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Category: Elementary Action Required

Published on

DATE: 
August 21, 2025

TO: 
All Administrators

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

SUBJECT: 
2025-26 Employee Wellness Representatives

Each school or department is invited to select an employee wellness representative! The Employee Wellness Representatives will support faculty/staff wellness efforts within your schools.

Action Items for administrators: Please nominate your Employee Wellness Representative for the 25-26 school year!

Employee Wellness Representatives Duties include:

  • Attending virtual trainings, which will be offered at 3:15 and 4:15PM for each of the following dates. Employee Wellness Reps can choose one of the two listed sessions at either time on: 9/16 or 9/18; 10/14 or 10/16; 11/18 or 11/20; 1/13 or 1/15; 4/14 or 4/16.
  • Learning emotional regulation and stress management strategies for educators
  • Enhancing connection with colleagues and District wellness specialists
  • Promoting wellness initiatives within your school or department
  • Modeling holistic wellness for your school community

Steps to having an Employee Wellness Rep for your school or department:

  1. Consider the following:
    1. School Employee Wellness Reps must be licensed, non-administrative staff members who are eligible for the $500 stipend. We recommend using a non-mental health team staff member who is also on a leadership team or social committee at your school.
    2. Department Employee Wellness Reps can be any individual who represents wellness for the employee group. Though department employee wellness reps may not be stipend-eligible, we hope that directors will allow reps to fulfill their duties as part of their work schedule.
  2. Principal and directors nominate ONE employee wellness representative for each school or department using this form.
  3. Support your Wellness Rep throughout the year as the work to enhance your school or department!

Published on

DATE:
August 21, 2025

TO: 
All administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
Back to School SafeUT Reminders

Administrators,

Please review these SafeUT reminders to start off the 2025-2026 school year.

It is critical that ALL SafeUT tips are “closed” promptly and your school's SafeUT Dashboard is up to date. When tips are not closed, it appears that the school did not address or respond to the concern. It can also disrupt feedback and data used by SafeUT to improve the platform or allocate State funds. Email reminders from SafeUT will be sent to the assigned user of any open tip if it is not marked as resolved after two weeks. This email will act as a reminder to close the tip. Every week after that, a reminder will be sent to the District Dashboard Admins (McKinley and Angie) that the tip is still open and should be closed.

To assist with this, school administrators will receive notifications about the number of open tips for your school with the discipline log each week.

Here are some additional tools to support your use of SafeUT:

  • If you are having trouble logging in or forgot your password, use this link to review the login FAQS. If you are concerned about not receiving tips for your school, contact Angie Rasmussen about a “test tip.”
  • Review this document for a refresher on the different tabs on your dashboard. Be mindful that the “Return Tip” button is only used if the tip was assigned to the wrong school (and must be accompanied by a note as to why the tip needs to be re-evaluated and re-assigned). The “Return Tip” button is not used for false tips or resolved tips.
  • Instructions on how to assign, document, and close a SafeUT tip.
  • A complete training for new dashboard users.

We have made any personnel updates to your school dashboards that we are aware of, but if you have additional updates, changes, or would like to add or remove anyone, you are encouraged to reach out with any requests. Please email Mckinley Withers or Angie Rasmussen (angie.rasmussen@jordandistrict.org). In your email, include the individual’s name, email address, and title in your email. For any individual who would like text message notifications in addition to email notifications, please include a cell phone number.

Published on

DATE:   
August 21, 2025

TO:  
Principals
Administrative Assistants
Attendance Secretaries
Registrars

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

SUBJECT:  
Reporting Completion of 10-Day Accounting

Students who are registered to a District school and have not attended (or been marked absent with a valid excuse) for ten consecutive school days at any point in the school year must be withdrawn from membership. This is particularly important during the first ten days of the school year so that our enrollment calculations and reporting is accurate.

Accurate enrollment counts are used to generate future projections. Projection totals are needed very soon after ten-day adjustments are completed. To assist in preparing projections, we are asking all schools to report the completion of their 10-day drops on a Google Sheet as soon as these drops are processed. Only the staff member responsible for processing the drops should indicate completion status. The Google Sheet is available at this link and will be emailed to attendance staff again close to the 10th day of school.

10 day drops for high schools may be processed at the end of the day on September 3, 2025. Elementary (Grades K-6) and middle school may process drops at the end of the day on September 4, 2025.

Welcome to 2025-26! Send these words "JSD is Great" to Nadine Page nadine.page@jordandistrict.org to win a prize.

Guidelines for how to process these drops are available at the links below:

Published on

DATE: 
August 21, 2025

TO:    
All Administrators

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

SUBJECT: 
PBIS Stipend & Supply Funds

Administrators,

For the 2025-26 school year, funding for each school’s positive behavior plan has been renewed through the State’s E-cigarette and Nicotine Prevention Fund. As a reminder, these funds can only be used for the following purposes:

  • $1,000 of supply funds to administer your positive behavior plan. Accounting has set up your school’s account, and instructions are in the form linked below. PLEASE, DO NOT EXCEED $1,000 IN EXPENSES.
  • Stipends for individuals implementing your school’s PBIS plan in amounts below. Stipends will be paid out in November or March. Please submit the form to Janie Hyde by October 3, 2025, to have the stipends paid on the November paycheck, or please submit it by February 6, 2026, to have the stipends paid on the March paycheck:
    • You may choose one person to receive - $2,250.00
    • You may choose two people to receive - $1,125.00 each
    • You may choose three people to receive - $750.00 each

To access supply and stipend funds, please fill out the following form and follow its instructions:

Published on

TO:
Elementary Principals

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Amanda Bollinger, Associate Administrator, Teaching & Learning
Nathan Foster, Specialist, Health & PE

Principals,

It is mandatory for all Health and 4th-grade teachers to complete the Botvin Life Skills training. Please share this information with the applicable teachers at your school. See the attached document for upcoming training opportunities and requirements for this curriculum. Our new Health & PE Teacher Specialist, Nathan Foster (nate.foster@jordandistrict.org) will be emailing a list of employees that need to complete the training.

Published on

DATE: 
August 7, 2025

TO:  
All Assistant Principals

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

SUBJECT: 
Safe School Hearing Committee Assignments

Please see the 25-26 Safe School Hearing Assignment Calendar for your assignment to serve on the Safe School Hearing Committee.

This Committee is chaired by Sharon Jensen, Consultant at Student Support Services. With a few exceptions, Safe School Hearings are held on Wednesdays.

Please plan on being at the District Office on your assigned day from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. You will be notified the day before the hearings of how many hearings are scheduled.

If you have a conflict on your assigned date, please contact Janie Hyde at janie.hyde@jordandistrict.org or call 801-567-8326 as soon as possible so she can secure a replacement for you.

Thank you for your commitment to our students and the Safe School Hearing process.

 

Published on

TO:
Building Administrators
Kindergarten Teachers
Instructional Coaches

FROM:
Michelle Lovell, Consultant in Teaching & Learning

As we move into the school year, we want to remind schools that the district has a kindergarten goal to have all students know all of their letter names and sounds by the end of the first quarter. We are asking teachers to input their data into Mastery Connect as a benchmark by November 7th. Meeting this goal will set students up for being able to meet the end of year goal of 20 Whole Words Read in Acadience Reading. Whole Words Read is an indication that students can blend closed syllable words proficiently. Acadience Reading is an indicator of risk and research shows that when students end the year as highly proficient (blue) they have a 90-99% chance of achieving subsequent early literacy benchmarks. If students end the year at benchmark (green) they have a 70-85% chance of meeting subsequent early literacy benchmarks.

Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, August 14, 2025

TO:     
Elementary School Administrators

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

SUBJECT: 
BOY Acadience Reading and Math Testing Reminders

The beginning-of-year Acadience Reading and Math testing window opens on the third day of school and closes on Tuesday, September 30th. As we prepare for Acadience testing, there are a few friendly reminders that help the district testing teams be as efficient as possible while they are at your school testing students:

  • When possible, it is best to schedule Acadience testing in media centers where the space is large enough to mitigate the noise that comes from 10-11 testers/students all talking at once. Other areas, such as classrooms, kivas, or stages in the multicultural room/cafeteria can be very noisy. Excessive noise can make it hard for testers to hear student responses and be very distracting to students, which may affect the accuracy of their test.
  • Your school’s Acadience testing dates were communicated to you last spring. We recommend refraining from scheduling assemblies, field trips, or other events that may impact testing for the day.
  • Please avoid scheduling kindergarten and first grade classes back-to-back, when possible. They take longer because assessment assistants are administering both the reading and math measures. Staggering them between second and third grade classes helps the team stay on time.
  • Generally, assessment assistants will work to stick to the established testing schedule for the day. However, there may be times where they will need to accelerate their pacing. Please encourage your teachers to be flexible. They need to be prepared to come a little early or late to their allotted time.
  • Be sure to have an adult runner available who knows the school and can quickly get the next class to come to the testing area, distribute student cards, and help the testing run as efficiently as possible. If schools don’t have a runner available, a parent who knows where teacher classrooms are is a viable option. If there is no runner, one of our assessment assistants has to do it, which means she is testing less students.

Please contact Ben Jameson or Janice Sperry in Assessment, Research & Accountability with any questions or concerns about these reminders.

Published on

TO:
Elementary Principals

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Amanda Bollinger, Associate Administrator, Teaching & Learning
Amy Lloyd, K-12 Math Consultant, Teaching & Learning

Principals,

Student manuals, center kits, and manipulative kits should have arrived at your school. We’ve noticed that some schools have received extra materials, while others may be missing items.

To help us resolve this, please open the attached document, locate your school’s tab, and record any materials that are missing or extra by Agust 29, 2025. Please note: yardsticks will be shipped separately and do not need to be included on the form.

Thank you! Our goal is to ensure every school has the resources you need for a successful year.

LINK to Material Needs

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Amanda Bollinger, Associate Administrator, Teaching & Learning
Amy Lloyd, K-12 Math Consultant, Teaching & Learning

Administrators,

Teachers that chose to participate in the optional 3rd Planning Day as part of our Open Up Math Training series have until the August 22, 2025 to submit the form to receive their stipend.

Teachers will follow the directions provided in the attached Day 3 Planning Evidence Form and then upload the attached form into a Day 3 Stipend Google Form. The due date and forms were shared with teachers as well.

 

Published on

DATE:   
Thursday, August 7, 2025

TO:  
Elementary Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
Acadience Reading Training Options

District assessment assistants will administer the Acadience Reading benchmarks for students in grades K-3 as in years past. Schools should already have their benchmark testing dates for all three windows for the 2025-26 school year.

Any school personnel that will be involved in administering the Acadience Reading benchmarks in grades 4-6 and/or progress monitoring probes in grades K-6 should be trained in test administration procedures on an annual basis. There are several training options depending on the employee’s work assignment.

Classroom Teachers and Instructional Coaches
Teachers and coaches need complete only one of the following options:

  • Training Option 1: USBE Canvas Course
  • Training Option 2: In-person training – Please sign up using this link. The in-person course is a half day. Schools will need to cover the cost of the sub.
  • Training Option 3: JSD Training Course

ESP Employees
ESP employees should complete one of the following options as part of their regular contract time:

  • Training Option 1: In-person training – Please sign up using this link. The in-person course is a half day. Schools will need to cover the cost of the sub.
  • Training Option 2: JSD Training Course

Please note that ALO account access will be granted once ESP employees successfully complete one of the two training options listed above.

For questions about Acadience Reading training, please contact Janice Sperry in Assessment, Research & Accountability.

Published on

DATE: 
July 31, 2025

TO:   
Elementary School Administrative Assistants

FROM:  
Scott M. Thomas, Administrator of Auxiliary Services
Paul Bergera, Director of Transportation
Stephanie Erickson, Special Education Route Coordinator

SUBJECT: 
Busing Requests for Sibling Riders

It is a pleasure for us to provide safe, reliable and efficient transportation for our students. As we embark on a succesful launch of the 2025-26 school year, we at Transportation are preparing our routes to accommodate changes throughout the district for special education transportation.

Attached is the 2025-26 Special Education Busing Request form for sibling riders, which is used for all sibling riders and must be renewed each year. We ask you to please provide assistance to parents by helping them understand that the school principal’s signature is needed prior to the form either being sent to Stephanie Erickson at stephanie.erickson@jordandistrict.org or by opting to send a hard copy to Stephanie through district mail.

Copies of the individual bus route complete with student stop locations and estimated stop times are provided to our bus drivers for each special need student attending your school. Therefore, if a sibling rider is on a bus, the driver has appropriate information either prior to the first day of school or as we receive completed and approved forms throughout the school year. A bus list is then provided to the special education teachers at your school.

As student information changes throughout the year, an updated list will also be provided to the special education teachers.

Thank you for your support. We look forward to a great school year together!

Published on

DATE:  
July 31, 2025

TO: 
District employees who qualify for mileage reimbursement

FROM:
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Dan Ellis, Director of Accounting

SUBJECT:  
Defensive Driving Course Requirement for Mileage Reimbursement

Our insurance carrier, State Risk Management, has asked that every person who receives mileage reimbursement take the Utah Defensive Driving Course. We ask that you complete this free course as soon as possible using the instructions attached to this memo.

A new District Mileage Reimbursement form can be found at this link https://jordandistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/083_MileageReport.xlsx. This new form has a box under the title for the individual to enter the completion date of the course. Please note that beginning in January 2026, Accounting will only reimburse mileage that includes the completion date of the Risk Management Defensive Driving Course. The course must be completed every two years. Supervisors approving mileage reimbursement – please remind your employees to complete this course and enter the date at the top of their mileage reimbursement form to avoid delays in reimbursement in January 2026.

The link below provides access to the course in the Utah Learning Portal. Your username is your district email. Click “Sign Up” and fill out the required information. Note that the security key word is Jordan and you may create your own password.

https://utah-riskpool.sabacloud.com/Saba/Web_wdk/NA1PRD0101/index/prelogin.rdf#/login

Once you have passed the course, record the completion date on your mileage reimbursement form and print the certificate. You may use the print option at the top of the final page of the online assessment or print your certificate from the attachment that will be emailed to you. Retain the certificate at your location for audit purposes.

If you have questions regarding the mileage reimbursement form, please contact Dan Ellis, Director of Accounting, Budgets, and Audits at 801.567.8389. If you have questions about the Risk Management Defensive Driving Course, please contact Brandon Conti, Risk Management Coordinator at 801.567.8876.

Published on

DATE:     
July 30, 2025

TO:   
Principals
Assistant Principals
School Safety Specialists

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

SUBJECT:  
Fire Drill Required Within the First 10 School Days

All schools are required to conduct a fire drill within the first 10 days of the school year. This provides a great opportunity to review plans, emergency response/Incident Command assignments, evacuation maps, outside rally locations, communications, and related supplies.

Please call the Jordan School District 24-hr. Alarm Response 801-567-8865 at least 30 minutes in advance of the drill, so the fire department is not dispatched.

Use the JSD Incident Command System Manual - Fire Action Plan as your drill guideline. Jordan School District Safety Manual

Should you have any questions or concerns please contact Matt Alvernaz the District Safety Coordinator at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8623.

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
April Gaydosh, Administrator Human Resources
Jane Olsen, HR Specialist

Greetings!

Continuing in the tradition of collaboration, building relationships and cultivating systems of support we will be having a Meet & Greet for departments, systems of support, sponsors and our partners on August 8 during the New Teacher Induction. This is an opportunity to interact with our anticipated 250 new teachers, connect them with resources, and develop relationships.

We would like to invite you to have a table or table(s) for the Meet & Greet during our lunch break. Arrival/setup can begin as early as 11:00 A.M. and take down time would begin at 12:50 P.M.

To notify us of your reservation and to assist us in planning, please see the invitation below and click the ‘CLICK HERE to Reserve a Table’ link. Please complete your reservation request by 8/4/2025 so we can source the appropriate number of table and chairs.

New this year, you will have the option to notify us if you need power for your table. Please indicate your need for power during your reservation process.

Tablecloths will not be available, please plan to decorate your table and have takeaways to provide to our new educators such as information, swag, manipulatives, or a link to resources connected to your department.

Help us show them that Jordan School District is the District of choice for the best and brightest educators.

Questions?
Please contact Jane Olsen, HR Specialist at jane.olsen@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8217.

Published on

DATE:
July 1, 2025

TO:   
Principals
Special Education Teachers (Preschool and School-Age) Speech-Language Pathologists

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

SUBJECT:  
Extended Year Special Educator Stipends 2025-26

Please read the following information and instructions carefully. Submitting these days requires an online survey to be filled out and submitted.

This year the state has allocated 4 additional days available to work during the two weeks before or after your contract days. Please read the attached memo for instructions on when the days can be worked and how to submit them correctly. The link for submitting the days is included in the attached memo.

If you have questions please contact Amanda Hamblin at the Special Education office.

Published on

DATE:
July 24, 2025

TO:
Elementary Principals
Middle School Principals

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Amanda Bollinger, Associate Administrator, Teaching & Learning
Amy Lloyd, K-12 Math Consultant, Teaching & Learning

SUBJECT:
2025-26 K-8 Grade New Teacher Math Training

Principals,

Please make sure your newly hired 2025-26 K-8 teachers are signed up for the August New Teacher Math Training. Teachers will be compensated with a stipend for attending the training. Please see the attached memo for additional information.

Published on

DATE:    
July 31, 2025

TO:     
All School Administrators and District Department Directors/Consultants

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

SUBJECT: 
2025-26 Required Testing Ethics Professional Development Procedures for Education Support Professionals

For the 2025-26 school year, administrators will need to conduct a training on the state’s testing ethics policy for all licensed educators as well as any education support professionals (ESPs) who will assist with district-, state- or federally-mandated testing. All licensed educators will need to be trained on the policy. Administrators will want to consider including computer lab assistants who function as the school’s test coordinator, any classroom aides that assist with testing, literacy aides who assist with Acadience Reading or Math testing or progress monitoring, or any office staff that assist test coordinators with district-, state- or federally-mandated testing.

The three required procedures for completing this testing ethics professional development are listed on the “2025-26 Principal’s Testing Ethics Checklist for ESPs” form, which is due to Assessment, Research & Accountability by Friday, September 19, 2025.

As has been done in the past, administrators may provide the testing ethics training themselves using the Google slide deck linked in this memo. Alternatively, administrators may show the YouTube video linked below to school personnel. The video provides the same information as the slide deck. Once school personnel have been trained, either by a school administrator or using the video, they are required to sign the “2025-26 Standard Test Administration and Testing Ethics Policy Training Signature Form.” Administrators are asked to keep these signed forms on file at the school.

There are several materials attached with this memo for your use:

Please contact Ben Jameson or Gaylene Miller in Assessment, Research & Accountability with any questions.

Published on

TO:
All Administrators

FROM:
April Gaydosh, Administrator of Human Resources

Jordan School District Employees are responsible for knowing and adhering to all District policies and procedures. The Crucial Concerns and Policy Review is now available to District employees in Skyward through “Online Forms.” As a condition of continued employment, all employees (i.e. Licensed, ESP, Substitutes, Coaches, Miscellaneous adults, etc.), with the exception of minor students, will be required to complete this training. We ask your assistance in notifying your employees of this required training and ask that this training be completed by November 1, 2025.

A message will appear upon login of Skyward Employee Access for the employee to complete an “Online Form.” Employees can complete the steps at that time or can return to the review at another time by selecting “Online Forms” under “Employee Information.” Attached is a tutorial to assist in completing the review.

Reports of completion will be available through Skyward and the Human Resources dashboard so you can verify that your staff members have completed this process. A tutorial is attached for your reference. If you or any staff members need technical help, please call the help desk at 801-567-USER (8737).

Published on

TO:
All Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning

The district-wide professional development day is on August 12th, 2025.

All licensed personnel are required to select and attend a keynote speaker in the morning and are required to attend a session on Portrait of a Graduate at their respective school in the afternoon.

Please sign up for a keynote ASAP if you haven’t already. Please remind teachers in back-to-school communications to sign up for a keynote.

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:

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.

Afternoon Portrait of a Graduate Presentation:

Attached is the link to the folder with the presentation and facilitator script along with other POG resources. Please review the documents in anticipation of the principal presentation on the afternoon of August 12, 2025. You can adjust your own copy of the slides to fit the needs of your faculty, but please keep the most important messages regarding POG in tact. Please contact Carolyn Gough ext: 88122 for questions about the presentation or resources.

Folder link