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Category: Elementary Schools

Published on

TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
School Safety Specialists

FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, School Safety Coordinator

The School Safety Center (SSC) is excited to share that we are hosting the 2024 Utah School Safety Conference. This will be the conference to attend! We have created a unique conference experience for Utah. Registration is now open.

WHO: School Safety & Security Specialists, School Building Administrators, Crisis-Response Team Members, School-Based Mental Health Professionals, School Resource Officers (SROs) and Law Enforcement, and other school employees who support school safety.

WHAT: 2024 Utah School Safety Conference

WHEN: Thursday and Friday, June 13-14, 2024 | 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM each day

WHERE: Riverton, Utah

ACTION: REGISTER HERE  *Registration is free of charge

MORE INFORMATION: See the attached flyer

Please direct all questions to schoolsafetyprograms@schools.utah.gov.

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
Paul Bergera, Director of Transportation

School Administrators,

I received the following letter from State Risk Management. State Risk is witnessing a major increase in reported accidents in and around school bus zones. Regretfully, Jordan School District has experienced several accidents in and around school bus zones this school year. The letter highlights the importance of dedicated school bus zones being used solely for the purpose of school buses and also emphasizes the importance of keeping bus zones free from all vehicles other than school buses. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Jordan School District is more than willing to provide personnel and resources to you as you develop your school's safety plan. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Matt Alvernaz, JSD School Safety Coordinator, at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8623 or Brandon Conti, JSD Risk Management Coordinator, at brandon.conti@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8876. Thank you for your continued cooperation and support.

 

Published on

TO:
Administrators

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

Registration for the Fall 2024 ESL endorsement class will be open on May 6th on the LCS website. Registration will close when full, so sign up quickly. These classes will be asynchronous. For additional questions, please contact Language and Culture Services.

Published on

TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
School Safety Specialists

FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, School Safety Coordinator

Please see the attachments for information on the S4K Connects Comprehensive School Safety Conference on  July 29th, 30th & 31st at the Larry H. Miller Conference Center in Sandy.

Published on

DATE:  
May 2, 2024

TO:  
All School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Resources to Share

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and an opportunity to promote mental health resources to support student, staff, and family wellness.

May is a great time to foster open conversations about mental health through community events, sharing information, and highlighting resources available to your students and families at your schools. Here are some events and resources that educators may benefit from being aware of:

Resources

Events

  • Bingham Walk 4 Hope
    May 4 at 9am
    Help Bingham High School’s Hope Squad promote healthy minds, healthy bodies, and to highlight the fact that together we are “A Force of 1”!
    Start at Bingham High and will make a loop with stops at SoJo Middle and Jordan Ridge Elementary. Resource tables with information about mental and physical health will be available for families at each stop.
  • NAMIWALKS — A WALK TO FUEL MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS
    Saturday May 18th, 2024
    Veterans Memorial Park
    1985 W. 7800 S
    West Jordan, UT 84088
    https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month/
  • SafeUT and HMHI Offerings (and recordings!)
    Click Here for more information
    ● SAFEUT: SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES DURING “ANY SIZE CRISIS”
    May 5 | 12:00 - 1:00 pm (via Zoom)
    ● CHILDREN, TEENS, AND MENTAL HEALTH: WHERE AND WHEN TO SEEK HELP
    Thursday, May 12 | 12:00 - 1:00 pm (via Zoom)
    ● HEALING OUT LOUD: UNMASKING MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA
    Thursday, May 19 | 6:00 - 7:30 pm (via Zoom)

 

Published on

TO:
Administrators

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

Senate Bill 56 from the 2024 Legislative Session removed the requirement that home school affidavits be notarized. The district's home school affidavit has been updated to reflect this change and is available at the link below:

Annual Home School Affidavit Link

As a reminder, while schools may give the form to interested parents, the form must be submitted by the parent/guardian directly to the District Office.

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
June LeMaster, Administrator of Human Resources
Brent Burge, Administrator, ESP in Human Resources

The Human Resource Department would like to celebrate the administration at these five schools who are the first to complete their Licensed and ESP evaluations for the 2023-24 school year. With a donation from the Jordan Education Foundation and an amazing personal donation from Michael Haynes, these principals were provided a swag bag at the principal meeting on April 30, 2024.

Even though employee evaluations are required by policy, it is the perfect opportunity to provide crucial feedback to promote employee growth to support our students.

Congratulations to:

Elk Meadows Elementary
Rocky Peak Virtual Elementary
Silver Crest Elementary
Blackridge Elementary
Oakcrest Elementary

Published on

TO:
Administrators

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

On May 29th, Panorama is partnering with Dr. Robert Balfanz, Principal Investigator and Researcher at Everyone Graduates Center, for a webinar titled, "Supercharge Your Early Warning System with Relationships." This webinar is free and open to all educators - We hope to see you there! Please feel free to share with your districts/networks! It's going to be a great panel!

Registration Link

Session Description:

An Early Warning System (EWS) is highly effective at helping districts flag issues in attendance, behavior, and coursework (the ABCs). But to go beyond identification and truly impact outcomes, districts must consider their students’ relationships with adults, peers, and school staff. According to Dr. Robert Balfanz, Principal Investigator and Researcher at Everyone Graduates Center, “By focusing on connectedness first, schools have helped many [identified] students rebuild academic and social habits, and they are able to target more extensive academic and behavioral interventions on the remaining students who need them most.”

Join us to learn how to build strong student relationships and supercharge your district’s EWS.

Together, we will:

  • Hear the research on how a traditional EWS can benefit from a relationship-centered approach.
  • Identify how school policies and practices can stop or slow the decline of students starting to slide off track.
  • Learn how to fine-tune data collection to correctly identify root causes for problems like attendance and behavior.
  • Explore evidence- and research-based interventions that build supportive relationships between adults and students who have become disengaged.

Published on

DATE:
Thursday, May 2, 2024

TO:  
Elementary School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
Acadience Reading ALO Faculty Training

Beginning fall of the 2024-25 school year, the state will transition from using Amplify's mClass to Acadience Learning's ALO to administer the Acadience Reading benchmarks and progress monitoring probes. District assessment assistants will still administer the benchmarks for students in grades K-3. Grades 4-6 teachers will still be expected to administer both the benchmarks and progress monitoring probes to their classes. Testing will still take place on a touchscreen device such as a Chromebook or iPad, which means principals will need to ensure that teachers and classroom aides who administer Acadience Reading benchmarks and/or progress monitoring probes have access to a touchscreen device (see March 14th JAM memo for more information). However, the way the tester enters the data and interacts with ALO is significantly different, especially with the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) measure (the stories).

In an effort to help your teachers transition to the new system, Evaluation, Research & Accountability will conduct a series of hybrid trainings at each of our 42 elementary schools. The in-person portion of the training will take two hours to complete. Dates and times may be selected using the ALO Faculty Training Sign-up form. Time slots will be available beginning August 12th (teachers’ first contract day of the 2024-25 school year). Because not every measure applies to every grade level teacher, the two-hour time slot will be divided into three sections:

  • LNF, FSF, PSF, and NWF - 60 minutes with grades K-2 teachers
  • Accessing the reporting interface - 15 minutes with grades K-6 teachers
  • ORF and Maze - 45 minutes with grades 1-6 teachers

During the two-hour in-person training, we will not have enough time to practice each measure to the degree necessary to ensure that teachers are able to accurately assess their students. Teachers may desire more opportunities to practice interacting with the new system. To fulfill this need, teachers will be given access to a Canvas course that will facilitate additional practice for the measures that apply to each grade level (i.e., a kindergarten teacher would receive additional practice opportunities for LNF, FSF, PSF and NWF while a 4th grade teacher would receive additional practice opportunities for ORF). Each teacher may determine their own timeline for completing the Canvas course, which will depend on when they expect to complete beginning-of-year benchmark testing (for grades 4-6 students) and/or when they plan to begin progress monitoring. While the Canvas course is optional for teachers, it is strongly encouraged that all teachers make use of the additional practice opportunities.

If desired, principals may arrange to have classroom aides who administer benchmarks and/or progress monitoring probes attend the faculty training as well. It will be up to principals to arrange for pay outside of contract hours for classroom assistants. Additional training opportunities specifically for ESPs will be offered later this fall.

​​​​​​​For questions about ALO and the hybrid faculty training, please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability.

Published on

The following are new administrative assignments:

New Assignments and Transfers effective for the 2024-25 school year:

  • Lisa Jackson, assistant principal at Fort Herriman Middle assigned principal at Oquirrh Hills Middle.
  • Ann Pessetto, principal at Silver Crest Elementary assigned principal at Westland Elementary.
  • Patty Bowen, principal at Copper Canyon Elementary assigned principal at Silver Crest Elementary.
  • Bobbie Nixon, principal at Herriman Elementary assigned principal at Copper Canyon Elementary.
  • Laurie Goodsell, principal at Westland Elementary assigned principal at Herriman Elementary.
  • Michelle Putnam, assistant principal at Bingham High assigned assistant principal at Mountain Ridge High.
  • Rufine Einzinger, assistant principal at Copper Hills High assigned assistant principal at Bingham High.
  • Janilee Mullen, assistant principal at Riverton High assigned assistant principal at Copper Hills High.
  • Kyrstin Wingert, administrative intern at Mountain Ridge High appointed assistant principal at Riverton High.
  • Britnee Eng, administrative intern at Herriman High appointed assistant principal at Valley High.
  • Mindy Lokey, assistant principal at Valley High assigned assistant principal at Fort Herriman Middle.
  • Jennifer Jarrard, assistant principal at Oquirrh Hills Middle assigned assistant principal at South Hills Middle.
  • Joshua Ricks, assistant principal at South Jordan Middle assigned assistant principal at Oquirrh Hills Middle.
  • Brian Rambadt, assistant principal at Sunset Ridge Middle assigned assistant principal at South Jordan Middle.
  • Joshua Stott, assistant principal at Joel P. Jensen Middle assigned assistant principal at Sunset Ridge Middle.
  • Karen Moore, administrative intern at Joel P. Jensen and South Jordan Middle appointed assistant principal at Joel P. Jensen Middle.
  • Sharra Palmer, administrative intern at Bluffdale Elementary appointed assistant principal at Kauri Sue Hamilton School.
  • Aubri Moench, assistant principal at South Hills Middle assigned assistant principal at Juniper Elementary.
  • Amber Allen, assistant principal at Bastian Elementary assigned assistant principal at Butterfield Canyon Elementary.
  • Kasey Dahl, assistant principal at Ridge View Elementary assigned assistant principal at Bastian Elementary.
  • Jarom Airhart, assistant principal at Jordan Ridge Elementary assigned assistant principal at Midas Creek Elementary.
  • Thyme Meleisea-Vea, assistant principal at Oak Leaf Elementary assigned assistant principal at Jordan Hills Elementary.
  • Trudy Jack, assistant principal at Majestic Elementary assigned assistant principal at Hayden Peak Elementary.
  • Veronica Holyoke, assistant principal at Oakcrest Elementary assigned assistant principal at Bluffdale Elementary.
  • April Thompson, assistant principal at Riverton Elementary assigned assistant principal at Oakcrest Elementary.
  • Shauna Worthington, administrator returning from sabbatical leave assigned assistant principal at Riverton Elementary.
  • Heather Handy, assistant principal at Bluffdale Elementary assigned assistant principal at Aspen Elementary.

New Administrative Intern Assignments effective for the 2024-25 school year:

  • Daniel Call, teacher at Summit Academy assigned administrative intern at Copper Hills High.
  • Megan Daly, counselor at Hidden Valley Middle assigned administrative intern at Mountain Ridge High.
  • Ivie Erickson, teacher at West Jordan Middle assigned administrative intern at Bingham High.
  • Travis Foster, teacher at West Jordan High assigned administrative intern at Riverton High.
  • Markie Harper, counselor at Copper Hills High assigned administrative intern at Herriman High.
  • Derek Winder, counselor at Copper Mountain Middle assigned administrative intern at West Jordan High.
  • Andrea Call, CTE teacher at Bingham High assigned administrative intern at West Hills Middle and West Jordan Middle.
  • Rachelle Smith, teacher at Oak Leaf Elementary assigned administrative intern at Joel P. Jensen Middle and South Hills Middle.
  • Stacie Thompson, teacher at Golden Fields Elementary assigned administrative intern at Hidden Valley Middle and Sunset Ridge Middle.
  • Aimie Rizzuto, teacher at Aspen Elementary assigned administrative intern at Jordan Ridge Elementary.
  • Megan Hamilton, teacher specialist in the Teaching and Learning Department assigned administrative intern at Blackridge Elementary.
  • Toni Lasater, teacher specialist in the Teaching and Learning Department assigned administrative intern at Oak Leaf Elementary.
  • Denise White, instructional coach in Canyons School District assigned administrative intern at Majestic Elementary.

Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

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

The following offices will receive a Pocketalk to assist when enrolling our Newcomer, Refugee, and Asylee students:

Elementary Main Offices
Middle School Counseling Centers
High School Attendance Offices

These devices are small, handheld instruments with over 80 languages to help in communication for registration. Please reach out to Language & Culture Services for any assistance with your new device.

Published on

DATE:
April 22, 2024

TO:
Applicable School Principals and Administrative Assistants
All Area Administrators of Schools and Administrative Assistants

FROM:
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Daniel Ellis, Director of Accounting and Audits
Natalie Grange, Accounting Administrator

SUBJECT:
External Audit Visits

The external auditors (Squire & Company, PC) will be visiting the following schools on the dates indicated. They will be reviewing school fees (appropriate amount charged, waivers, etc.) and financial information. Once finished, the auditors will want a few minutes with the Principal. If the Principal is unavailable, an Assistant Principal may meet with them. The auditors are planning on coming to the schools in the order listed. Exact times of arrival will vary depending on length of stay at earlier schools and travel time. If you have any questions or if your administrative assistant will not be available, please call Natalie Grange at (801) 567-8312.

April 29, 2024
Copper Hills HS
Sunset Ridge MS
Fox Hollow ES
Terra Linda ES
April 30, 2024
West Jordan HS
Joel P Jensen MS
Heartland ES
Riverside ES
May 1, 2024
Bingham HS
Elk Meadows ES
Elk Ridge MS
Westland ES

 

May 2, 2024
Herriman HS
Copper Mountain MS
Fort Herriman MS

May 3, 2024
Riverton HS
Rosamond ES
Monte Vista ES
Mountain Ridge HS

May 6, 2024
Oquirrh Hills MS
Southland ES
Jordan Hills ES
Hidden Valley MS

 

Published on

DATE:
April 23, 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:
Monthly Drill Preparation (SHELTER)

Our monthly drill preparation will be held on May 1st at 3:00 PM with a second session at 3:30 PM. This month we will be covering SHELTER. Each School Safety Specialist is expected to attend along with administrators assigned to oversee school safety. All other administrators are welcomed to attend as well. The meeting is also opened to any staff who may be interested.

Information regarding the SHELTER response protocol can be found in the Jordan School District Safety Manual on pages 20-24. We will discuss how to implement and execute the drill. This will be an opportunity to ask questions and share ideas amongst the schools.

We will be holding this meeting over ZOOM so please join using this link.

Published on

DATE:
April 10, 2024

TO:
School Psychologists and School Psychology Interns

FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Fulvia Franco, Program Specialist – Guidance

SUBJECT:
May School Psychologist & School Psychology Interns Meeting

A meeting for school psychologists and school psychology interns has been scheduled for Friday, May 3, 2024, from 12:00 to 3:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Auxiliary Services Building (7905 South Redwood Road). We will start at 12:00 p.m. with a luncheon. Julia Connelly, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist will provide us with a presentation that addresses Pathological Demand Avoidance.

Part-time Staff: I would appreciate it if you could adjust your schedules in order to attend this meeting.

cc: Principals

Published on

DATE:
April 25, 2024

TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals

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

SUBJECT:
Summer 2024 Discipline Trainings

Please mark your calendars for the following discipline trainings in July 2024. Watch for sign-up information to come in June:

Additional trainings may be scheduled if needed. School teams may also contact Caleb Olson for assistance on specific areas of concern or assistance.

Discipline Basics for New Administrators
When: Tuesday, July 16, 2024, 9-11 AM
Where: ASB Auditorium
This training is intended for new administrators and district-placed administrative interns to learn the basics of discipline logging and processing.

Newly assigned administrators and interns will receive an email invitation to attend this training in late May or early June.

Discipline Refresher
When: Thursday, July 18, 2024, 9-11 AM and 1-3 PM
Where: ASB Auditorium
This training is intended for existing administrators to review the discipline logging process and to hear updates to logging for the 2024-25 school year.