Skip to content

Principals:  Please send the attached flyer to each School Community Council member, all parents are invited to attend.

Jordan Parent University
Legislative Forum
Thursday, February 8, 2018
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Elk Ridge Middle - 3659 W 9800 S, South Jordan

 

DATE:       
January 10, 2018

TO:  
Principals
Resource Team Leaders

FROM: 
Laura Finlinson, Admin. of Curriculum/Staff Development & Special Programs
Lisa Robinson, Director of Special Education

SUBJECT:  
Projected Caseload Process for 2018-19 Resource Allocations


Based on Administrative recommendations, the hiring window has been moved up to meet the increasing demands caused by teacher shortages, particularly in specific job categories. The Staffing 2.0 allocations are scheduled to be released by mid-February. To address this advanced timeline, the Special Education Department will be making resource staffing allocations differently than in the past. This method should make the workload on special education teachers and team leaders much easier. Please read through this information carefully because it is a new process. If you have any questions, please contact your assigned teacher specialist.

Caseload Information

  • No mid-year SCRAM report will be required. Please continue to send in SCRAM changes as they occur throughout the year. You will still be completing an End-of-Year SCRAM report.
  • Your December 1 SCRAM report will be used as the baseline for next year’s caseload estimate.
  • A 3-year average of incoming students to your school has been calculated to provide an estimate of incoming students in the youngest grade at your school. This number was added to your December 1 SCRAM numbers.
  • The number of students leaving your school in the exiting grade has been calculated. This number was subtracted from your December 1 SCRAM numbers.
  • Finally, we’ve maintained a trend line (for some schools since the 2002-03 SY) that shows estimated caseload versus actual caseloads on Oct. 1 and Dec. 1 SCRAM. We will use this trend line to make adjustments to estimates as needed.
  • All allocations will be conservative and may be re-evaluated at the end of this school year or after the Oct. 1 2018 count has been finalized.

Timeline

  • Initial allocations of certified special education FTE will be provided to the Human Resources Department in time for your 2.0 FTE Allocation.
  • Each Principal will receive a letter outlining their estimated caseload numbers for 2018-19 and the projected resource FTE allocation for 2018-19.
  • We will only be sending the allocation letter to each school’s principal.

Requests for Resource Instructional Assistants

In April, we will send a packet of information to each Resource and Support Class team to request instructional assistants for 2018-19. This will include a regular resource assistant allocation and the information needed to request Critical Needs Instructional Assistants. This timeline should allow your teams to have a better idea of which students with additional staffing needs will be attending your school for 2018-19.

DATE:
January 18, 2018

TO:
Principals
Special Education Staff

FROM: 
Laura Finlinson, Administrator of Curriculum/Staff Development & Special Programs
Lisa Robinson, Director of Special Education
Julie Brown, Program Specialist-Special Education
Courtney Titus, Program Specialist-Special Education

SUBJECT: 
Extended School Year (ESY) Qualification Procedures and Timelines


Please see attached memo for guidelines.

School nurses work hard behind the scenes to ensure the health and safety of the students in our schools. Do you love your school nurse? If you recognize the critical role your school nurse plays in your school, please complete the attached application (to the extent that you are able). Send it and at least two of the required letters to Nancy Ward in Educational Support. The other requirements will be completed for you. Many thanks!

Beginning January 2018, the “District/School Related Activity or Request for Third Party Reimbursement Form” will be significantly modified as follows.

  • Requests for District/School Related Activities will no longer be required or submitted. Absences entered into AESOP and Skyward must include notes to indicate details of the District/School Related Activity.  These reports will be reviewed monthly by both the HR Substitute Office and Payroll Department.  The administrative assistant or person responsible for substitutes at your location will be contacted if insufficient information is submitted or discrepancies exist.
  • A NEW “Request for Third Party Reimbursement Form” was created and is required when any outside agency will be reimbursing the District for the cost of a substitute. (See attached)

 

NEW HR Websites:                      

http://workatjordan.org/

(replaces hr.jordandistrict.org)

http://workatjordan.org/adminonly/

(replaces hr.jordandistrict.org/AdminOnly)

http://workatjordan.org/hrconnections/     

(replaces hr.jordandistrict.org/secretaryconnections)

 

For your convenience, please bookmark these new websites.

HR has been busy working on a fresh, new website which will go live on Monday, January 8th. The url is workatjordan.org for all of your HR needs. The AdminOnly and SecretaryConnections (now called HRConnections) websites will be accessed through workatjordan.org/adminonly and workatjordan.org/hrconnections. Please update any bookmarks you may have.

HR will be holding the 2nd administrator training of the year on Thursday, January 11th at both 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for your convenience. Hiring Best Practices along with procedures related to Non-Renewals, RIS, Transfer Fairs, and Hiring processes will be discussed. As the hiring season is upon us, it is highly recommended that all administrators attend in order to review these processes and procedures. We hope to see you at one of the trainings. (see attachment)

Some reminders from the “Critical Dates” timeline: (see attachment)

  • You may post hard to fill positions in January to replace licensed employees who have submitted resignations.
  • The due date for submitting Non-Renewals and Provisional Status Extensions is February 5th.
  • Teacher Transfer Fair is on February 20 for both Elementary @ Columbia Elementary and Secondary @ Elk Ridge Middle. (see attachment)

Daybreak Elementary invites schools to participate in their 8th Annual Math Tournament for students in grades 4-6. Early fee registrations are due December 19, 2017. Late fee registrations are due January 23, 2018. Please see the attached documents for invitation information, registration and questions.

Contract number 14DC 13-3 for printer/copier/fax toner and ink has expired.  The Purchasing Department is working on new contracts, so until then, all schools and departments will need to call the vendors to get the current pricing and shipping charges or use the Office Depot and Staples supply contracts found under the state cooperative contracts. Please close all open purchase orders associated with the old contract(s).

Please post the W-2 Opt-Out flyer for all employees at your location to see.  Employees can opt out of a District printed W-2 through their Employee Access on Skyward.  By opting out of a District printed W-2, your name will go into a random drawing for prizes.

Several years ago, some of our schools had the opportunity to attend coaching professional development with Lisa Lawrence. Lisa is willing to provide coaching training for more of our schools if there is interest. Participation involves an administrator from the school and three teachers attending two sessions with Lisa. The dates are to be determined and training will take place dependent on interest. If you would like to participate in coaching training, please contact Noreen Samowitz at 801-567-8367.

The Jordan Education Foundation was given tickets to the Deseret News Home Show for this weekend. Each ticket gets one adult in for free. Tickets will be available at the District Office reception desk tomorrow, October 13th, from 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. The tickets will be handed out on a first come, first serve basis.

Please share this information with your staff.

College & University Information Fair

Thursday, November 2, 2017
4:00-5:30 p.m.
Auxiliary Services Building - Auditorium (north end)
7905 S Redwood Road, West Jordan

Principals:  Please share this information and flyer with your teachers.

Elementary Teachers of 5thand 6thGrade: Come Join Us

Utah Middle Level Association

  • Address the unique needs of 5th to 9th grade students.
  • Promote effective teaching practices and programs that improve middle level education.
  • Provide annual conference for professional enhancement among middle level educators.
  • Brand new social media communities for sharing ideas, support, and collaboration.
  • Representation of middle level educators in Utah at the national level.

Like and Follow
UtahMLA on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Earn a chance of winning an Amazon gift card by liking our page on Facebook!

www.utahmla.org

DATE:
September 25, 2017

TO:
Elementary Principals
Elementary Special Education Resource Teachers

FROM:
Laura Finlinson, Administrator of Curriculum/Staff Development & Special Programs
Lisa Robinson, Director of Special Education
Courtney Titus, Program Specialist

SUBJECT: 
Professional Development for Elementary Resource Teachers – Journey’s


The Special Education Department is hosting two professional development training days for elementary resource teachers. This training will address the use of the Journey’s curriculum in the general education classroom and how resource teachers supplement/support the general education teacher’s instruction. We will be providing participants information on how to access and use Think Central, writing materials, and how to structure a lesson plan in resource using the materials to provide the targeted specially designed instruction each student needs.

The first training will be held on October 9, 2017, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for elementary resource teachers. The second training will be held on November 1, 2017, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for elementary resource teachers. You only need to attend one training.

Both trainings will be at the District Office in room 129. Please register on JPLS at https://jpls.truenorthlogic.com and search for course #101256 and choose the appropriate section.

If a sub is needed, please use budget code 1292. If you have questions please, contact your teacher specialist.