Jordan School District
Greetings!
We are anticipating a HIGH volume of substitute requests for the following date: Tuesday, September 19, 2023. To increase coverage for those absences we ask that teachers who will be absent, enter their absences AS SOON AS POSSIBLE in Skyward and Frontline.
Thanks!
The Business and Auxiliary Services Training is helpful for office and administrative staff of schools and District departments.
The final session of the optional training for office and administrative staff of schools and District offices will be held Thursday, October 12, 2023, beginning at 8:00 a.m. There is space available for an additional 50 attendees. If you would like to participate, please send an email to Lisa LeStarge at lisa.lestarge@jordandistrict.org and let her know you would like to sign up to attend. Attendees will receive an email the day prior to the training with instructions for connecting to the Zoom meeting. The agenda is attached.
DATE:
Thursday, September 14, 2023
TO:
All School Administrators and District Department Directors/Consultants
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
2023-24 Required Testing Ethics Professional Development Procedures for Education Support Professionals
Just a reminder from the August 17th JAM:
Licensed teachers will do their testing ethics training as part of their annual crucial policies and procedures review. School administrators do not need to train their teachers on testing ethics for the 2023-24 school year; however, administrators will need to conduct a training for any education support professionals (classified employees) who will assist with district, state or federally-mandated testing. This will include 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 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 “2023-24 Principal’s Testing Ethics Checklist for ESPs” form, which is due to the Evaluation, Research & Accountability Department by Friday, September 22, 2023.
As has been done in the past, administrators may provide in-person training on testing ethics using the pdf slide deck attached with this memo. Alternatively, administrators may refer education support personnel to the YouTube video that provides the same ethics training. Once education support personnel have been trained, either in-person or using the video, they are required to sign the “2023-24 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 Evaluation, Research & Accountability with any questions.
DATE:
September 6, 2023
TO:
All Administrators
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
McKinley Withers, Health and Wellness
SUBJECT:
Wellness Representatives Training 9-19-2023
The wellness team is excited to announce the in-person Educator Wellness Training for your school or department’s designated Educator Wellness Representatives on September 19, 2023 at JATC-S from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Administrators are invited to attend with their school wellness representative, if you plan to attend, please RSVP using this link. Schools will need to cover the cost of a sub for their rep, if required.
The Wellness Rep Training will be full of great information that you won’t want to miss! We’re excited to welcome Amy Miner, Founder and Owner of In Focus Education Group as our guest speaker, as well as presentations from PEHP, JSD Insurance Services, and Blomquist Hale. Lunch will be provided and attendees will participate in practical workshops where they’ll connect with other Wellness Reps and work together to build an Employee Wellness Plan for your school. Let’s start the year off WELL!
Review the attached flyer and share it with your school or department’s representative so they can RSVP!
Still need to designate a rep for your school or department? No problem! Fill out this brief form and send them to the training! Keep in mind the following:
Optional training will be provided by the Business and Auxiliary Services Departments on September 19 (1:00-4:00 pm) and October 12 (8:00-11:00 am) via Zoom. This training opportunity is for school or department personnel including principals, assistant principals, administrative assistants, clerks, aides or others with responsibilities correlating with the Business or Auxiliary Services Departments. The draft agenda is attached. If you would like to participate in one of the sessions, please send an email to Lisa LeStarge at lisa.lestarge@jordandistrict.org and let her know which date you prefer to attend. The total number of participants in each session will be capped at 80 (plus presenters). Because we want the sessions to have the same interactive environment as in-person sessions, attendees will be able to submit questions via Zoom Chat. Attendees will also be provided with a link to handouts provided by the presenters so they can be viewed during the training or downloaded for future use. We hope you will take advantage of this training opportunity.
Dear Principals,
Please share the following Strategic Planning Participation Survey with all of your parents. The survey can be sent separately or as part of other communications to your community tomorrow, Friday, September 1, 2023. The survey closes Wednesday, September 6th at midnight.
Thank you.
=====================
Strategic Planning Participation Survey for Employees, Parents & Students
We are excited to partner with parents and community members to make Jordan School District the very best it can be for the families and students we serve. As we begin work on updating the District’s comprehensive strategic plan for the future, we invite you to be a part of the process.
The strategic planning process will help define our vision and prioritize our resources. We are committed to developing a plan that is inclusive of the strengths, hopes, beliefs, and values of our community.
Please take a moment to share your thoughts and experiences through the survey below, which should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Additionally, students in grades 7-12 will have the opportunity to take the survey at their school buildings.
Thank you for your continued partnership as we embark on this important process.
DATE:
August 30, 2023
TO:
All Principals
FROM:
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Mike Trimmell, Ed.D., Special Education Administrator
SUBJECT:
Optional Unique & Inspire Professional Development
We are excited to be able to provide two new curricula for our special education teachers this year. Unique provides a convenient, cloud‑based platform for educators to deliver differentiated, standards‑aligned content enhanced by powerful assessments, data tools, and evidence‑based instructional support. Inspire provides a research- and evidence-based intervention curriculum to supplement the core curriculum. There are two optional trainings available on our September 22 Professional Development Day.
Unique Professional Development (all grade levels for self-contained teachers)
Inspire Professional Development (All elementary resource teachers)
Please sign up on JPLS to confirm your attendance.
Unique:
Course- 101963
Section- 127735
Inspire:
Course- 101964
Section- 127736
Staff members working in any other special education setting may choose to attend ASPEN at the discretion of their building administrator and at the cost of their school. For questions please contact: cassidy.hansen@jordandistrict.org or daveed.goodrich@jordandistrict.org.
Please see the memo below for all the details.
DATE:
Thursday, August 21, 2023
TO:
All School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
Parent Invitation to Participate Volunteer List
The Parent Invitation to Participate Survey was disseminated to parents throughout the district earlier this month. Parents had the opportunity to indicate their willingness to participate in school community councils and PTA/PTSA organizations for their students’ schools. Parents provided their contact information as part of their survey response.
A list of parent volunteers for each school has been made available in a Tableau dashboard. There is a separate dashboard for each level (elementary, middle and high). Those dashboards may be accessed here.
School administrators are encouraged to provide the PTA/PTSA contact list to their parent organization presidents.
Please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability for questions about the survey or the dashboard.
Please see the zoom link below. A PDF of the presentation used in these trainings is attached for use in training your entire School Community Council.
All new principals and new SCC Chairs need to attend one of the SCC Trainings for this year. Two trainings will be held in a Zoom format. In order to better coordinate with Parent Teacher Conferences and the election process, we've changed one of the meetings to a later date. For specific questions or topics you would like to have covered, please submit them through email to Nadine Page (nadine.page@jordandistrict.org) before the meeting dates. For any other questions contact Nadine Page, nadine.page@jordandistrict.org or 801.567.8182 (x88182).
September 27, 2023 - 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting LINK
November 1, 2023 - 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting LINK
Mathematic Endorsement opportunity through Salt Lake Community College for all Special Education and Middle School level licensed teachers. (see attached flyer)
DATE:
August 24, 2023
TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, Safety Coordinator
SUBJECT:
Required Fire Drill 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 take special care to orient new students and staff, individuals with special needs and younger students that may not have been exposed to fire alarms/strobes and emergency response protocols. Please be sure to clearly announce that it is a “drill”.
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. Google Drive link: JSD Incident Command System Manual
Report the drill and any related meetings using the JSD report form on Google Drive. Link: 2023-24 REPORT EMERGENCY — DRILLS, ACTUAL EVENTS, or MEETINGS
Should you have any questions or concerns please contact Matt Alvernaz the District Safety Coordinator at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8623.
DATE:
Thursday, August 24, 2023
TO:
All School Administrators
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
2023-24 Parental Exclusion Forms
2023-24 parental exclusion forms have been released by the state. Elementary and secondary versions may be found attached with this memo. In addition, the forms may be found on the Evaluation, Research & Accountability website.
Parents must notify schools of their desire to opt their student out of a state-mandated assessment on an annual basis. Parental exclusions should be recorded on your school’s opt out log so that both school and district personnel have one source of truth for all parental exclusions. Schools are discouraged from keeping parental exclusion lists that are separate or different from the opt out log received from Evaluation, Research & Accountability.
Please direct questions about parental exclusions to Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability.
DATE:
August 17, 2023
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 1, 2023. Elementary (Grades 1-6) and middle school may process drops at the end of the day on September 5, 2023. Kindergarten drops may be processed at the end of the day on September 13, 2023.
Guidelines for how to process these drops are available at the links below:
DATE:
August 24, 2023
TO:
All Principals
Administrative Assistants
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Jordan District Nurses
SUBJECT:
Medication Administration Training
Utah State Law and District Policy requires that all school personnel delegated to administer medication to students in schools must complete Medication Administration Training.
New employees who will be giving medication are required to attend the live training on Friday, September 15, 2023. Prior to this meeting, they need to view the online training, click on this link Jordan Nursing Services click on Medications, and then Medication Inservice (use a browser other than Firefox).
Employees who have attended this training and have a certificate of completion will not be required to attend this meeting. However, they will be required to recertify by viewing the online training video and completing the corresponding test available on the district website. (see above)
Please identify staff members that should receive medication administration training. This may include head administrative assistants, office assistants, cluster teachers or aides, counseling center personnel, and the principal if appropriate. Please inform all personnel that have the potential to administer medication to students at school of their responsibilities in this matter.
Medication Administration Training
Friday, September 15, 2023
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
ASB PDC 101 & 102
Class size is limited. Please contact your school nurse if you are planning to attend. See attached nurse assignment list. Thank you for your responsiveness and support.
DATE:
August 24, 2023
TO:
Principals
Administrative Assistants
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Jordan School District Nurses
SUBJECT:
Immunization Policy and Guidelines, Skyward and USIIS Inservice
Jordan School District Nurses will be conducting this inservice on:
Friday, September 22, 2023
9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
ASB COMPUTER LAB D-112
This inservice is open to all office staff and administrators. It is not required that you attend; however, if you are involved with student registration, this inservice will be of benefit to you since immunization status is an important part of the registration process.
Class size is limited. Please contact your school nurse if you are planning to attend. See attached nurse assignment list for 2023-24.
Dear Principals,
We've received new guidelines from the State LAND Trust office regarding School Community Councils and Rules of Order and Procedure. In order to update each of you we have scheduled three one-hour training meetings to be held over Zoom. You only need to attend one of the three meetings. You are welcome to have an assistant principal attend if desired, but each principal is required to be in attendance.
We recommend that you do not finalize your Rules of Order and Procedure with your SCC until after attending this training.
The trainings will be held:
September 1st 10:00-11:00 am
September 5th 9:30-10:30 am
September 8th 10:00-11:00 am
The Zoom link will be on the calendar invite you will receive.
Please go to this LINK, find your name, and initial under which date you will be attending. You will then receive a calendar invite. Sign up needs to be completed by Wednesday, August 30th.
Items that will be on the agenda:
Creating School Community Councils and holding the first meeting video - Video
Here’s what’s new Training Video - Video
Updated Timeline with Website Information - Timeline
Jordan District - Beginning of Year Documents
DATE:
August 17, 2023
TO:
All Principals
FROM:
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Mike Trimmell, Ed.D., Special Education Administrator
SUBJECT:
Inputting of Goals and Services into Embrace
Until you complete a new IEP in Embrace, please use these steps to both complete progress reports when that time comes, and do Medicaid Logs for applicable services.
As you do so, keep in two things in mind:
STEPS
If you need to add additional goals to a student after activating the IEP, you will need to contact Brenda via the EMBRACE REQUEST to unlock that IEP.
DATE:
Thursday, August 17, 2023
TO:
All School Administrators and District Department Directors/Consultants
FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
SUBJECT:
2023-24 Required Testing Ethics Professional Development Procedures for Education Support Professionals
Licensed teachers will do their testing ethics training as part of their annual crucial policies and procedures review. School administrators do not need to train their teachers on testing ethics for the 2023-24 school year; however, administrators will need to conduct a training for any education support professionals (classified employees) who will assist with district, state or federally-mandated testing. This will include 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 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 “2023-24 Principal’s Testing Ethics Checklist for ESPs” form, which is due to the Evaluation, Research & Accountability Department by Friday, September 22, 2023.
As has been done in the past, administrators may provide in-person training on testing ethics using the pdf slide deck attached with this memo. Alternatively, administrators may refer education support personnel to the YouTube video that provides the same ethics training. Once education support personnel have been trained, either in-person or using the video, they are required to sign the “2023-24 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 Evaluation, Research & Accountability with any questions.
Special Education Resource and Self Contained Team Leaders will soon receive a SCRAM report via District Mail of all students who should be receiving services through your school’s special education program(s) at the start of the 2023-24 school year. All team members and service providers need to verify each student on this list as either correct, changed, exited/moved, and/or incomplete. Since only one copy is being sent per “team” (i.e., Resource and Cluster), it is important that resource teams, cluster teams, SLPs, Guidance Specialists and other itinerant providers work together to check and complete the requested information. Please read the memo carefully for instructions on completing the report.
Please have your Scram Reports and corrected SCRAM returned to the District Office by Friday, September 8, 2023.
If you have questions, please contact the Teacher Specialist assigned to your school or Jen Warkentine at (801) 567-8207. Thank you for your conscientious efforts to complete this critical information. Please remember that special education funding is contingent upon the accuracy of this data.
