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Category: Elementary Info

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Beginning this fall, JSD elementary administrators, teachers, and school psychs will partner with USBE to participate in LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training.

For administrators, there will be an online component (10-16 hours) along with 2 face-to-face days of professional  learning. School psychs will follow the administrator schedule. Teachers will have a total of 8 units with a combination of online, application in the classroom, and in person learning per unit. USBE credit will be given to all participants upon completion.

Materials will be distributed to each school. More info will be coming closer to the delivery date.

Please the attached flyers for more information.

Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, July 29, 2021

TO:
School and District Administrators

FROM:     
Shelley Nordick, Ph.D., Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT: 
2021-22 Testing Bulletin Now Available

The testing bulletins for elementary, middle and high schools for the 2021-22 school year have been updated. They are updated throughout the year and may be found on the Evaluation, Research & Accountability website: https://assessments.jordandistrict.org/

For your convenience, individual level testing bulletins may also be accessed below:

Elementary School Testing Bulletin
Middle School Testing Bulletin
High School Testing Bulletin

Administrators will be notified if there is a change to any testing windows currently listed in the bulletins.

Published on

DATE:       
July 22, 2021

TO:       
All administrators

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

SUBJECT:   
Join our Wellness Center PLC

Are you interested in starting a wellness center at your school? Do you need some extra funds to jazz it up? Do you already have a room and would like to collaborate with other schools to make it better?

Health and Wellness is here to help! Please review these tips for wellness center implementation and consider joining our wellness center PLC!

During the 2021-22 school year there will be a quarterly PLC whose purpose will be to increase collaboration between schools who are implementing (or who are interested in implementing) wellness centers.

If you are interested in participating in this PLC or in sending a representative (or both!) please let McKinley Withers know (mckinley.withers@jordandistrict.org, 801-567-8245) as soon as possible and include the names of any individuals who you’d like to have participate. Dates and times will be coordinated according to the participant’s schedules. We look forward to working with you to enhance wellness in our District!

Published on

DATE:
July 22, 2021

TO:
Building Principals
Elementary Administrative Assistants
Secondary Registrars

FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Caleb Olson, Consultant, Planning & Enrollment

SUBJECT:
Initial Enrollment Without Birth Certificate

Utah Code (§53G-6-603) states that: Upon enrollment of a student for the first time in a particular school, that school shall notify in writing the person enrolling the student (parent or legal guardian) that within 30 days they must provide either a certified copy of the student’s birth certificate, or other reliable proof of the student’s identity and age, together with an affidavit explaining the inability to produce a copy of the birth certificate.

The original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by the Bureau of Vital Statistics is required for initial enrollment into any Jordan School District school. A copy of the certificate should be made and kept in the student’s cumulative folder. When a student transfers between Jordan District schools, it is not necessary to have the parent again supply the birth certificate (especially when the school is able to confirm that a copy of the birth certificate is available in the student’s cumulative folder when it transfers); however, building principals may choose to require birth certificates from transfer students or students entering the initial grade offered by the building provided this requirement is consistently applied to all students.

When a parent or guardian cannot provide a birth certificate at registration, the following steps should be followed:

  • The student is enrolled and allowed to attend school.
  • The parent/guardian is immediately given the 30-day grace period letter. This should be provided in-person at the time of registration.
  • If a birth certificate has not been provided within 30 calendar days, the 10-day warning letter should be provided. If it cannot be provided in person, it should be sent via certified mail. An additional copy of the letter may be sent to the email provided by the parent at registration if delivered via MoveIt.
  • If a birth certificate has not been provided by the end of the 10-day window, the student should remain enrolled and allowed to attend. School staff should notify law enforcement by certified letter. Once notification has been sent, the school’s statutory obligation has been met.

In some instances, the parent/guardian may not have a birth certificate. In this case, “other reliable proof” may be used. The documentation provided must prove the student’s identity and age. The steps below should be followed when using other documentation:

  • The student is enrolled and allowed to attend school.
  • The 30-day and 10-day letters should be provided as explained above.
  • If other reliable proof is brought to the school, the “Affidavit of Birth” document must be completed and notarized. A copy of the documentation and the affidavit should be placed in the student’s cumulative folder.
  • Law enforcement should be notified if documentation is not provided by the end of the 10-day warning window.

Parents and guardians do not need to be sent to Planning & Enrollment for approval of their “other reliable proof” documentation; however, school staff are welcome to consult with Planning & Enrollment about the particulars of documentation provided to the school. Notary services are also available at Planning & Enrollment if they cannot be provided at the school.

The 30-day and 10-day letters, as well as the “Affidavit of Birth” documents, are available on the Planning & Enrollment website (http://planning.jordandistrict.org) in the School Resources section under the “Resources & Forms” tab.

Please contact Planning & Enrollment at 801-567-8183 with questions or concerns.

Published on

DATE:
July 22, 2021

TO:
Elementary School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:
Select Health FREE Social and Emotional Learning Conference

On July 28th Select Health will be hosting a Social and Emotional Learning Conference that is free for those that are interested. Review this flyer for details. Please share with those that would benefit from participating.

 

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Labor Day Annual/Personal Leave Lottery Request

If you are a contracted employee and need to take Annual/Personal Leave before or after Labor Day for any reason not listed in policy DP335NEG or DP335B, you must submit a request as follows:

How to Request
During the window, the employee must send the request through email. Please include your name, school, position, and the date you are requesting the leave. Requests left on voicemail or over the phone will NOT be accepted.

Licensed employees submit their request to: licensedpersonalleave@jordandistrict.org

Education Support Professionals submit their request to: classifiedpersonalleave@jordandistrict.org

The employee will receive an email confirmation within two working days after submitting the request. If the employee does not receive a confirmation email, then Human Resources has NOT received your request and your leave will not be approved.

School Holiday:
Labor Day

Date of Holiday:
September 6, 2021

Window:
July 23 – Aug. 2, 2021

https://employment.jordandistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/PersonalLeaveBeforeAfterHoliday-
21-22-updated-1.pdf

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The Teaching and Learning department has brought back 5 teacher specialists in the literacy department to support schools through the coming school year. Refer to the attached document to see which specialist has been assigned to your school. The specialists will be reaching out to principals to schedule a time to meet and go over a check list of items that will help schools have a successful literacy launch.

Teacher Specialist Assignments

Literacy Check List

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The Jordan Education Foundation has a STEM-Focused committee. The purpose of this committee is to strengthen STEM in Jordan District. A special emphasis of this committee is to assist the Middle Schools. Donna Hunter will be the liaison to the JEF STEM Committee representing the District Secondary schools.

Bruce Cutler, the chair of the STEM Advisory Committee, would like to visit with your school personnel who have a passion for STEM. The purpose of the visit is to determine what your needs are and how the Jordan Education Foundation can help. He will be reaching out to each middle school principal to set up a time to visit. You can also contact Bruce via email at bruce@brucecutler.org.

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Principals, our Facility Services department could use your help by encouraging your staff to reduce our excessive energy usage this summer. Facility Services administration has recently performed an audit of the portable buildings throughout the District. It was discovered that 8 out of 10 portables were unoccupied, had lights on and air-conditioning running during the first week of July.

Please work directly with your custodians and other staff members to ensure that everyone is doing their part. The following directives are designed to reduce excessive energy usage as temperature continues to soar above 100 degrees.

  • AC needs to be turned off in all the portables and should remain off unless in use.
  • Adjust thermostats: For portables that are being used occasionally, set the thermostat to 85 degrees for periods when unoccupied.
  • Reduce your lighting: Turn off lights in unoccupied areas that are not needed for security and safety.
  • Office equipment: Setting computers, monitors, and copiers to sleep-mode can reduce energy use by 40%.
  • Windows and Doors: Use curtains and shades when the portables are not in use. Keeping doors and windows closed and locked will help reduce inside temperatures and security problems.
  • Concerns about heat damage to supplies or equipment: Smaller items like crayons, or ink cartridges, can be relocated inside the building or stored in styrofoam coolers. Larger items like musical instruments should be relocated inside the school building. Computers are okay to remain in an unairconditioned portables as long as they are powered off.

Thank you for your help

Steve Peart
Director of Custodial / Energy Services

Published on

DATE:
July 8, 2021

TO:  
All District Employees

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

SUBJECT:  
Required Annual Training to Help Prevent Child Sex Abuse

Per state statue all school district employees are to be trained annually concerning Child Sex Abuse Prevention or Human Trafficking Prevention. This year (2021-2022) Child Sex Abuse training will be replacing the Human Trafficking Prevention training conducted last year in Crucial Concerns and Policies.

What:                          An on-line training from Prevent Child Abuse Utah
Who:                           All adult school district employees
Time:                           1 hour to complete
Date:                           May begin now but must be completed by October.
Link to training:      Preventing Child Abuse An Online Course for Adults Working With Youth

At the end of the training there will be a Certificate of Completion that should be printed by the employee for their records.

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The following are new administrative assignments:

New Assignments effective July 1, 2021:

  • Jarom Airhart, administrative intern at Academy Park and Plymouth Elementary in Granite School District, appointed assistant principal at Aspen and Terra Linda Elementary.
  • Aubri Moench, teacher at Fox Hollow Elementary, appointed assistant principal at Riverton and Jordan Hills Elementary.

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Elementary Principals:

The following message is being sent to all elementary personnel:

Calendar Alignment to Quarters

We hope you’re enjoying your summer and getting some much needed and deserved rest. In preparation for the 2021-2022 school year, we wanted to make you aware of a couple of items.  As you know, Jordan School District will no longer have any year-round schools this fall. As a result, it becomes possible to align calendars at all levels to provide clarity and consistency for families and employees.  In order to accomplish this, elementary schools will be adjusting from a trimester to a quarter calendar. We will continue to have parent teacher conferences twice a year at approximately the end of first and third quarter. An updated 2021-2022 calendar is available on the district website. More details will be provided at the beginning of the school year.

Thank you for your dedicated work on behalf of students.

 

Published on

DATE: 
July 9, 2021

TO:  
All School Administrators

FROM: 
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Planning & Student Services

SUBJECT:  
CSTAG LEVEL 2 Training

CSTAG training provides a critical foundation for successful threat assessment responses to ensure a climate of safety, respect, and support for students and staff. Through a restorative/social-emotional foundation this training will provide the processes and tools to help keep our schools safe. CSTAG training is conducted in two (2) levels – Level 1 & Level 2.

CSTAG Level 1 training is provided online and is highly interactive. All school level administrators will need to complete the Level 1 training prior to the Annual Administrators Conference August 4, 2021. Please refer to the JAM dated June 17, 2021 for more specific information regarding Level 1.

CSTAG Level 2 training is a three hour in-person training and multiple sessions will be held for your convenience. The first sessions have been scheduled as follows:

When:
July 22, 2021

Where:
ASB Auditorium
7905 S Redwood Road, West Jordan
Enter from the North nearest 7800 South

Time:
Session 1:   8-11:00am
                   or
Session 2:   12-3:00pm

Please sign up using JPLS for the session you will be attending. School teams should attend the same session.

Additional trainings will be scheduled at later dates to facilitate school teams attending together.

Should you have any questions please contact Travis in Student Services (801.567.8439) or travis.hamblin@jordandistrict.org.

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Administrators:

As discussed in Principals' Meeting, we are excited to launch our new BusHive field/activity trip software. The administrator responsible for scheduling your school's field/activity trips will receive a welcome email, which includes BusHive training and information from Kitt this Friday, July 2. The Field Trip Office will then begin accepting field/activity trip requests on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. Please feel free to contact Kitt at 801-567-8809 or Michele at 801-567-8804 with questions.

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As of March 2021, the Fire and Security department began replacing all employee access badges that are approximately 5 years and older. This process is being conducted on a school by school basis. They are also upgrading badge holders that will assist in preventing wear and loss. Office staff at each location will be contacted for assistance in confirming active employees, in collecting the old badges, and in distributing the new. The process of replacing said employee access badges will be free of charge. Employees will remain responsible for the fee of $7.00 to replace a lost access badge. This will be done through a payroll deduction.

Pass badges, such as portable passes, substitute passes, sweeper passes, and elevator passes, will also be replaced considering the needs of each location.  This is also being conducted on a school by school basis. Once schools receive new pass badges, they will be required to pay the $7.00 replacement fee for any badges that are lost or stolen. This can be done through a journal entry.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

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The T&L department has ordered a full set of Geode decodable readers from Great Minds for each school. The set includes three levels (K, 1, 2) and there are 64 titles with 6 books of each title. Geodes will match the lessons in Really Great Reading and they can be used in whole group or small group instruction. The books should be stored in a place in the school that will allow all teachers to have access to them. These books will be good for students receiving tier 1 instruction in grades K-3 and they can be used as a support for all students in grades K-6 who are receiving intervention in phonics. The books have been delivered to the warehouse at the ASB and they are being prepared to send to schools. T&L is also looking at additional decodable readers for upper grade students as well. More information will be coming as it is available.

Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, July 1, 2021

TO: 
Elementary School Administrators
Middle School Administrators

FROM: 
Shelley Nordick, Ph.D., Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:   
Unofficial RISE Data Available on Tableau

RISE data downloaded from TIDE are now available on school administrator Tableau Viewer accounts.  The dashboards contain RISE proficiency data for ELA, math and science for both the 2021 test administration as well as longitudinal SAGE/RISE data as far back as the 2013-14 school year.  Included in the dashboard are demographic filters (i.e., socioeconomic status, EL, minority and special education status) that will allow administrators to interact with the data to look at individual student group performance.  Dashboards that contain student level data are included as well.

With the 2021 RISE test administration, there are some key things to remember:

  • Grades 4-5 science data are not currently available. Because the core changed, the test also changed.  USBE staff and educators from across the state will be working this summer on standard setting and validation.  Science grades 4-5 data with proficiency cut scores will be released later this fall.
  • The assessment data on these Tableau dashboards are not the official state data and cannot be shared with the general public. The dashboards will be updated with official state data and can then be released to the public later this fall.  However, school administrators may use the data to target student groups for extra support as well as allocate personnel and resources where needed.
  • Student growth will not be calculated for the 2020-21 school year. Thus, for the time being, the dashboards contain only proficiency data.

School administrators will note that, in general, proficiency scores decreased from previous years across the board.  Administrators are encouraged to exercise caution as they analyze their school’s 2021 RISE data.  There are some mitigating factors that make the 2020-21 school year unique in nature and our proficiency scores, along with most LEAs across the state, reflect that.  There is still much to be done to mitigate unfinished learning in the coming year and the 2021 RISE scores are simply a snapshot of where we are in that effort.

School administrators may access RISE data at the following links:

  • District RISE Report – Explore > RISE > RISE Data Review and Analysis > 1 – District Report, RISE, 2014 – Present
  • School RISE Report – Explore > RISE > RISE Data Review and Analysis > 1 – School Report, RISE, 2014 – Present
  • RISE Student Level Data – Explore > RISE > RISE Data Review and Analysis > 1 – 2021 RISE Student Level Data > [Your School] 2021 RISE Student Level Data

Tableau dashboards containing official and final RISE data will be released this fall along with the Opportunity to Learn survey results that students took at the end of their RISE math test.  The OTL survey questions will help frame the relationship between the unique learning environments students and teachers experienced and student achievement on the RISE test and will help school administrators further address unfinished learning during the 2021-22 school year.  A copy of those OTL questions are included with this memo.

Published on

DATE:     
June 23, 2021

TO:  
Principals

FROM:  
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent

SUBJECT: 
Fee Waiver Materials 2021-22

The annual Certificate of Compliance report will be due October 31, 2021. October 1st of each year the Local Board Chair, District Superintendent, and each Principal will receive an email containing a personalized link to complete the Certificate of Compliance. The email will be titled Utah State Board of Education School Year 2021-2022 Certificate of Compliance. Each individual will have 30 days to complete the certificate. Click here to access a sample Certificate of Compliance.

All USBE School Fees Notices and School Fee Waiver Applications can be found by clicking HERE.

Forms can be found under Grades K-6 and Grades 7-12 in multiple languages. The Fee Waiver Application, for both elementary and secondary was revised 3/24/2021. Use the current form when having parents fill out the application.

Attention:  Students who previously showed verification of eligibility do not need to resubmit documentation. It may be necessary for the principal (or designee) to contact the previous school of transferring students for verification of fee waiver status. Kindergarten students coming into the school, new students to the District, and students with extenuating circumstances will still be required to submit documentation.