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Category: Elementary Info

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Rebecca Smith, Consultant in Teaching & Learning

Jordan District will begin a new GT Endorsement cohort in August 2024. Classes are open to all licensed personnel in Jordan District. Please see the flyers for detailed information and a class schedule. Contact Rebecca Smith (88368) with question you may have.

Published on

DATE:
Thursday, April 11, 2024

TO:   
Elementary School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
Research Project

The Research Review Committee has reviewed a research project in which your school has been asked to participate.

Project Title: Connections Between Learning Intentions, Success Criteria, and Metacognition: A Mixed Methods Investigation in Grades 3-5

Applicant: Jason Hart, Utah State University

The project has been approved by the District Research Review Committee. The applicant has been directed to contact you to discuss the extent of the project and to obtain your permission to conduct the study at your school. Participation in the study is at your discretion. If you have questions or concerns relating to participation, please contact Ben Jameson at 801-567-8243.

Thank you for your assistance.

Published on

DATE:
 April 11, 2024

TO:
 Elementary Principals Elementary
Head Administrative Assistants

FROM:
 Jill Durrant, Administrator of Schools
April Gaydosh, Administrator of Schools
Becky Gerber, Administrator of Schools
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools 

SUBJECT:
 Elementary Administrative Assistants Trade Days and Summer Hours

Elementary administrative assistants are calendared to work 206 days in a school year, including 5 days in which students and teachers are not in the building. These days generally occur the Friday after parent-teacher conferences (2) and on grade transmittal days (3). The PTC days can already be traded for the Friday compensation day if the administrative assistant works both evenings of the PTC. They are also allowed to be paid for up to 10 additional optional days during the summer months which are not included in their 206-day contract. These days are intended to provide additional pay for them to keep up with work, such as student enrollments, over the summer.

Beginning immediately, greater flexibility may be provided to Elementary administrative assistants by: 

  • Trading up to 5 non-student/teacher work days during the school year to work in the summer months, and/or
  • Converting up to 5 optional summer days into pool hours for office assistants to work additional hours during the busiest times in August, in preparation for the start of the school year.

Option 1
Elementary administrative assistants may choose to trade up to 5 contracted days (three grade transmittal and two PTC compensation days) to use as additional work days the following summer. This could provide up to 15 additional work days in the summer.

Option 2
Elementary administrative assistants may choose to convert up to (5) five of their optional summer days into additional pool hours for their office assistants to work prior to the first day of school. For every full day that is not used as an additional day by the administrative assistant, 10 hours will be added to pool hours to be used by the office assistants to work prior to the first day of school. 

Option 3
Elementary administrative assistants may choose to do a combination of options 1 and 2, not to exceed 5 trade days in the school year and not to exceed 5 converted pool hour days to use for office assistants.

Tracking
For Option 1 - Administrative assistants will have an option in the Skyward Time Off System to log the grade transmittal day as a “Trade Time - Days” with the reason code “Trade Time Day Taken Off” for building principals to approve. When they work the day in the summer they will need to log it in the Skyward Time Off System as a “Trade Time - Days” with the reason code “Trade Time Day Worked”. We will ask you to also include this on a Google form in the checkout process for this coming year as a double-check with the True Time system.

For Option 2 - A Google form will be available in the checkout materials to declare the number of optional days that will be converted to pool hours for the upcoming school year. These hours will then be documented and tracked in the Pool Hours spreadsheet by the district AOS administrative assistants.

A Google form will be distributed as part of Principal Checkout. Building principals will need to approve these traded and/or converted days on the Google form and submit it as part of the checkout process.

Published on

TO:
Elementary Principals
Elementary Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Michelle Lovell, Consultant in Teaching & Learning

Just a friendly reminder that KEEP testing for kindergarten is required for the 2023-24 school year and kindergarten teachers should plan to use the testing days set aside in this year’s calendar to administer the KEEP test. The data from the assessment is reported to USBE and it is expected. Beginning next year, KEEP will not be required.

Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, April 11, 2024

TO:
All School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:   
State Testing Reminders

The following are friendly reminders from the state’s testing ethics policy:

  • “Utah LEAs and Licensed Utah educators may use a student’s score from a statewide assessment to improve the student’s academic grade for or demonstrate the student’s competency within a relevant course.”
  • “Licensed Utah educators shall ensure that:
    • “Students are not penalized who have been exempted by a parent from a statewide assessment
    • “Students aren’t provided a nonacademic award for participating in or performing well on a statewide assessment
    • “Students are provided an alternate learning activity if they are exempted by a parent from a statewide assessment”

The following additional guidance may help address specific questions that arise from the part of the state’s testing ethics policy quoted above:

  • Using a student’s score from a state assessment can only improve a student’s grade – not hurt it.
  • Educators may not use a student’s score on a state assessment to determine an overall grade for the course. It can be used in conjunction with other evidence to help determine a student’s overall grade.
  • Educators may not assign participation points on students’ grades for taking a state assessment.
  • The alternate learning activity for students whose parents have opted them out of taking the state assessment can be an alternate assessment. That said, using a student’s score on the alternate assessment or activity on a student’s grade can only improve the student’s grade – not hurt it.
    • In addition, if the incentive is that a student who demonstrates proficiency on a state assessment means that they don’t have to take the class final exam, then students who have been opted out would also need two opportunities to demonstrate proficiency. For instance, if a student who was opted out demonstrated proficiency on the alternate assessment (administered while other students took the state assessment), then they wouldn’t have to take the class final exam.

Please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability with questions.

Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Scott Thomas, Administrator of Auxiliary Services

Accidents can occur when working in unfamiliar areas because employees are unfamiliar of the hazards in the area. See the document below for ways to pay attention to your surroundings.

 

Published on

DATE:    
April 4, 2024

TO:  
Principals
Assistant Principals

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

SUBJECT:  
Safe School Due Process Hearings

Beginning April 2024 the procedures for District Safe School Due Process Hearings have been updated. You may find the updated process and documents to request a Safe School Due Process Hearing on the Student Support website here. Each Safe School Due Process Hearing form is a fillable pdf. The updated process outline is as follows on the attached memo.

 

Published on

DATE:  
April 4, 2024

TO: 
Principals
Assistant Principals

FROM:   
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services

SUBJECT:   
Early Warning System – Panorama

During this year’s legislative session HB84 – School Safety was passed requiring each school within an LEA (District) to implement a Student Intervention Early Warning System (53F-4-207). Panorama meets all the criteria established by HB84-School Safety and will be the District’s early warning system.

Panorama is $2,000 per school annually. For the 2024-2025 school year the cost of Panorama will be paid by Student Services.

Optionally, Panorama has a PBIS module that may be purchased by each school separately for $1.40 per student. If you are interested in implementing or learning more about the Panorama positive behavior module please contact Travis Hamblin in Student Services at travis.hamblin@jordandistrict.org.

In-person and virtual trainings will be set up in the fall to ensure administrators and school leadership teams are trained in the use of Panorama. School administrators may request additional Panorama trainings for their school’s administrative team, school leadership teams and/or teachers and staff by contacting Travis Hamblin (travis.hamblin@jordandistrict.org).

Published on

Log on to learn about the supplemental services you can use with your multilingual students. Language & Culture Services will have training for teachers grades K-6 on Imagine Learning and 7-12 on National Geographic.

Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Michelle Love-Day, Director of Language & Culture Services

Language & Culture Services is inviting parents to come out to their feeder high school to learn about English language learning in our District. JOIN US as we CELEBRATE student successes, LEARN about the WIDA test and what the results mean for students, and GROW our multilingual community. Please use this canva link to access flyers to share with families and to create additional languages you may need.

All events will take place at the high schools from 6:30 - 8 p.m.

Published on

NASA - How to Safely View the April 8, 2024, TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSETO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Communication Department

As you may be aware, a partial solar eclipse will pass over Utah on Monday, April 8, 2024, at approximately 12:32 p.m.

We encourage everyone to know the safety risks associated with viewing an eclipse.

Please make sure your students and staff know the importance of wearing the proper safety glasses when viewing the eclipse and the importance of not looking directly at the sun.

Below is information from NASA that may be of assistance to you in answering any questions you may have or questions that may come your way regarding safety during the eclipse.

Published on

DATE: 
April 4, 2024

TO: 
All Principals and All Counselors

FROM:  
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Stacee Worthen, School Counselor Consultant

SUBJECT: 
2024-2025 Comprehensive School Counseling Program (CSCP) Calendar

Comprehensive School Counseling Program (CSCP) dates are planned so that individual counseling teams may include them in their school and CSCP calendars. It is essential that counselors prioritize and attend CSCP meetings as they work to perform their other duties and tasks assigned to them. This allows counselors to enhance their skills, understand responsibilities and expectations, gain mastery on compliance-related items and improve upon best practices and positive workflow.

See the full schedule on the memo below.

Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Communications Department

Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation is offering the My County Rec Pass to Salt Lake County residents, ages 5–18. The My County Rec Pass includes free access to use Salt Lake County operated recreation centers and amenities, including:

  • 18 swimming pools (indoor and outdoor)
  • 3 ice centers
  • 2 climbing walls
  • Gyms
  • Weight rooms
  • Fitness areas
  • Walking tracks

Pre-Registration Opens: April 1 and pass activates June 1. Parents/guardians may sign up their 5–18 year old(s) at a Salt Lake County operated recreation center. Both child and guardian must register in person. Parent/guardian must bring ID or proof of Salt Lake County residency.

Published on

DATE:     
April 4, 2024

TO:  
All School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
Empowering Parents: A Conference on Wellbeing

The Health and Wellness Department, in Student Services is hosting a parent event scheduled for April 10th, 2024 at Riverton High School. This conference- style event aims to bring together professionals and education experts in the field of mental health and well-being to share their knowledge, insights, and research with parents in our JSD communities. This event aims to help parents to be best equipped to support their children with well-being.

We will offer resource booths near the entrance of the school from 5:30-6pm, and throughout transition time for parents to gain insight and information on helpful resources.

We will offer three(3) 30-minutes sessions between 6pm-8pm to maximize learning for parent participants. Some sessions will repeat more than once.

Topics will include best practices, research insights, or information that would be useful to parents of school-aged children. Including mental health issues in the schools and associated issues (bullying, stress, perfectionism, social pressures, etc.), risk, prevention, resilience and ways in which parents can help support their students. See attachment for more details about resource tables and breakout sessions.

There is a digital copy of more information attached(for printing and sharing), but a hard copy will also be sent to your school.

Please consider posting this flyer somewhere with high parent traffic (maybe the main office entrance).

Share with PTA!

Encourage parents in your communities to attend!

Published on

DATE:
April 1, 2024

TO: 
All Principals

FROM:  
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Brian King, Assistant Director of Special Education
Mike Trimmell, Ed.D., Special Education Administrator

SUBJECT:  
April 12, 2024 - Optional Special Education PD Provided by JBAT

The Special Education Department will be hosting our final optional PD for the school year. The Jordan Behavior Assistance Team (JBAT) will be leading this professional development session. The focus will be foundational classroom management and behavior strategies. The professional development session will be held at Herriman High School April 12, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. This is for elementary and secondary special education teachers. Please sign up on JPLS for this awesome opportunity.

JBAT Professional Development
Herriman HS- Auditorium
JPLS Info
Course #102021
Section #128091

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
June LeMaster, Administrator of Human Resources

IN HONOR OF JSD PARAEDUCATORS!

April 3rd was the official Paraeducator Appreciation Day and Western Governors’ University (WGU) is excited to announce a special initiative to honor and celebrate the invaluable contributions of paraeducators in Jordan School District.

We know the vital role Paraeducators play in supporting students, teachers, and the entire school community. Their dedication, compassion and hard work make a significant difference in the lives of students every day. In recognition of their outstanding efforts, WGU is promoting a paraeducator recognition program.

All JSD employees are encouraged to nominate a paraeducator that exemplifies excellence, goes above and beyond in their role and demonstrates a commitment to student success. This is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on those employees who make a profound impact in the classroom and beyond!

Nominations can be submitted through this online form - [SUBMIT NOMINEE HERE] and the deadline for submission is April 5th. Paraeducators that are nominated for this recognition will be put into a drawing for a special prize as a token of appreciation for their hard work and dedication.