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Category: Elementary Action Required

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DATE:
April 7, 2022

TO:  
Jordan District Administrators, Directors

FROM:  
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Administrators of Schools

SUBJECT:  
Time Schedule for the Last Day of School

Please review the attached memo carefully for your school dismissal time, and convey this information to your students and parents.

Published on

DATE:      
April 7, 2022

TO:   
All Principals / Department Directors / School Administrative Assistants

SUBJECT:    
Requests for 2022-2023 Special Calendars – Licensed Only

Your assistance is requested, as the Human Resource Department is preparing special calendars for the 2022-2023 academic year for licensed employees. Special calendars are essential to ensuring appropriate contract pay, time entry, emergency protocols and temporary employee tracking. Employees who meet certain criteria, as listed below, should have a special calendar on file with the Human Resource Department.

A list of licensed employees at your school/department location who are currently on a special calendar for the 2021-2022 contract year will be emailed to you for review on Friday, April 8th, 2022. If needed, please make all appropriate additions, corrections, or other changes by submitting an online Hire/Change form in Skyward to the Human Resource Department. Please follow the additional instructions below.

Criteria for determining if an employee requires a special calendar:

  • 187 Modified/207 Modified-educator who is less than a 1.0 FTE working a schedule that is modified by hours per day or number of days during the week (i.e. .50 FTE working 8 hours every other day, for example)
  • Multiple Location Employees - employees split between two or more locations.
  • Elementary Job Shares

If you have an employee you would like to review to determine if they may need a special calendar, you may contact the Human Resources Department, HR Assistant Senior- Mai Vang, for assistance. If a list is not included, there are currently no employees on a special calendar at this location. However, if you anticipate a special calendar for a licensed employee, please follow the instructions below.

Instructions for Special Calendar Requests:

  1. Principals set up a meeting with employee(s) who meet the criteria for a special calendar. Attached is an optional email template that can be modified to fit each employee; however essential information should remain unchanged.
  2. Collaborate with each employee and complete the appropriate calendar for any/all licensed employee(s) on a special calendar found on the HR Connection. These calendars are fillable and will self-calculate.
  3. Print the completed calendar, sign and obtain signatures from the employee(s).
  4. Return the original calendar to the Human Resource Department by May 6, 2022 for processing.
  5. If a licensed employee will not continue on a special calendar, an online change form must be completed at the school/department and submitted to the Human Resource Department in Skyward.

Important Reminders:

  • Special Calendars may only be changed twice per contract year. Revisions must be pre-approved and signed by the principal/director.
  • Special calendars must be followed as outlined. If a calendared day is missed, the appropriate allocated leave time must be entered in Skyward for that day. (The calendar has a calculator to assist with time entry.)
  • Trade days are problematic and require a change to the employee’s special calendar, written approval by the supervisor, and notification to an HR Administrator, prior to taking leave or modifying their calendar.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. Failure to follow these procedures may cause an employee to be paid incorrectly. Any questions about this procedure or completing a special calendar should be directed to Mai Vang, HR Assistant Senior, at (801) 567-8228.

An abbreviated version of this memo was included in the April 2022 HR Connections, which can be viewed at https://employment.jordandistrict.org/hr-connections-newsletters/.

JL/jo

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School/Department Administrators:

Would you like more training on Frontline recruiting for licensed applicants?

In April, the HR Administrators will be providing additional training opportunities for principals, assistant principals and administrative assistants. All trainings will be at the District Office 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 as needed.  

Frontline Training Schedule for Appointments

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

Sincerely,

Human Resources

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ESSER funds will cover up to two weeks of summer school.

  • Elementary School Dates and Times: June 13 – 24, 2022
    • Suggested Structure:
      • A two-week session
      • 3 – 5 days a week
      • 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
      • Start and end times need to be coordinated with middle and high schools for transportation.
  • Middle School Dates and Times: June 13 - 24
    • A two-week session
    • Monday - Friday, 8:30 - 12:00
    • Secondary school summer programming will provide credit recovery courses for students.
  • High School  Dates and Times: June 13 - 24
    • A two-week session
    • Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 3:35 PM
    • Secondary school summer programming will provide credit recovery courses for students.
  • ESSER funds will cover the cost of up to 16 teachers and/or counselors, or ESPs. Teachers will be paid 1-hour of prep/planning for each day if they are present during the day. All 16 employees may receive up to 8 hours of preparation or recruiting time that is worked off contract time prior to the first day of summer school.
  • Steps to paying employees: 1) Please list all certified and educational support personnel (ESPs) who will be getting paid for summer school by May 1st on the appropriate tab in the ESSER worksheet so they can be entered into True Time. 2) Instruct all employees who are recruiting students or preparing for summer school to log their hours in True Time before summer school begins. Record hours worked during summer school in True Time.

  • ESSER funds will cover transportation costs if bussing is available. Please contact Bev Griffith if you are interested in bussing: beverly.griffith@jordandistrict.org
  • Schools are responsible for submitting a report on efforts to measure and address learning loss. To submit the report: Fill in information in the Elementary “Pre/Post Report” or Secondary "Credit Recovery" tab by July 1st. This information constitutes your report.

To access ESSER summer school folders:

High Schools

Middle Schools

Elementary Schools

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The following are important due dates. 

All UETS-based JPAS evaluations (Provisional & Career) are due by April 22, 2022. This includes all signatures, special education pieces, and uploaded SLOs with data and stakeholder input. 

All interim end of the year reflections are due by May 31, 2022. The requirements for the end of the year interim include:

  • Reflection on three required goals (My Folder - Tasks - Go to Form)
  • Upload SLO with data and stakeholder input (My Folder - Evidence - Add Artifact)
  • To view previously written goals go to My Folder - History - View 

Education support evaluations are due by May 31, 2022. These are completed on Skyward. If you have questions about the ESP evaluation please contact USER. 

Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, April 7, 2022

TO:   
Elementary School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
2021-22 KEEP Exit Administration Guidelines and Materials

Elementary school administrators are asked to pass this information, along with the materials included with this memo, to their kindergarten teachers as soon as possible.

KEEP Exit administration for the 2021-22 school year is still required by the state. The KEEP Exit window is scheduled during the end-of-year kindergarten testing days (Friday, May 20th through Friday, May 27th). However, the official state test administration window opens Monday, May 9th and ends on the last day of school.

Data entry into the Data Gateway is due by Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Those who are administering the KEEP Exit (including kindergarten teachers and classroom aides) should have been trained. Test administrators can access training in one of two ways:

The KEEP Exit materials included with this memo are:

  • KEEP Exit Test Administration Manual
  • KEEP Exit Student Materials
  • KEEP Exit – Additional Guidance on Scoring Questions 7 & 13

Published on

DATE:   
Thursday, March 31, 2022

TO:  
All Elementary School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:    
Spring 2022 Summative Testing Reminders

School administrators are encouraged to share the following information with their RISE-tested teachers.

Please see the memo below.

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Kindergarten Night Out will be held on April 6 in the ASB auditorium from 4:15 to 5:15. We will be talking about writing! We will be giving ideas on how to prep for the KEEP test and other ideas to easily integrate writing throughout your day. Please sign up on JPLS. This is one that every kindergarten teacher will want to attend! Please share the attached flyer with all kindergarten teachers.

Published on

DATE:   
Thursday, March 24, 2022

TO: 
Elementary School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
EOY Acadience Testing Reminders

The end-of-year Acadience testing window opens on April 11th. With a six-day spring break and six additional days with no kindergarten students in buildings, the 2021-22 EOY window is one of the shortest testing windows on record. 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:

  • 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.
  • Encourage your teachers to be flexible. They need to be prepared to come early or late to their allotted time.
  • Be sure to have an adult runner available who knows the school and can quickly have a teacher 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.
  • We continue to need the assistance of instructional coaches as well as anyone else who has been trained to administer all of the Acadience Reading and Math measures on the days we are in your building. We have been unable to fill 10 district assessment assistant positions. Earlier this year, we sent department personnel to help with testing (though there are only eight of us). Testing in RISE, Utah Aspire Plus, DLM, Reading Inventory, and AAPPL for foreign language are all being administered at the same time as Acadience Reading and Math. Because of this, department personnel will not be as available to assist with Acadience testing during the EOY window.
  • We have left some time at the end of the testing window for assessment assistants to complete absent testing for any students at any of the 41 schools that were absent on the day(s) of testing. That said, there have been occasions in previous windows this year where there were 60-90 K-3 students absent on testing day(s). If there are that many absences in a school during the end-of-year window, the school will need to help test some of those absent students.

If you are interested in having your aides get trained to administer both Acadience Reading and Math tests, there are two Canvas courses available:

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

Published on

DATE:  
Thursday, March 24, 2022

TO:   
Administrators of TSI Schools

FROM:   
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Michelle Love-Day, Consultant of Language & Culture Services

SUBJECT:  
TSI Workshop for School Administrators

As a requirement under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), USBE identified schools for Targeted School Improvement (TSI) in 2018 and 2019. A workshop has been designed to help administrators of TSI identified schools understand the calculations behind their school’s TSI designation as well as the timeline and criteria necessary to exit TSI. The vast majority of our TSI schools have second language learners and/or students with a disability that are struggling as a student group. This workshop will offer evidence-based strategies and ideas to help provide more robust supports to both student groups, thus allowing schools to exit TSI. Representatives from Special Education, Language & Culture Services, and Evaluation, Research & Accountability will be on hand to provide guidance and answer questions.

All school administrators of TSI schools are encouraged to attend one of the two sections offered on March 29th and April 6th. School administrators may register for either date on JPLS using course #101888.  Here is the information for each section:

Date Time JPLS Section # Location
Tuesday, March 29th 1:00 – 4:00 pm 117119 ASB Presentation Room
Wednesday, April 6th 8:30-11:30 am 117120

Please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability, Kim Lloyd in Special Education or Michelle Love-Day in Language & Culture Services with questions about this workshop.

Published on

DATE:   
March 17, 2022

TO:  
All Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
Prevention Planning Workshop

Our Health and Wellness team will be offering prevention planning workshops for school teams on the dates below. To sign up, please visit the Google Form to receive further communication about the workshops.

This prevention planning workshop is an opportunity to communicate to your school community all of the great things that your school does to care for your students! The intended outcome of the workshop for attendees will be a completed, concise, clear prevention plan for their school that highlights their unique approach and follows District and State guidelines. If you would like to make alternate arrangements for prevention planning, please reach out to McKinley Withers (801-567-8245, mckinley.withers@jordandistrict.org)

  • March 31, 7:30-11:00, ASB Auditorium
  • March 31, 12:00-3:30, ASB Auditorium
  • April 4, 7:30-11:00, ASB Auditorium
  • April 4, 12:00-3:30, ASB Auditorium
  • April 8, VIRTUAL (time to be determined based on interest and availability)

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Are you ready to be certified as an ESL teacher? Any JSD teacher can sign up while space is available. Please use this link to place your information by April 11th. ​​This endorsement program is open to K-12 contracted licensed personnel in Jordan School District. This does not include substitute teachers or paraprofessionals who are licensed. Principals, please do not sign up for your teachers.

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Really Great Reading Training Completion
Really Great Reading training links will begin to expire. These links are only active for one year. Please make sure all K-3 teachers have completed all modules for their grade level. 

Think Central for Literacy Phase Out
As a reminder from the JAM on October 28, the current platform for Think Central for literacy is being phased out by Houghton Mifflin.  As a result, this will be the last year that Think Central for literacy will be provided by T&L. This change will not affect Think Central for math. All Think Central accounts will remain in operation through the end of the 2021-22 school year. Schools can contact Houghton Mifflin directly for information regarding site based purchasing. 

EOY PLCs and Principal/Coach/Specialist Planning Meeting
Assigned literacy teacher specialists will be contacting principals to set up end of year PLC meetings. In addition, they have been asked to meet with principals and coaches to get feedback from this year and begin planning processes for next year. We have designed an EOY District Literacy Initiatives Checklist to help in this process and are asking them to review this with you at that meeting.

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Kindergarten Night Out will be held on March 9th in the ASB auditorium from 4:15 to 5:15. Katie Jarvis, a district behavior specialist will be presenting. She will give us tips and tricks to help our students who need extra support for behavior. This is one that every kindergarten teacher will want to attend! Please share the attached flyer with all kindergarten teachers.

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Last week to register for the “What I wish you knew” mini conference. We are so excited to bring you a vibrant keynote and stories from parents and students that will continue to help us be curious, be united, and intentional. Last day to register is March 9th.

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Throughout our JELL journey together, we have worked hard to establish practices that not only focus our instruction on high priority standards, but also allow us to pinpoint where each of our students are in the learning process. Doing this helps us know exactly what each of our students needs in order to continue to learn and grow. We know this has not been an easy task, and we honor the work that each school is doing to move forward in their implementation of these skills.

We also know that some schools have felt like they are in a holding pattern until we know what the new report card looks like and how it fits with the work your teachers have done. While this is certainly important, the work your teachers have done to increase clarity around the standards and how students move through the learning process has been crucial in preparing them for the new reporting tool.

Many of you have expressed interest in piloting the new report card next year. While we are excited for this next step, we are also committed to making sure that we get it right. We anticipate working closely with a small number of schools who truly believe that this is their next step in their journey. In order for this to be successful, it is critical that each pilot school considers the culture of their school, current practices, community factors, and the commitment of their faculty.

For those who believe they are ready to move forward, please read the Next Steps section below. If your school is not there yet, don’t worry. We’ll continue to support you. You should not feel pressure to volunteer to pilot something new. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your AOS for guidance and support.

Next steps:

  • Self-Reflection- Take a moment to review the Learning Scale for Standards Based PLC’s. You do not need to fill it out, but reviewing each step may help you celebrate how far you’ve come and reflect on what work may still need to be done.
  • Readiness Assessment- If you feel that piloting the new report card is a clear next step for your school, complete the New Elementary Report Card Readiness Assessment by Mar 1, 2022.
  • Communicate with your AOS- Make sure your AOS is aware that you are interested in being a part of the pilot, and that you have completed the readiness assessment.

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Republican Party Caucus Night is March 8. Democratic Party Caucus Night is March 22. Where possible, please avoid scheduling school activities on those evenings so that employees and community members have the opportunity to attend their local caucus meetings.

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Only 6 additional sections were added to the LETRS for Admin, part 1, course (#60389). Any administrative participants who would like to enroll for Part 1 can do so by following the links below:

LETRS for Amin, part 1 (Admin Overview) – Course #60389

The remaining dates for these sessions include March 4, 15, 31, April 8, 13 & 26. 

You do NOT need to have the Principal’s Primer book read before this session.

LETRS for Amin, part 2 (Principal Primer) – Course #60446

Dates for these sessions are from February 17 - August 16. 

*Remember that LETRS for Admin is a two-part course and you will need to enroll and attend both. These are the same 2 sessions that your school psychologists attend. 

Questions? Call Bev Griffith at 801-567-8466 or email beverly.griffith@jordandistrict.org.

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The long awaited G9 and G4 model Chromebooks are now available! These Chromebooks will be supported by Google through June 2029. We encourage everyone to move to these new models as you make your Chromebook purchases.

The new models are:
Part# 3V2Y2UT#ABA  HP Chromebook 11 G9 Education Edition, 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC, 11.6" (basic model)

Part# 3V2Y3UT#ABA  HP Chromebook 11 G9 Education Edition, Touchscreen 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC, 11.6".  (Touchscreen model)

Part# 3V254UT#ABA  HP Chromebook x360 11 G4 Education Edition, Touchscreen & Flip design , 4GB RAM, 32GB eMMC, 11.6" (Touchscreen & Flip model)

Please check the monthly Technology Pricing page on the Purchasing Department webpage for current pricing and awarded vendors:
https://purchasing.jordandistrict.org/vendors/references/

Since these are just starting into production, HP is estimating that orders placed now will be on 8-12 week lead times. However, demand is expected to be high for these models, as well as supply chain and logistics problems can quickly extend these lead times. The sooner you place your orders, the quicker you will receive your Chromebooks.

Larger orders over $80,000 needing school board approval should note school board meetings will be March 29th and April 26th. Your order will be held until it can be approved at one of these meetings.

Please contact Tonya Hodges in Purchasing with any Chromebooks questions. She can be reached at tonya.hodges@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8706.