Jordan School District
First, the "Discipline Notes" released in previous memos have been consolidated into a single document, available at this link: Discipline Notes
Second, there are four new "Discipline Notes" entries based on items identified in recent discipline review committee meetings. The new entries are:
• "Targeted" Offenses
• Fighting / Mutual Altercation
• Commentary in Log Entries
• Actions in Offense Comments
Please take note of this revised document.
DATE:
January 24, 2024
TO:
All Administrators
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
McKinley Withers, Health and Wellness
SUBJECT:
Wellness Day 2024 Updates
Our District’s third annual Wellness Day is right around the corner! Here are some reminders and updates for school and District leaders:
Looking to promote wellness day and engage your school community? Use this link for some ideas, posters, and posts you can use: wellness.jordandistrict.org/wellnessiseasy
DATE:
January 24, 2024
TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, School Safety Coordinator
SUBJECT:
Safe Routes to Schools Update and Clarification
The only part of your schools Safe Routes plan that is due by Friday January 26th is the 24-25 Safe Routes Form. Please save your own copy and rename it with your school. Once you have the form, share it back to Matt Alvernaz via the Google Drive. This will enable you to continue to make changes and add signatures as needed. You will have more time to complete the remaining steps needed on the new website.
The Safe Routes form will also be shared with the corresponding city engineer pertaining to your school so be sure to add your notes for review. The city engineer will be able to respond and add to the shared form directly as well. Having this information included and already exchanged will help our meetings with each city be more efficient.
The new website has presented some difficulties we are working through together. When accessing your maps on the new website, found at Safe Routes Utah, please ensure the routes are accurate and complete. Most maps did not copy over correctly from the old website. The most common issue is sudden gaps in the route lines. Some have corrected the issues and resubmitted the map only to have it not reflect the updates. According to the state, this issue should self-correct for the maps that were re-submitted with your corrections.
The description portion can only be accessed on the website once the map is approved. Maps cannot be approved until the corrections are either made or a confirmation of the corrections have been made. Please email Matt Alvernaz at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org to confirm your maps were checked and/or corrected so they may be approved. Please have this done as soon as you are able.
If you have any trouble gaining access to it or your school is not found on the website, please reach out directly to Kristen Hoschouer at khoschouer@utah.gov.
For any additional assistance or clarification please contact Matt Alvernaz at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org or by phone at 801-567-8623.
DATE:
January 22, 2024
TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
School Safety Specialists
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
SUBJECT:
United States Secret Service Live Virtual Training Event Opportunities
The U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) offers live recurring virtual training events on violence prevention to community safety stakeholders throughout the year. In these trainings, experts and researchers will present findings from NTAC’s research on targeted violence and discuss strategies for preventing acts of violence in our communities. More information about these events and how to register are below.
Enhancing School Safety Using Behavioral Threat Assessment
Description: In this virtual training event, NTAC researchers highlight the key findings and implications from our research on school violence prevention. In this training, you will learn about the background, thinking, and behavior of school attackers and how some schools discovered and stopped plots before violence occurred. This training will provide guidance on how schools may develop or improve existing violence prevention programs utilizing a behavioral threat assessment model.
Intended Audience: School teachers, administrators, counsellors, mental health professionals, school resource officers (SROs), law enforcement officers, and other school safety stakeholders.
Preventing Mass Attacks in Our Communities
Description: In this virtual training event, NTAC researchers discuss important findings from our research on mass attacks perpetrated in public and semi-public spaces, including businesses, restaurants, bars, retail outlets, houses of worship, schools, open spaces, and more. This training will provide guidance on how communities may develop or improve existing violence prevention programs utilizing a behavioral threat assessment model.
Intended Audience: Law enforcement, corporate security, mental health professionals, faith-based community leaders, university faculty, threat assessment team members, and other community safety stakeholders.
DATE:
January 22, 2024
TO:
School Psychologists & School Psychology Interns
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Fulvia Franco, Program Specialist – Guidance
SUBJECT:
February School Psychologists & School Psychology Interns Meeting
A meeting for school psychologists and school psychology interns has been scheduled for Friday, February 2, 2024, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Julien Smith, Ph.D., Wasatch Pediatric Neuropsychology, Inc., will provide us with a presentation on psychological assessment with neurodiverse populations.
Part-time Staff: I would appreciate it if you could adjust your schedules in order to attend this meeting.
cc:
Principals
DATE:
January 17, 2024
TO:
Principals
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
SUBJECT:
Panorama Student Success
Panorama’s Student Success now qualifies as an evidence-based tool for early-warning multi-tiered system of support which means schools may use Title funds to pay for it. Recently Panorama hired a 3rd party research firm to do an impact study of Student Success. The study found that using Panorama Student Success was associated with learning gains on math and reading assessments during the 2022-23 school year. Schools with more actively engaged Panorama users had significantly higher end-of-year math and reading performance. The study met evidence requirements for ESSA Level II, which means title funds may be used to support Panorama. See this link for the full study.
Panorama’s Student Success is evidence-based prevention and should be included in each school’s prevention plan.
As you plan your TSSA/Land Trust, Title funds, or prevention efforts for the 24’-25’ school year - money should be allocated to pay for Panorama’s Student Success. The cost for Panorama’s Student Success is $2,000 for each Elementary, Middle, and High school.
Efforts are currently underway to pay for Panorama as a District. However, until funding becomes available schools will need to pay for it using their own funds.
See the newsletter below.
The Winter 2023-24 Student Survey is ready for launch on 01/22/2024! Panorama will send an email on launch day as well as reminders throughout the survey.
As a reminder, the student surveys are always optional for parents and students. Please see the JAM sent on December 14th for more guidance and resources - including the Spring survey window dates. The questions used in the survey are below.
The 2023-24 Assistant Principal Directory may be accessed at the links below. You must be logged into your Jordandistrict.org account to access the file.
If updates or changes are needed, please send them directly to Caleb Olson via email. The updates will be made in the files at the links above, so the link will always take you to the most recent copy.
Please submit concerns to be discussed by JAESP committee and cabinet by January 24, 2024. Send items to be discussed to Nick Hansen at Golden Fields, Ann Pessetto at Silver Crest, or Kaleb Yates at the new Flex School. All items are discussed anonymously as we work to provide clarification and solutions to concerns of elementary administrators.
Notes of the discussions will be published following the meeting on the Google Doc titled "JAESP committee notes 2023-24" shared previously with Elementary Administrators.
DATE:
January 16, 2024
TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
School Safety Specialists
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, School Safety Coordinator
SUBJECT:
School Safety Specialist Responsibilities
As a reminder, here are the details describing the roles and responsibilities for School Safety Specialists. By now each School Safety Specialist should have received the Standard Response Protocols training so they are familiar with it. This training is mandatory for all School Safety Specialists and will need to be attended in order to be in compliance with state law.
School Safety Specialists need to be trained and certified in level 1 Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG). The School Safety Specialist acts as a member of the school’s interdisciplinary threat assessment (CSTAG) team. Please contact Angie Rasmussen (angie.rasmussen@jordandistrict.org) to request CSTAG Level I training for your School Safety Specialist. The cost of the Level I training is $85.
School Safety Specialists should inventory and visually inspect of all the safety equipment within the school and keep of record of the inventory. School Safety Specialists work with the administrator over safety to report, maintain, or order missing or damaged safety items. Items to inspect include (but are not limited to) the tactical emergency casualty care (TECC) kits in the classrooms and common areas, the reunification crate, fire extinguishers, and AEDs. Other items to consider include wheelchairs and staircase evacuation chairs or commonly known as “rickshaws.”
Using the Report Emergency - Drills, Actual Events, or Meetings report form, School Safety Specialists report emergency drills, events, and/or meetings conducted at the school.
Use this link to review the School Safety Specialist roles and responsibilities in detail. If a School Safety Specialist or school administrator is still in need of training please contact the district School Safety Coordinator, Matt Alvernaz, at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org or by phone at 801-567-8623.
DATE:
January 11, 2024
TO:
All School Administrators
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
McKinley Withers, Health and Wellness
SUBJECT:
CSTAG Updates January 2024
Please be aware of the following updates regarding Comprehensive School Threat Assessment (CSTAG) in Jordan District. See the memo below.
The following are new administrative assignments:
DATE:
January 2, 2024
TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Sharon Jensen, Consultant Student Support Services
Michelle Reyes, Prevention Specialist, Student Support Services
SUBJECT:
Attendance Message to Notify Students & Families of Martin Luther King Jr. Recess
Welcome back from the winter recess. Hopefully the break helped us all come back refreshed and ready to finish out the second quarter strong. As we look forward, another short school recess will soon be upon us in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. and grade transmittal day, January 15 and 16. Included you will find resources to communicate with families about the upcoming school recess.
Should you have questions or would like editable copies of the social media resources please contact Michelle Reyes at michelle.reyes@jordandistrict.org or 801.567.8205.
Please see the attached newsletter.
Wit & Wisdom training is still available for teachers who have not yet had the opportunity to attend. Teachers and coaches at the elementary level who have not attended the training are asked to sign up on JPLS by January 22nd. Reserving training dates now will help the Teaching & Learning department get an accurate count of training needs and ensure that all teachers have access to the training. All teachers and coaches are asked to attend the training this current school year.
Please see the attached newsletter.
Please read the attached notice, received from the United States Postal Service regarding bulk mailings.
DATE:
January 8, 2024
TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
Campus Monitors
School Safety Specialists
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, School Safety Coordinator
SUBJECT:
School Safety Officer Course
Through a partnership between the Utah Department of Public Safety and the Department of Health, a no cost training for school security personnel is available. This course is taught by instructors from the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO). However, it is not intended for school resource officers. This particular course is intended for school safety officers (administrators, campus monitors, school safety specialists or other individuals) charged with making our schools safe and secure.
This is a single 24-hour course that will be held over three consecutive Fridays (8-hours each): March 8th, 15th, and 22nd. All three sessions must be attended in order to complete the course. The course will emphasize three (3) main areas: Functioning as a security officer in the school setting; Working effectively with students; and School Safety and Emergency Planning.
The link for more information and registration is included below. Create a free account in order to access registration and when registering, please select “invoice me” on the payment option so DPS will receive the invoice at the conclusion of the training.
Link to NASRO Events for Registration
Schools would need to cover the cost of substitutes if needed. Please contact Matt Alvernaz at (801)567-8623 or matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org with any questions.
