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Due to an increase in the rate of fuel costs as determined by USBE and an increase to this year's salary schedule, there has been a slight revision to the mileage fee and a revised labor fee. This will take effect August 1, 2023. Please plan accordingly.

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This year each elementary school will receive funding for two 17-hour literacy assistants to help with the Walk to Read program (these assistants were previously labeled as a kindergarten and a literacy assistant).

There are no ESSER funds available for the additional 25-hour assistant that was provided last year.

Please contact Brittany Eldredge with the names of the two assistants from your school who will be paid with with this funding.

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DATE:    
July 27, 2023

TO:   
High School Administrators

FROM:   
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Brad Sorensen, Administrator of Schools
Caleb Olson, Enrollment Consultant

SUBJECT:  
High School Calendar Change

The March ACT testing date for high schools has changed to accommodate the testing window. The new date is:

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

In addition to the change to the test date, this change will also impact the A/B rotation and work schedules for some hourly employees.

Calendars have been updated to reflect the change; however, due to the caching practices of web browsers, individuals who have previously viewed a calendar may still see the old version. A refresh (or clearing your browser’s cache) should address this issue.

Please ensure that all staff members are made aware of the change.

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23-24’ Digital Teacher Leader (DTL) Program

To support the implementation of digital and personalized learning in Jordan School District, the Digital Teaching & Learning Team is continuing the Digital Teacher Leader (DTL) Program. The DTL program begins with each school designating one person as their school Digital or Instructional Coach. Our program is designed to build the capacity of the coach in order to provide support in the implementation of classroom personalized and digital learning.

Responsibilities of the Digital or Instructional Coach:

  • Meet monthly with your Digital Learning Specialist, from the district Digital Teaching & Learning team, to coordinate, collaborate, and implement a blended learning plan for your school.
  • Attend a regularly scheduled after-school training on digital tools & blended learning. Training is typically held online in Zoom on the 1st Tuesday of each month.
  • Hold a (20-30 min) monthly meeting at the school to highlight the use and implementation of digital tools in the classroom. Work with school administrators on a regular basis. Help administrators to complete a technology plan for the school. This is part of the Leadership in Personalized and Digital Learning Academy (LPDL).
  • Collaborate with teachers to use digital tools and personalized learning.
  • Serve as a member of the school Technology Team.

Digital and Instructional Coaches should work towards the following attributes:

  • Knowledge of digital and personalized learning theory.
  • Earn and apply ideas from the Coaching Endorsement and EdTech Endorsement (EdTech can be started after the coaching endorsement is completed).
  • Seamlessly incorporates digital tools in instruction.
  • Willing to coach, motivate and guide other teachers to use technology in instruction.

It is expected that the digital teacher leader will spend two to four hours per week completing the above responsibilities through digital, blended and face-to-face methods.

As reported in TSSA requirements: Teaching & Learning will provide 1/8th or 1/7th the cost (.125 FTE) for an Instructional Coach to support Tier 1 instructional uses of digital learning in respective high or middle schools. This FTE may only be used in the distribution of the regular contract and is not eligible for 7th-period authorization use.

The .125 FTE will be in place of the current digital teacher leader program. Schools may fund additional digital teacher leaders.

Any questions can be directed to Jared Covili jared.covili@jordandistrict.org 801-567-8191.

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The following are new administrative assignments:

  • New Assignments effective July 1, 2023:
    • Julianna Wing, administrative intern at Bingham High appointed assistant principal at Copper Hills High.
    • Sharra Palmer, teacher at Hayden Peak Elementary assigned administrative intern at Copper Mountain Middle and Mountain Creek Middle.
    • Karen Moore, administrative intern at Joel P. Jensen Middle assigned administrative intern at Joel P. Jensen Middle and South Jordan Middle.
    • Jacob Rollins, teacher at Copper Hills High assigned administrative intern at Bingham High.

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TO:
All Principals
All Administrative Assistants 

As a reminder, the attached form, Educator-Directed Paid Professional Hours PLAN is due from your eligible licensed personnel on or before the fifth day of instruction. 

In addition, the Educator-Directed Paid Professional Hours Time Log has been revised to reflect a change in the due date. Please make your eligible employees aware of the new April 1, 2024 due date for their log/timesheet to be turned in. The LOG/TIMESHEET must be turned in no later than April 1, 2024 so that amounts may be paid in the May 2024 paycheck. If employees have already turned in their plan they do not need to fill out a new one. 

The attached instructions and background information are to help you in compiling the timesheets that will be coming to you from your licensed personnel. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Utah State Legislature passed HB 489 in the 2023 session which allocates up to 32 hours of educator-directed paid time to each school-based educator for the 2023-24 school year.

PRINCIPAL/ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT INSTRUCTIONS 

Principals and administrative assistants have six assignments:

  1. Assign a designated person to oversee this program
  2. Make sure the plans are turned in on or before the fifth day of instruction
  3. All plans must be logged (with the date received), by the designated person, no later than Sept 15 on the provided Google Sheet
  4. Provide time for eligible staff to complete the plan
  5. Gather and track the timesheets
  6. Make sure teachers follow through

Eligible licensed personnel must turn in their plan to the principal or administrative assistant (designated person) on or before the fifth day of instruction.

August 25 – 7th grade, High School
August 28 – Elementary grades 1-6, Middle School grades 8-9
September 6 – Kindergarten

Principals are asked to give time in a meeting at the beginning of the year for eligible staff to fill out the Professional Hours Plan and turn it in.

The designated person will complete the Google Sheet with all received plans by September 15. Schools will keep the copies of the Plan on file at the school for auditing purposes.

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DATE:
July 19, 2023

TO: 
Principals
Administrative Assistants

FROM:    
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent

SUBJECT:  
Fee Waiver Materials 2023-24 – Revised

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) recently approved an amendment to the School Fees. The annual Certificate of Compliance will no longer be required as per R277-407-14. Schools still need to collect and maintain the following, which may be requested as part of the school fees monitoring visits:

  • Students given waivers
  • Students denied fee waivers
  • Students who worked in lieu of a waiver

All USBE School Fees Notices and School Fee Waiver Applications can be found by clicking HERE.

Forms can be found under Grades K-6 and Grades 7-12 in multiple languages. The Fee Waiver Application, for both elementary and secondary was revised February 2023. Use the current form when having parents fill out the application.

 

Attention: Students who previously showed verification of eligibility do not need to resubmit documentation. It may be necessary for the principal (or designee) to contact the previous school of transferring students for verification of fee waiver status. Kindergarten students coming into the school, new students to the District, and students with extenuating circumstances will still be required to submit documentation.

 

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If you are a contracted employee and need to take Annual/Personal Leave on a Critical Day before/after Labor Day for any reason not listed in policy DP335NEG or DP335B, you must submit a request as follows:

How to Request
During the window, the employee must send the request through email. Please include your name, school, position, and the date you are requesting the leave. Requests left on voicemail or over the phone will NOT be accepted.

Licensed employees submit their request to licensedpersonalleave@jordandistrict.org

Education Support Professionals submit their request to classifiedpersonalleave@jordandistrict.org

The employee will receive an email confirmation within two working days after submitting the request. If the employee does not receive a confirmation email, then Human Resources has NOT received your request and your leave will not be approved.

School Holiday Date of Holiday Critical Days* Window
Labor Day September 4, 2023 Sept. 1 and 5, 2023 July 21 – July 31, 2023

*Critical Days are the first student attendance days before or after a school holiday. If a non-student attendance day falls before or after a school holiday, the Critical Day is the day before or after that non-student attendance day when students are in attendance.

Licensed Annual/Personal Leave Taken on a Critical Day 2023-2024

ESP Annual/Personal Leave Taken on a Critical Day 2023-2024

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Student Services will be offering two trainings for administrators on discipline logging:

• Discipline Logging 101: An introduction to entering discipline offenses in Skyward. Session will cover the basic elements of the discipline system of Skyward and best practices for entering discipline offenses. New assistant principals, administrative interns, and new-to-JSD administrators are STRONGLY encouraged to attend; any other administrator wanting a review may also register.

• Discipline Logging 201: Session will include a quick review of best practices in discipline logging and will cover common mistakes and errors. Main focus will be on the “Office Visit” module of Skyward Discipline, which can be used to track and create logs of non-discipline events for students. For new assistant principals, administrative interns, and new-to-JSD administrators, participation in Discipline Logging 101 is recommended prior to taking this training.

Courses will be at the District Office and ASB; see the information on each tab for specifics on dates, locations, and times.

If you would like to sign up to attend, please visit the link below and type your name/school in the tab for the appropriate training. Once all lines on a sheet are full, the training is full; however, there is a "waitlist" tab for each training so that we can gauge interest/need for additional sessions.

Sign Up LINK

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Help Us Welcome New Educators at the New Educator Induction

Administrators,
You’re Invited to Welcome New Educators!

As part of the in-person session of New Educator Induction we want to welcome them with a host of Jordan School District personnel. We invite you and any members of your staff to come and join us on August 11, 2023 from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. (with roughly an 8:30 a.m. departure time) to take part in celebrating and being a welcoming committee outside West Jordan Middle School. Our goal is to support and retain our educators from day 1. Dress in school or JSD attire, bring your mascot, and cheer our New Educators on as they attend their first official event as a member of the JSD community. Help us show them that Jordan School District is the "District of Choice" for the best and brightest educators.

As a reminder, new educators would benefit from having their District issued computers prior to this event.

 

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As of August 4th, 2023 all administrators will be required to enroll in 2-Factor Authentication for their Google accounts. After this date, you will be prompted to enroll in 2-Factor Authentication the first time you login to your Google account.

Attached are step-by-step instructions to enroll in Google 2-Factor authentication. For further assistance contact the Information Systems help desk at Ext. 88737.

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Legislative Supply Fund Clarifications

See below for clarification on the following common questions about legislative funds:

  1. Should sales tax be included in the use of funds? (Yes, sales tax may be included)
  2. What types of expenditures are allowed? What is the purpose of these funds? (Per State Rule R277, funds are to be used for educational purposes to benefit students)
  3. Are the items purchased with legislative funds the property of the teacher or the school? (Per State Rule R277, items belong to the school)

IMPORTANT Changes
There are some licensed positions that do not qualify for the Classroom Supplies Appropriation per State Board rule R277-459, but were mistakenly funded in the past by the District. As a courtesy, these positions will receive legislative funds for one more year (2023-24). We are asking principals to inform anyone with a following job description, that beginning in 2024-25, they will no longer receive legislative classroom funds:

Clinical Support Specialist
District Home & Hospital Instructor
Instructional Coach
Intern
Library Media Specialist
Occupational Therapist
Physical Therapist
School Counselor – Intern
School Psychologist
School Psychologist – Intern
School Social Worker
Special Ed Itinerant Services
Speech Language Technician
Speech Therapist
Teacher Special Ed Associate

We appreciate your help in making sure these guidelines and upcoming changes are shared with the licensed educators receiving these funds at your school. For your information, attached is State Rule R277 and the legislative funds guidelines sent out each year.

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A friendly reminder for the Employee-Funded Sick Bank Policy,

  1. Employees are automatically enrolled in the sick bank each year through the annual donation of one (1) annual leave day to the sick bank.

More information regarding the Employee-Funded Sick Bank can be found in policies, DP326NEG -Sick Leave-Educational Support Professionals and DP 324NEG -Sick Leave-Licensed.

For those who wish to opt out of participation in the Employee-Funded Sick Bank see the tutorial below that includes information on how to opt out, along with the deadlines that must be met.

*First Year Educational Support Professionals and hourly employees are not eligible for sick bank, therefore, a sick bank day will not be deducted (if applicable).

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We are pleased to announce that Dr. Byron McClure will be joining us for our first annual Wellness Welcome on August 10th, at JATC-South. Dr. Byron McClure is a nationally renowned educational leader and author.

Also, due to popular demand, there will now be two sessions offered on 8/10.

  • Session One: Creating a Culture of Connection. This session will be focused on Tier One, universal strategies. A stipend may be available for licensed attendees and individuals who sign up will be given more information about this potential stipend as the event gets closer.
  • Session Two: Restoring Connections. This session will be focused on tier two and three strategies for restoring connections. The target audience for session two is school administrators and mental health professionals.

Please review the attached flyer for details.

 

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The following are new administrative assignments:

  • New Assignment effective July 31, 2023:
    • Melissa Flores, Senior Associate General Counsel at Maricopa County Community College appointed General Counsel.
  • New Assignments effective July 1, 2023:
    • Jerilyn Schafer, assistant principal at Westland Elementary appointed principal at Riverside Elementary School.
    • Kim Anderson, previously assigned assistant principal at Welby Elementary appointed assistant principal at Westland Elementary.
    • Janae Young, previously assigned assistant principal at Silver Crest Elementary appointed assistant principal at Welby Elementary.
    • Holly Bagley, previously assigned administrative intern at Southland Elementary assigned administrative intern at Silver Crest Elementary.
    • Nanette Ririe, principal at Monte Vista Elementary appointed assistant principal at Southland Elementary.
    • Natalie Gleave, previously assigned assistant principal at Rose Creek Elementary appointed principal at Monte Vista Elementary.
    • Baylee Lansford, assistant principal at Blackridge Elementary appointed assistant principal at Rose Creek Elementary.
    • Ann Henrie, teacher specialist at Heartland Elementary assigned administrative intern at Blackridge Elementary.
    • Russell Stephenson, previously assigned assistant principal at West Hills Middle appointed assistant principal at Joel P. Jensen Middle.
    • Kristie Howe, principal at Eastlake Elementary appointed assistant principal at West Hills Middle.
    • Hallie Myler, assistant principal at Butterfield Canyon Elementary appointed principal at Eastlake Elementary.
    • Ami Anderson, instructional coach at Rocky Peak Elementary assigned administrative intern at Butterfield Canyon Elementary.

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There is still currently funding to provide schools with free HEPA air purifiers in K-12 classrooms, daycares, and Early Childhood Education (ECE). We currently have air purifiers in about 60% of schools and want to ensure all eligible partners are aware of this opportunity before the funding runs out on July 31, 2023.

Schools that wish to order can either reach out to Jake Jensen directly at jake@uphe.org or can complete the interest form on Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environments (our contracted partners) website linked HERE.