Skip to content

Category: High School Action Required

Published on

DATE:
February 26, 2025

TO:
All Administrators

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

SUBJECT:
Prevention Plan Update 2025-26

School administrators and teams are expected to update prevention plans annually and post them on their school’s website. Prevention plans address overall prevention efforts and include suicide, bullying, and violence prevention information. Additional information on updating your school’s prevention plan can be found at wellness.jordandistrict.org/preventionplan.

The template for prevention plans has been updated and school administrators can use this link to make a copy and update their plan for 2025-26 by filling in the highlighted areas.

The Wellness Team would gladly visit your school (upon request) to attend a team meeting and support you in completing your prevention plan!

If you’d prefer to take time away from your building to complete your prevention plan with the wellness team present, reach out to request “office hours” and we will schedule time at a District conference room that works for your team. Contact McKinley Withers (88245, mckinley.withers@jordandistrict.org) to arrange for in-person support at your school or through District “office hours.”

Published on

TO:
All Administrators

FROM:
Administrators of Schools

As we plan both the June Administrator Training and the August Leadership Conference, we would like to identify specific training and professional development needs/wants that you may have. Please take a minute to complete the survey by choosing up to 3 topics of interest. If you have a topic that wasn't represented please feel free to add it to the short answer question (not required). Please complete this survey by March 24, 2025. 

If you already completed this survey at the Principal or AP meeting you do not need to repeat it.

LINK to Survey

Published on

DATE:
March 20, 2025

TO:
All Principals
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Administrators of Schools

SUBJECT:
Stipend for Department Chairs and Team Leaders

Stipends for Department Chairs and Team Leaders will be paid in May.

  • Elementary Schools may pay $300 for 8 Team Leaders.
  • Middle Schools may pay $500 for 12 Department Chairs or Team Leaders.
  • High Schools may pay $500 for 16 Department Chairs or Team Leaders.

A Google timesheet roster will be shared with principals and administrative assistants and should be completed by Friday, April 25, 2025. Department Chairs or Team Leaders will be paid out of the same program number from which their salary is paid. 

Kauri Sue, River’s Edge, South Valley, and JATC will be paid as middle schools. If a school houses an additional special education program (cluster or preschool program), it will have an additional team leader allocation.

Budget Code

10 xxx xxx 2216 131

10 xxx 7551 2216 131 (Special Education)

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Jared Covili, Consultant in Teaching & Learning

The USBE Digital Teaching and Learning (DTL) Grant provides opportunities and tools for teachers in Jordan School District to address and close student achievement gaps through the use of high quality instruction that integrates technology. This survey will help us determine technology training and hardware/software needs for the 2025-2026 school year. Use the links below to complete the end of year DTL Survey from USBE. Survey is due April 9, 2025.

Admin Link for Survey - https://www.metirisurveys.com/se/601EA2D53C7D99AC

Teacher Link for Survey - https://www.metirisurveys.com/se/601EA2D57A84FAFE

Published on

TO:
High School Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Amanda Bollinger, Associate Administrator, Teaching & Learning

Consider sending at least one P.E. teacher to represent your school for a professional development day dedicated to enhancing assessment practices in physical education. This session will focus on developing consistent and reliable assessment tools that align with shared learning objectives and standards. Participants will collaborate to create assessments that accurately measure student progress and performance. By unifying our assessment approaches, we aim to ensure fairness and clarity in evaluating student achievement, ultimately supporting improved outcomes in physical education. The district will provide funding for a substitute for ONE P.E. teacher per school, but all high school P.E. teachers are welcome. Please share this information with your P.E. teachers.

Assess for Success sign up link

Published on

TO:
Secondary Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Amanda Bollinger, Associate Administrator, Teaching & Learning

On April 10, 2025, Middle School and High School Health teachers will work collaboratively on vertical alignment, pacing, and instructional strategies in Health. The district will provide funding for a substitute for ONE Health teacher per school, but all secondary Health teachers are welcome. Please share this information with your Health teachers.

Vertical Vision sign up link

Published on

DATE: 
February 27, 2025

TO:     
All School Administrators

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

SUBJECT: 
Parent Seminars in English and Spanish to Share!

Jordan District has partnered with the Cook Center for Human Connection to provide ongoing mental health education for parents and caregivers. This collaboration offers FREE access to live, virtual educational sessions covering various topics. A calendar for March sessions is attached. Sessions are offered in both English and Spanish. Previously recorded seminars can be accessed through a comprehensive library of sessions and resources for each topic. You can access the library of recorded sessions at any time by visiting this site: https://parentguidance.org/mhsindex.

For the month of March, we want to highlight the webinar titled What Parents Need to Know About Suicide Prevention. Suicide prevention is a critical subject, and we often receive requests from parents and stakeholders for more information and resources. We encourage you to share this vital information with your communities. This webinar takes place on Thursday, March 20th at 5 p.m. AND 7 p.m.

If parents register and can’t make it, they will have access to the recording. More information and the link to register can be found here.

Please share the attached fliers with your school community.

Should you have any questions please reach out to Angie Rasmussen at angie.rasmussen@jordandistrict.org

Published on

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Amanda Bollinger, Associate Administrator, Teaching & Learning

Spring Mentor Training will be available online through Canvas from March 31 to May 12. Training is provided to new mentors based on administrator recommendation. Complete the Google form for each mentor you wish to enroll. We have limited seats, first come first served. Teachers will be paid a $150 stipend for completing the mentor Canvas training.

Please confirm the following before completing this form:

  • Potential mentor has not already completed training
  • Potential mentor is willing to complete the training

The Google Form to submit names for mentor training is now open! Please submit your names by March 31st.

Published on

TO:
All Administrators

FROM:
Mike Haynes - Director, Jordan Education Foundation

It's that time again! The JEF Rising Star Scholarships will recognize one resilient student from each high school with a $2,000 scholarship to the college, university, or trade school of their choice.

This is your opportunity to recognize a student who has faced significant challenges impacting their schooling, yet has shown remarkable improvement in their academic performance.

To submit your nomination, click HERE and select the “Administrators Nominate Here” button.

Submissions are due by March 10th.

Published on

DATE: 
January 29, 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 (SECURE)

Our monthly drill preparation will be held on February 5th at 3:00 PM with a second session at 3:30 PM. This month we will be covering SECURE. 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.

After each monthly training all school staff should be trained by the administrator over school safety and the School Safety Specialist. After being trained each month, teachers should educate their students on each safety drill. Additionally, schools should communicate with their patrons regarding Standard Response Protocol(s) (SRP) and the drill being conducted each month. Videos, handouts, and other resources can be found at the link(s) below.

Information regarding the SECURE response protocol can be found in the Jordan School District Safety Manual on pages 8-11. 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

TO:
Administrators

FROM:
April Gaydosh, Administrator of Human Resources

Following the release of the 2025-26 FTE V2.0 enrollment projections, the HR Department will provide training for all principals who may need to complete a Reduction in Staff (RIS).

See the document below for all the details and the LINK to sign up for the training.

 

Published on

DATE:    
January 16, 2025

TO:  
Principals
Special Education Staff

FROM:  
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Kristin Norris, Teacher Specialist-SLP/A, ESY Coordinator

SUBJECT:  
Extended School Year (ESY) Qualification Procedures and Timelines
Attached: ESY Eligibility Facts, Tips and Documentation

IDEA directs us to consider all students for Extended School Year (ESY) services. However, ESY services should only be provided if the IEP team determines that it is necessary for the provision of a free, appropriate public education (FAPE).

Please see the attached memo and information.

 

Published on

DATE:  
Thursday, January 9, 2025

TO:  
All School Administrators

FROM:  
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability
Michelle Love-Day, Director of Language & Culture Services

SUBJECT: 
Navigating Parental Exclusion Requests with the WIDA Access

The annual administration of the WIDA Access is mandated by the federal government, which uses this assessment to hold schools accountable for providing an equitable education for multi-language learners. This accountability stems from the 1974 Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols where a California school district was sued because it was not providing language services to many of its ML students. This Supreme Court case essentially preserves a student’s civil right to an equitable education and the federal government has chosen to use the WIDA Access as a way to hold school districts accountable for providing an equitable education to English learners.

The WIDA Access is federally mandated, which means that parents cannot opt their students out of taking the test. Because of the part this assessment plays in a student’s educational rights, parents do not have the power to revoke a student’s civil right to take the WIDA Access. Thus, the state was required to remove the WIDA Access from the parental exclusion form a few years ago.

So, what happens when a parent insists that their child not take the WIDA Access? USBE has provided the following guidance:

“Parents/guardians can elect to exclude students out of language services, but they cannot exclude students from WIDA ACCESS. LEAs must provide the student with the opportunity to test. LEAs should document everything if parents/guardians refuse to allow their student to test. Parents/guardians always have the ultimate right, but LEAs cannot provide parents/guardians a testing exclusion form to sign in order to opt the student out of testing. The only way a student can be deemed proficient and be reclassified as a former EL is by taking ACCESS.”

The following are the recommended procedures to follow when a parent/guardian wants to opt their student out of the WIDA Access:

  • The school administration should discuss any or all of the attached talking points with the student’s parent.
  • If the parent still insists that their child not participate in the WIDA Access, then the school should document the parent’s refusal using their school opt out log already available to school test coordinators to note the parental exclusion.
  • Schools may accept a parental exclusion in writing, but they cannot provide an opt out form to exclude students from the WIDA Access.

Please contact Ben Jameson in Assessment, Research & Accountability with any questions or concerns regarding these procedures.

Published on

DATE: 
January 1, 2025

TO:   
High School and Center-Based School Principals
High School Special Education Team Leaders

FROM: 
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education

SUBJECT:  
Destruction of Special Education Records

School districts are required to keep special education records until the student’s twenty-seventh birthday. In compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Jordan School District must notify parents and afford them the opportunity to receive special education records before destruction of those records can occur.

As of February 28, 2025, such notice will have been advertised to parents for students whose birthdates are prior to September 1997 (i.e., students who are 27 years of age). Any records for students over the age of 22 will be stored off site until they are ready to be destroyed when the student turns 27 years of age.

  1. A process is in place to prepare files for off-site storage. To view this process, go to the Special Education website and click the Records Destruction tab.
  2. An electronic list must be submitted to Sandra Rhees at sandra.rhees@jordandistrict.org. The list must contain information which identifies each student’s name, birthdate, and student number for all files to be destroyed.
  3. Our office will review the list and notify the school team once it is verified that the records may be submitted for destruction and will schedule a pick up for the files.
  4. Records to be destroyed will be retained for 5 years at the State Archive facility, then they will be automatically destroyed. Records can be accessed during that five-year period.
  5. Please remember that the Utah State Records Retention Schedule mandates that student transcripts be retained permanently.

If you have questions, please call the special education teacher specialist assigned to your school, or Sandra Rhees at 801-567-8294.

cc:
Renee Sass, Placement Office
Caleb Olson, Student Services
Sandra Riesgraf, Communications

Published on

DATE:     
January 9, 2025

TO:   
Principals
Assistant Principals
Panorama Survey Coordinators

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

SUBJECT:  
Winter Panorama Student Feedback Surveys

The winter Panorama Student Feedback Survey window is January 22, 2025 through February 21, 2025.

Panorama (Early Warning System) and social-emotional surveys may only be administered to students whose parents have opted-in. Parents are asked to opt-in to the student feedback survey during the registration process. When the online registration process closes on Oct. 1 schools will manually enter the opt-in information into Skyward. Student opt-in lists have been provided to Panorama already and a mid-window upload of students will also occur.

The following information is provided to inform and assist you as you administer student feedback surveys:

  • The list of students who may take the survey (opted-in) will be provided to Panorama prior to the administration of the survey by Student Services. Only opted-in students will be able to log in and take the survey.
  • Schools should print out the list of students who have opted-in and provide teachers with the list of students in their classes that have opted-in. The registration opt-in information can be accessed through Skyward using this data mining report.
  • Using the list provided to them by the main office, teachers will be able to manage the administration of the survey. Using the opt-in list, teachers will be able to identify why students may not be able to log in and take the survey.
  • If there are students wishing to take the survey and they are on the opted-in list, but are having log-in issues – the school survey coordinator should contact Panorama directly for assistance at support+utahjordan@panoramaed.com. Student Services does not have the ability to manage access to surveys.
  • Students may choose to not take the survey even though their parents have opted them into the survey. Student feedback surveys administered through Panorama are never required and are always optional.
  • Parents/Guardians should always be informed/notified regarding the administration of any survey.

Survey coordinators and administrators should view the Administering Panorama Survey presentation for information, instructions, and guidance regarding the student feedback surveys. Other Panorama information may be found on the Student Serves website here.

Other survey information including the Spring survey window may be found here.

Should you have any questions please reach out to Travis Hamblin (travis.hamblin@jordandistrict.org) or Michelle Reyes (michelle.reyes@jordandistrict.org).

Published on

DATE:  
Thursday, January 9, 2025

TO:  
All School Principals

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

SUBJECT: 
Stakeholder Input Survey Effectiveness Rating Reports

2024-25 Stakeholder Input Survey results may be found in Tableau here or by navigating to the Explore menu in your Tableau account: Explore>Surveys>Stakeholder Input Survey.

As a reminder, 53G-11-506 requires that stakeholder input be included as a component of educator evaluation. For this purpose, educator effectiveness ratings have been calculated for each school, principal, assistant principal, classroom teacher, and licensed support professional for whom at least 10 parents or students responded in the Stakeholder Input Survey. Effectiveness ratings were not calculated for personnel with less than 10 survey respondents. Educators have the option to include their effectiveness rating report in their JPAS portfolio.

Effectiveness rating reports may be accessed by clicking on the applicable school below (see next page). Only school principals have access to the effectiveness rating reports, but they may share access with other school administrators as they deem necessary. A hard copy of the reports addressed to principals will be sent via district mail and should arrive within a day or two of the date of this memo. These hard copy reports should be distributed to all personnel.

It is recommended that school administrators meet with each educator and go over their effectiveness rating report as well as the survey response data for that educator available in Tableau:

For classroom teachers:

For licensed support staff:

For questions about the Stakeholder Input Survey or the effectiveness rating reports, please contact Ben Jameson in Assessment, Research & Accountability.

(See the memo below which has the links provided on page 2)

Published on

DATE:      
January 9, 2025

TO:   
Principals
Assistant Principals
School Safety Specialists

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

SUBJECT:   
School Safety and Support Grant

On January 6, 2025 USBE sent out a notification regarding the availability of the 2025 School Safety and Support Grant. This is grant is not completed by each school and you should disregard the School Safety Support Grant email from USBE. This grant will be completed at the district level for all schools according to the safety needs assessments that were conducted at each school. Individual schools do not apply for this grant.

Published on

DATE:     
December 19, 2024

TO:     
Principals
School Safety Administrators
School Safety Specialists

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

SUBJECT:  
January Drill Preparation (Fire)

*DRILL MUST BE CONDUCTED WITHIN THE FIRST 10 DAYS AFTER BREAK*

Our monthly drill preparation will be held on January 8th at 3:00 PM with a second session at 3:30 PM. This month we will be covering FIRE. Each School Safety Specialist is expected to attend along with administrators assigned to oversee school safety. All other administrations are welcomed to attend as well. The meeting is also opened to any staff who may be interested. Most of you will have likely already completed this drill prior to the training so it will be more of a debrief and clarification as needed.

After each monthly training all school staff should be trained by the administrator over school safety and the School Safety Specialist. After being trained each month, teachers should educate their students on each safety drill. Additionally, schools should communicate with their patrons regarding Standard Response Protocol(s) (SRP) and the drill being conducted each month. Videos, handouts, and other resources can be found at the link(s) below.

Information regarding the FIRE response protocol can be found in the Jordan School District Safety Manual on pages 32-33. 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:
Thursday, December 19, 2024

TO:
All School Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Assessment, Research and Accountability
Michelle Love-Day, Director of Language & Culture Services

SUBJECT:
WIDA ACCESS 2.0 Test Administration Training for Schools

School administrators are asked to pass this information on to anyone who will be proctoring or coordinating the WIDA Access testing in your school this year.

As part of a federal requirement and the state’s accountability system, districts are required to administer the WIDA Access 2.0 annually to all ML students who have earned a Language Proficiency Level (LPL) of less than 4.2 and a Speaking score of less than 3.5. The 2024-25 WIDA test administration window begins on January 7 and ends on March 7, 2025.

All school personnel who will assist with WIDA Access test administration are asked to attend a mandatory test administration training. Participants may choose to attend any one of six training sessions, including one online training. Training participants will need to bring a device. Please note that if schools choose to send a classroom teacher, principals will need to cover the cost of the substitute teacher. Test pool hours may also be used for this.

Those who are to be trained to administer the WIDA should register in Canvas Catalog so that we may create their accounts in the testing and training platforms prior to their selected training date. Please see the dates and times in the attached memo.

Please contact Ben Jameson or JoLynn Snelgrove in Assessment, Research & Accountability with questions about the WIDA Access test administration and training.

Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, December 12, 2024

TO: 
All School Administrators

FROM: 
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Assessment, Research and Accountability
Brandee Bergum, Secondary Language Arts Consultant

SUBJECT: 
Star Reading Account Logins

The Star Reading assessment, replacing the retired Growth Measure, is now up and running. The middle-of-year assessment window opened on December 2nd and will close on February 14, 2025. This assessment is optional for students. However, Star Reading is a required assessment for 6th grade students in the middle-of-year window as the results are used with other assessment results to determine 7th grade reading placement. 6th grade testing should be completed no later than January 10, 2025.

Teachers and students may login to Star Reading using their Google waffle. They should look for this Renaissance tile (see the memo below for a picture of the Renaissance tile).

School administrators and other non-teaching staff may login here. For the first time logging in, users will enter the following Renaissance ID: 252187-11TN. The username is the firstname.lastname part of district email addresses. Then users will need to go through the Forgot Password procedure to set up a new password. After the first time logging in, return users will only need to enter their firstname.lastname and their password to login.

For more information on the Star Reading assessment, take a look at the Star Reading Quick Start Guide.

For any other questions about Star Reading, please contact Kassidy Towery in Assessment, Research & Accountability or Brandee Bergum in Teaching & Learning.