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Author: npage

Published on

DATE:   
Thursday, March 25, 2021

TO: 
Middle School Principals
High School Principals

FROM: 
Shelley Nordick, Ph. D., Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:  
Research Project

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

Project Title: Examining Teacher Grading Perceptions and Practices

Applicant: Michael Anderson, Brigham Young University

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 dissemination of a survey to all secondary educators.

Thank you for your assistance.

Published on

DATE:
March 17, 2021

TO:
Principal
Elementary and Middle School Resource Team Leaders
High School Special Education Team Leaders

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

SUBJECT:
Special Education Resource Instructional Assistants for 2021-22
Special Education Support Class Instructional Assistants for 2021-22

This memo is designed to explain how special education instructional assistants can be requested and will be allocated to each schools’ special education program(s) for the 2021-22 school year. If you have any questions, please contact your assigned teacher specialist or program administrator. We want to make sure everyone has the support staff necessary to meet student’s individual IEP needs.

You will receive an email including the Projected Resource Staffing Needs Survey form that is specific to your school or program. This form will include your current staffing allocations (this is your current staff minus your current critical needs staff). Please use this form to summarize the additional instructional assistants needed to meet the collective needs of the students you submitted on Checklist of Existing Environmental and Instructional Supports and Rubric to Determine Need for Critical Need Support. This request should be agreed upon by all team members and your building principal or assigned administrator should sign the request.

Please Submit all three forms to your assigned teacher specialist by Friday, April 16, 2021. You will receive a preliminary critical needs instructional assistant allocation by Friday, May 7, 2021. Additional Critical Needs may be requested after school starts or if the students in your class or program change significantly.

Published on

High School Principals:

Please share the following information and flyer with the appropriate employees and students.

The deadline for Utah’s annual STEM Signing Day, hosted by Boeing and the Utah STEM Action Center, is quickly approaching. STEM Signing Day is an annual event celebrating high school seniors choosing to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) degrees at technical programs and two and four-year colleges and universities. Just like signing days for athletes, STEM Signing Day is full of excitement and fanfare, and honorees sign a letter of intent to pursue their STEM goals.

Read below for additional details and the link to apply.

Who should apply?
All Utah high school seniors graduating Spring 2021 and planning to pursue a STEM degree at a technical program or two or four-year college or university are encouraged to apply.

How does a student apply?
Students must have a complete profile on Tallo and submit a STEM Signing Day application. Visit the 2021 Utah STEM Signing Day website to create your profile and complete the application.

When is the application deadline?
Wednesday, March 31

SAVE THE DATE!
Due to the pandemic, Boeing is hosting a virtual STEM Signing Day on Thursday, April 29 for student honorees and their guests from across the nation. Following a special presentation and keynote, Utah honorees will be recognized in a breakout session where they will sign their letters of intent. Students will also have the opportunity to sign up for an ongoing mentorship program with Boeing leaders.

Published on

Job postings can be viewed at: https://www.teachers-teachers.com/employer/jordan-school-district-5390

As per, District Policy DP304 -Teacher Transfers, principals will interview at least two (2) qualified transfer candidates if available through June 1.

During screening, Principals will consider both internal/current applicants listed on the Teacher Transfer Request Report, which is generated by email each Monday, and external applicants listed in K12jobspot. Human Resources will also review both lists to ensure this policy is followed before approving any new hire request.

Applicant Process:
Internal (Transfer) - Current JSD teachers apply by submitting a request through the Teacher Transfer Request located in Skyward Employee Access. A Teacher Transfer Request Report is emailed to Principals each Monday.

External - New applicants apply through K12jobspot and these applications are immediately available to principals and/or designated administrators.

For additional assistance, please contact
Stacy Krahenbuhl, Elementary - stacy.krahenbuhl@jordandistrict.org,
Jill Lisonbee, Secondary - jill.lisonbee@jordandistrict.org

DP304 NEG Teacher Transfer Policy

Published on

DATE:
March 8, 2021

TO:
All Principals
All Budget Directors

FROM:
John Larsen, Business Administrator
June LeMaster, Ph.D., Administrator, Human Resources
Daniel Ellis, Director of Accounting, Budgets & Audits
Derek Anderson, Director of Accounting, Budgets & Audits
Cheryl Matson, Director of Insurance Services
Michael Heaps, Director of Information Systems
Sarah Palmer, Director of Payroll
Kurt Prusse, Director of Purchasing

SUBJECT:
Year-End Processing Deadlines

Please observe the following critical deadlines, listed in the memo below, regarding the financial year-end processes for the 2020-21 year. Please review these dates as they could have a major effect on your location’s ability to operate.

Published on

Please complete the “Summer School Schedule” sheet in your school ESSER Worksheets document before April 26th as follows:

  • High Schools indicate your intention to request transportation.
  • Middle Schools record your summer school start and end dates, the days of the week, the start and end time, and indicate your intention to request transportation.
  • Elementary Schools record your summer school start and end dates, the days of the week, the start and end time, indicate your intention to request transportation, and (optional) indicate the number of summer school curriculum packages. Training dates for SORing to Summer Success curriculum package (optional).

Published on

Jordan School District has developed an instructional plan for literacy and has adopted curriculum to strengthen instruction in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 settings to support all students. Please join us to learn about the plan, the curriculum, and the suggested daily schedule to help you prepare for the coming year. Two dates have been provided so every elementary school building principal and assistant principal can attend. The dates are April 8th and 13th from 8:30-4:00 in the ASB Auditorium.

Tentative  Agenda Items:

  • Overview of Reading
  • Tier 1 Instruction
  • Tier 2 Instruction
  • Assessment Structure
  • Content Integration
  • Support for EL students
  • Recommended Daily Schedule
  • Summer Professional Development

Published on

DATE:  
March 17, 2021

TO: 
All Elementary

FROM:  
Derek Anderson, Director of Accounting, Budgets, and Audits

SUBJECT: 
Year-End Textbook Adoption Balance

With the year-end approaching quickly, one thing to keep in mind is the math expressions adoption and its impact on your year-end balance for your textbook allocation balance.

Please see memo below.

Published on

K-12 REDCap school partners:

We are excited to announce a new REDCap update that will speed up the process of inputting results to allow for a more efficient testing event. This update will be implemented on Friday March 19th, between 8:00 pm and 10 pm. As a result of this update, the following new features will be implemented on Saturday March 20th. If you are conducting a testing event on Saturday March 20th, please notify us by filling out this form and requesting “REDCap Troubleshooting” and we will send staff to your testing location.

The New Features:

  • Faster result input with decreased delays.
  • All individuals currently in your school REDCap account will remain if they have been tested in the past two months. The new link cannot be manipulated or changed, ensuring all registrants will be registered with their assigned school.
  • A centralized REDCap email account has been created where you can submit questions, request help, and request an account:  REDCAP_notificiations@utah.gov.

Important Note!

  • Anyone who registers after Friday 03/19/2021 will need to use a new link to register. That link will be specific to your school and will be emailed to you on Thursday, March 18th.  The link will come from the REDCap email (REDCAP_notificiations@utah.gov) with the subject line: Updated REDCap Registration Link.  Unfortunately, the old link will no longer work. Anyone who tries to register using the old link will not be in your records. Again, anyone who has already registered in REDCap and been tested in the last 2 months will remain in the system. The new link is only for people registering for the first time.

What changes should school officials be expecting?

If a student has been tested in the last 60 days with your school- their record will still be accessible. However, after 60 days of no activity in a student’s record- the record will expire and if additional results need to be entered the student will need to re-register. These records can still be accessed by reaching out to 385-273-7878 for printed results or questions.

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Principals:

According to the latest information from the State LAND Trust people, the website won’t be back up until sometime in April. The same due dates must be kept on our end in order to finish the review by the AOS’ and the approvals by the JSD Board of Education. All of this must happen in order for the Board to give their final approval at the April 27th Board Meeting. The State must have the approvals by May 15th in order for our 2021-22 funding to take place on time.

In light of this we are asking the following of each of you:

  • A final report of what you spent in 2019-20 will be emailed to each of you on March 11th. You can use this report to complete the 2019-20 Final Report on a Word Doc. Please follow what you have done in the past when completing the final plan. This report, for the State website, must be completed before the 2021-22 Upcoming Plan can be added to the website. Please submit this report, in Word form, to Nadine Page (page@jordandistrict.org). The AOS’ will review and mark as complete the final report from the Word Doc. When the website comes up you will then need to input the information into their format.
  • The 2021-22 Upcoming Plan template, was initially sent out in the February 11th JAM along with the School LAND Trust Training recap given by Natalie Gordon. The template is also attached to this JAM. Please complete your 2021-22 Upcoming Plan on this template, in Word form, and submit to Nadine Page (nadine.page@jordandistrict.org) on or before the March 26th due date. The AOS’ will review the 2021-22 Plan from the Word Doc. The Board members will also review and approve the 2021-22 Upcoming Plan from this document. When the website comes up you will then need to input the information into their format.
  • Along with the electronic final report, being sent to you on March 11th, you will receive a revised 2021-22 LAND Trust allocation to use in completing your plan.

You will also find a copy of the most recent Appropriate Expenditures from the State website as well as suggested wording to use under "What would you do if you receive additional funding".

If you have any questions please contact Nadine Page, 801-567-8182 or nadine.page@jordandistrict.org. Thank you for your help in getting these reports completed and approved!

Published on

DATE:     
Thursday, March 11, 2021

TO:   
All Schools

FROM:   
Shelley Nordick, Ph.D, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:
2020-21 USBE School Climate Survey Links

Jordan School District will be administering the USBE-mandated school climate survey this year in place of the stakeholder survey that has been administered in previous years.  The school climate survey window opens Wednesday, March 17th and closes on Friday, May 7th.  Surveys are administered to all students in grades K-12, parents, school employees and school resource officers (SROs).

To prepare for, and conduct, the 2020-21 USBE school climate survey, please make sure the following activities are completed for each of surveys:

Student Survey
There are three student surveys: One for students in grades K-2, grades 3-5 and grades 6-12.  Links to the student surveys have been sent to each school tech to load onto computers.

Principals are asked to disseminate the USBE School Climate Survey Teacher Script attached with this memo to their teachers.  After the survey window opens, schools should provide time during the school day for students to take the survey.  Principals may consider designating a homeroom class as the time that students take the school climate survey.

Here are the links to the student surveys:

Grades K-2: https://jordandistrict.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bkFAb5FGBOS57vM

Grades 3-5: https://jordandistrict.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3J1c88baiWNlJMa

Grades 6-12: https://jordandistrict.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0uHAKmyjO8NKZPo

Adult Survey
After the survey window opens, individual licensed faculty, classified staff, and administrators will receive an email from the district with a link inviting them to participate in the school climate survey.  Principals may consider notifying teacher and staff that such an email will be forthcoming.  Principals are also encouraged to provide time in a faculty meeting for employees to take the survey.

A Skylert will be sent to parents inviting them to take the school climate survey.  Principals are encouraged to post the adult survey link on school websites and send out reminder Skylerts inviting parents to take the survey.

Please note that there is a Spanish version of the adult survey available.  Respondents simply click on the English box in the upper right corner of the survey and select Spanish instead.

Here is the link to the adult survey: https://jordandistrict.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cGvnQbMjvtfjifA

Please see the JAM dated February 25th for survey administration details, the length of the survey, parental opt out forms and the school climate survey question items.

Please contact Ben Jameson at 801-567-8243 or ben.jameson@jordandistrict.org with questions.

Published on

DATE: 
March 11, 2021

TO:    
Principals
Assistant Principals
Attendance Secretaries
Financial Secretaries

FROM: 
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director, Student Services
Caleb Olson, Consultant, Planning & Enrollment

SUBJECT:   
Accepting and/or Denying Late Enrollment Permit Applications

Permit applications submitted after the third (3rd) Friday of February for the following school year or any permit for the current school year must be determined by the “adjusted capacity” of the school. The adjusted capacity is the total number of students who could be served in a school if each teacher were to have a class size based on the staffing ratio for each grade level (§53G-6-401).  Late enrollment permit acceptance is determined by the staffing ratio as follows:

  • Elementary schools use the student to teacher ratio for each grade level to determine if there is space available.
  • Secondary schools use the student to teacher ratio for each core class within each grade level to determine if space is available.

Schools must use the following standards for accepting and/or rejecting an application (§53G-6-403):

The standards for accepting or rejecting an application for enrollment may include:

  1. For an elementary, the capacity of the grade level;
  2. Not offering, or having capacity in, an elementary or secondary special education or other special program the student requires;
  3. Maintenance of reduced class sizes (Title I, or school trust money used to reduce class sizes);
  4. Willingness of prospective students to comply with district policies; and
  5. Giving priority to intradistrict transfers over interdistrict transfers.

The standards for accepting or rejecting an application for enrollment may NOT include:

  1. Previous academic achievement;
  2. Athletic or other extracurricular ability;
  3. The fact that the student requires special education services for which space is available;
  4. Proficiency in the English language; or
  5. Previous disciplinary proceedings, except as follows:
    1. There has been a serious infraction of the law of school rules;
    2. The student has been guilty of chronic misbehavior which would, if it were to continue after the student was admitted:
      1. Endanger persons or property;
      2. Cause serious disruptions in the school; or
      3. Place unreasonable burdens on school staff.

Using the waitlist in PowerSchool and the standards listed above, permit applications are granted (seated) by the school on a first-come, first-served basis for the entire school year.

Regardless of acceptance or denial, all applications submitted from December 1 to February 19 must be notified of the status of their application by April 2. Applications submitted after February 21 must be notified within two weeks. All applications are notified of their waitlist position when their permit application is processed. While this should satisfy the notification requirements, schools may desire to send an additional notification if they do not plan to accept any permits. Please contact Caleb at x88251 should you have any questions.

Published on

Most recent update from the State LAND Trust Office: (As of now, the JSD due date for the 2021-22 LAND Trust Plan is still March 26, 2021)

Due to unexpected challenges, the Final Report and Upcoming School Plan forms will not be available for a few more weeks. We will contact you as soon as we have a firm date for each.

Thank you for your patience. Please meet with your councils to prepare the Upcoming School Plan so it is ready for entry when the form is available. A school plan template and estimated funding for each school are available at https://www.schools.utah.gov/schoollandtrust/myschoolreports

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The next Assistant Principal meetings will be held on March 18 (1:00-3:30pm) and March 23 (8:00-10:30am). All meetings will be held in-person at the JATC-S with a virtual session on March 23rd if needed. 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 please CLICK HERE and it will take you to the Google Doc. If you have any questions please call Nadine Page at 801.567.8182 (x88182). Thank you!

Published on

The date for the 2021 Jordan School District High School Graduation exercises is Thursday, June 3, 2021. Valley High School graduation exercises are scheduled for Wednesday, June 2, 2021. School graduation plans and times will vary from school to school.

Principals and Directors are encouraged to provide flexibility to parents or grandparents requesting the opportunity to attend the graduation ceremonies of family members.

Licensed employees are responsible for requesting a substitute through the Frontline Absence Management System (formerly AESOP), if applicable. In the blue “Notes to Administrator” box, the employee should add “graduation” along with his/her relationship to the graduate.

For additional assistance, please contact Juli Martin at juli.martin@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8219.