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The JES department recognizes that due to COVID-19 and other unforeseen circumstances schools are feeling overwhelmed with meeting deadlines. In an effort to support schools as they work hard to meet the needs of students, the UETS- based JPAS Full Evaluation due date has been changed. All full evaluations will now be due April 22, 2022.

This change includes all educator, teacher specialist, counselor, psychologist, and administrative evaluations. Please contact the JES office with any questions at (801) 567-8369.

Educators who are working toward a professional license through the APPEL program have specific requirements that must be met and signed off. To better assist those educators in collection requirements for the Competencies section a document has been created and added to Perform accounts.

Educators will go to My Folder - Tasks - APPEL Domains VI and V Requirements - Go to Form and write a description of the artifacts they will show or upload into Perform (Indicators 50-62 from the UETS-based Domain Document). Once the educator has completed the description for each indicator and gathered all evidence to show they will submit the form to the supervisor for approval. Approval is completed once the supervisor reviews the evidence and description, selects a rating for each indicator, and then clicks on the Approve button.

The administrator will go to My Staff - Staff and then select Folder next to the form labeled APPEL REQUIREMENTS - DOMAINS IV AND V for the correct teacher. The administrator will not be able to go to the form or view the form until the teacher has submitted it.

School/Department Administrators:

We will be providing additional training opportunities for administrators and administrative assistants on the Frontline Recruiting and Hiring system during the week of January 24 - 28. All trainings will be at the District Office in room #129. Please bring a laptop for the hands-on training. For available dates/times and to schedule a training session, visit the link below. Space is limited in each session. Additional sessions will be added if needed.

Our Classes at Jordan School District

Also available on HRConnections and AdminOnly are the training videos and tutorials. Contract Brent Burge at #88224 if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Human Resources

Parent Teacher Conferences are fast approaching, and many of you will find your school in need of one or more interpreters in order to serve the needs of your parents. Mirsa Joosten is happy to find an interpreter in each language you need, but this can be extremely difficult when there is not sufficient time for her to make arrangements. The virtual format, should we need to use it, can make finding interpreters even more difficult. For these reasons, we ask you to please request your interpreter no later than the dates given below by completing the Interpreting and Translation Services Request Form available on the Equity and Compliance webpage, if you have not already done so.

Level Conference Date(s) Date Interpreter Request Due
High Schools February 16, 2022 February 4, 2022
Middle Schools February 16 - 17, 2022 February 4, 2022
Elementary Schools March 16 – 17, 2022 March 4, 2022

 

Getting your requests in early will be especially important for secondary schools, as Mirsa will not be available during the week of secondary conferences.

January meetings will still be held on the 20th and 25th as scheduled, in-person at JATC-S. 

The next Assistant Principal meetings will be held on January 20 (8:00-11:00am) and January 25 (8:00-11:00am). At this time the plan is that all meetings will be held in-person at the JATC-S. A beverage service will be provided, beginning at 7:30am at each of the meetings. As a reminder you only need to attend one of the sessions offered per month. Both sessions will provide the same information. If you haven't had a chance to sign up for the January meetings please CLICK HERE and it will take you to the Google Doc.

Yes! The February 3rd and  8th meetings are coming up quickly after the January meetings. To sign up for February (if you haven't already) please CLICK HERE and it will take you to the Google Doc.

Dear Principals, 

Please send the 6th grade parent letter to Parent via SkyAlert. It provides parents important information about the options for mathematics that are available to their students in middle school. There is an English and Spanish version. 

Thank you for your support in this matter. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Amy Kinder at (801) 567-8469 or email amy.kinder@jordandistrict.Org.

DATE:     
January 12, 2022

TO: 
Principals
Assistant Principals
Campus Monitors

FROM:  
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Sharon Jensen, Consultant in Student Support Services

SUBJECT:   
Campus Monitor Training


The last Campus Monitor training of the current school year will be held on Friday, March 25th. All Campus Monitors should plan to attend. This is a Grade Transmittal Day in our district so please plan to adjust their hours accordingly that week for the 2 hours to attend. An administrator from each secondary school is also invited to attend the training.

What: Campus Monitor Training
When: Friday, March 25th 2022
Where: The ASB Presentation Room  (Entrance C by the flagpole)
When: 7:30 AM until 9:30 AM

DATE:   
January 12, 2022

TO:
High School Principals, Middle School Principals
High School Counselors, Middle School Counselors

FROM: 
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Stacee Worthen, Secondary Counselor Consultant
Jane Harward, Consultant, Science/Health/PE/STEM

SUBJECT:  
Physical Education/Health Graduation Requirement


Please see memo below for the Physical Education/Health requirements for graduation, as approved by the Utah Board of Education.

DATE:   
January 11, 2022

TO: 
All Administrators

FROM: 
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
McKinley Withers, Health and Wellness Consultant

SUBJECT:  
Wellness Room “SEL Accelerator” Invitation


You are invited to our first ever SEL Accelerator that is focused exclusively on wellness rooms! This event will be held virtually on January 28th, from 8:30-9:30. Schools with wellness rooms from across the District will give us a 5-minute virtual tour of their wellness rooms and share their “high, low, and a buffalo.”

You can sign up using this link, the QR code on the attached flyer, or by adding it to your calendar and showing up to participate on January 28th! We look forward to learning from all the great work that is being done throughout our District!

DATE:
January 10, 2022

TO:  
All Elementary Principals

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

SUBJECT: 
Covid Guidelines for 5th Grade Utah Symphony Performances at Abravanel Hall


We are looking forward to the Utah Symphony performances on February 8th and 9th. As a result of the recent Salt Lake County health mandates, please be aware of the following:

  • The concerts are being presented in a Salt Lake County facility. As a result, face masks will be required for all attendees.
  • Proof of Covid-19 vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of the performance will be required for those 12 and older. This will apply to all teachers and chaperones.

Please convey this information to your 5th grade teachers as soon as possible. In addition, in order to facilitate communication with your school’s 5th grade teachers, please have your administrative assistant complete this brief survey that will provide information that is needed by the Symphony staff.

DATE:
Thursday, January 13, 2022

TO:  
Elementary Administrators

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

SUBJECT: 
Acadience Reading and Math Testing for the MOY and EOY Windows


The Acadience Reading and Math middle-of-the-year (MOY) window will close on Monday, January 31, 2022. As a department, Evaluation, Research & Accountability will continue to do all it can to ensure that our assessment assistants are able to complete K-3 testing at the remaining elementary schools. As has been the practice for the last two years, we will continue to use department personnel to fill gaps on assessment teams so that we can test each class scheduled for that day.

There are many possibilities which may render us unable to complete testing at a school such as another snow day, illness, staff shortages, or a high rate of student absenteeism. With 41 elementary schools and a short testing window, if we miss testing at a school due to a snow day or cannot finish a school in the allotted time, we may be unable to come back and complete testing. In such situations, the school would need to complete testing on its own.

Here are a few ways that, together with your help, we can mitigate this situation as a possibility:

  • Ensure that your testing schedule allows for some flexibility. Second and third grade classes test quickly because we only administer the Acadience Reading measures while kindergarten and first grade take longer because we also administer the Acadience Math measures. Because of this, it is helpful if teachers can be ready to come early or late.
  • Avoid scheduling kindergarten and first grade classes back to back, when possible. Because these grade levels participate in both reading and math testing, they take longer to finish for each student.
  • We have asked instructional coaches to assist us on testing days. On occasions where the coach is unavailable, we may not have enough staffing even with department personnel to complete testing in a timely manner.
  • We have asked that schools provide at least one adult runner. When schools are not able to do so, one of the assessment assistants assumes this responsibility, which means that tester isn’t testing as many students and we once again may not be able to complete testing in a timely manner. Parent volunteers who know classroom locations are acceptable runners.

In the event that there is another snow day, a high rate of student absenteeism, or we cannot complete testing at a school, the following steps will be taken:

  • Because the state requires grades 1-3 testing, we will leave the remaining kindergarten classes to the school to be tested and focus on grades 1-3 if we have another day scheduled at that school.
  • Schools will need to put together and coordinate a testing team to complete testing of remaining untested students.
  • All instructional coaches have been trained on both Acadience Reading and Math test administration and can provide training to school personnel.
  • Schools may also use the Canvas training courses to train personnel on test administration. The Acadience Reading Canvas course may be accessed here: https://jordanpd.instructure.com/enroll/E4MAF7  The Acadience Math Canvas course may be accessed here: https://usbe.instructure.com/enroll/96NGXW
  • Principals may also contact Ben Jameson to set up a training as well.

We recognize the depth and breadth of what we are asking schools to do if we cannot complete testing. Having schools complete their own testing is a last resort and every effort will be made to avoid it.

Please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability with any questions or concerns.

DATE: 
January 8, 2022

TO:  
All Principals
All Special Education Staff

FROM:  
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Brian King, Principal, River’s Edge

SUBJECT:   
ASPEN Training for Special Education Personnel 2021-2022


ASPEN training will continue to be required for all licensed special education teachers, SLPs, school psychologists, elementary school counselors, and for all instructional assistants in SEB and Autism self-contained support classrooms during the 2021-22 school year. First year staff and staff that have not completed the full certification ASPEN training should register for the training on JPLS. Training dates and times are attached to this memo. Please note that additional dates have been added, and these are expected to be the final dates for the remainder of the school year. Additional information is included on the attached memo.

For questions please contact:
Daveed Goodrich at daveed.goodrich@jordandistrict.org or Cassidy Hansen at cassidy.hansen@jordandistrict.org

Principal Meetings will be virtual tomorrow, January 11. We will only be meeting by level. Please see the following start times and links for each level.

Elementary Level Meeting
Start Time: 9:00 AM
Zoom Link: https://uetn-org.zoom.us/j/6428973869?pwd=WFM2TVREZkdxSFhNdHdObUtBOGNkQT09

Middle School Level Meeting
Start Time 8:30 AM
Zoom Link: https://uetn-org.zoom.us/j/5208512121?pwd=aFNTSjYxK0pFTFpVZEIwRm9oallhZz09 

High School Level
Start Time 8:00 AM
Zoom Link: https://uetn-org.zoom.us/j/87388024443?pwd=OGVNUDl4Y0N5NEhQanZPUEwzMHFTdz09

 

 

 

DATE:
January 4, 2022

TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
Special Educators

FROM:
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education

SUBJECT:
Manifestation Determination Procedures Reminders from Principal Meetings


Special education students and students referred for a special education evaluation are considered to be a protected class as outlined in the Utah State Board of Education Special Education Rules - V. DISCIPLINE PROCEDURES (34 CFR § 300.530), pages 101-107. Students who reach the 10-day suspension threshold and/or are referred for a district level hearing, must have a Manifestation Determination meeting.

Administrators should notify a student’s special education case manager of any disciplinary actions the student is involved in as soon as possible to determine whether or not a Manifestation Determination meeting is needed and/or to consider if behavior needs to be addressed in the student’s IEP. If it is determined that a Manifestation Meeting needs to be held, the case manager should complete a formal Notice of Meeting inviting the required IEP team members. If a Manifestation Determination meeting is not required, the IEP team should determine if an IEP meeting needs to be held to address behavior concerns.

Please see the Jordan School District Special Education Procedures and Policies Manual for information on members of the Manifestation Meeting and when one should be conducted.  You can also contact your teacher specialist for additional information.

If you have questions about a specific student or situation, please contact a Special Education Administrator or your Special Education Teacher Specialist.

The Summer Conference for the 2022-23 school year will be held on Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at Elk Ridge Middle School. All Certified Special Education staff and school administrators are invited to attend. Times and additional information will be coming soon.

Attend the UCET Conference along with your fellow leaders and coaches!

Prior to the holiday break, you should have received an email with registration information for the UCET Conference. For those who don’t know about the UCET Conference, this is the annual, state-wide educational technology conference for teachers, coaches, and administrators. This fantastic conference is a wonderful opportunity to improve the digital learning in your schools!

Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL) wants to ensure that one administrator, from each school, has the opportunity to attend the conference this March 15th and 16th, so we provided you with a complimentary registration. To complete the registration please follow the instructions from the Eventbrite email sent on Dec. 14th. The registration is currently in the principal's name, but if he/she is unable to attend, it may be transferred to another admin or educator in your building.

In addition to an administrator registration, DTL also provided a complimentary registration for each digital coach in the district. For those in secondary, this also includes the required substitute for the days of the conference. Please use code 5655 for the sub code. We are excited to have a huge presence at this year’s UCET Conference and can’t wait to strengthen the technology skills of our fantastic coaches!

Please contact Jared Covili, Digital Teaching and Learning Consultant, with any questions jared.covili@jordandistrict.org.