July 1, 2024 for the 2024-25 year, as well as up to 20 unused earned days that are allowed to be carried over from the previous 2023-24 year.

Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Steffany Ellsworth, Support Services Manager in Information Systems

Introducing ParentSquare: Our New Communication Platform Launching July 1st!

We are excited to announce the launch of our new school communication platform, ParentSquare, which will be available July 1st! Does this mean that Skylert is no longer available? That’s correct, Skylert will no longer be accessible after June 30, 2024. The good news is that ParentSquare is capable of so much more!

See the document below for all the exciting details!

 

Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Jeri Gamble, Customer Support in Information Systems

Reminders!!
Accounting Magicians: Please, for the love of all things numerical, **do not** enter any cash receipts, check requests, mileage, or electronic journal entries. The deadline was June 19. Yes, you read that right, JUNE 19. Everything should have been approved by June 20. Fear not, you can begin submitting your precious cash receipts, electronic journal entries, check requests, and mileage again on July 2, but make sure you select the year 2024-25. Time travel is tricky, folks.

SKYWARD FINANCE ROLLOVER: Brace Yourselves!
We will be performing the grand year-end processes on Monday, July 1. On Friday, June 28, I'll be donning my janitor hat for some serious cleanup. Here’s how you can assist:

  • Check Requests: Make sure there are no check requests loitering around awaiting approval.
  • Cash Receipts: No current year cash receipts should be lounging in WIP or Batch status.
  • Journal Entries: Keep those current year journal entries out of Batch or Open status. Trust me, it’s for the greater good.

Pro Tip: It’s best to stay out of Skyward Finance on July 1. If you must enter, please don’t touch anything. Seriously, just look, don't touch. We don't need any rollover mishaps.

SKYWARD STUDENT ROLLOVER/ONLINE PAYMENTS REMINDER:
**Heads Up** The Skyward Student Rollover will occur on Tuesday, July 9. During this thrilling event, Skyward Student will be completely unavailable. It’s like it’s going on a digital vacation.

Our dear parents won’t be able to make any food service or student fee payments online from July 1 to July 9. The system needs some "me time" to complete the year-end processes and the rollover. Buckle up, everyone! It's going to be an exciting end-of-year ride!

Note: Chat GPT helped me spruce up this week’s email. 😊