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Category: High School Info

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Intermountain AP Summer Institute is the only institute of its kind held in the state of Utah. 2024 marks the 14th year of operation as a College Board endorsed training. APSI offers the highest quality professional development in 18 content areas. Make the most of your AP dollars by speaking with Chris Richards-Khong in the Teaching & Learning Department about how you can help sponsor registration and stipends for AP teachers.

Published on

DATE:
February 1, 2024

TO:
Middle School Administrators
High School Administrators

FROM: 
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Stacee Worthen, School Counselor Consultant

SUBJECT:  
2023-24/2024-25 Approved Course Requests

For your information, the attached memo is an updated list of courses approved over the last two academic school years. All courses have been added to the Jordan School District Course Catalog.

Published on

DATE:  
February 1, 2024

TO:      
Principals
Assistant Principals

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

SUBJECT:  
Safety Training Opportunity

Webinar: The Role of Principals in School Safety Efforts

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools and its Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center will host a webinar on Thursday, February 8, 2024, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.  This webinar will focus on the role that principals play in preventing, protecting the school community from, mitigating, responding to, and recovering from threats and hazards.

The objectives of this 60-minute webinar are to

  • Highlight the importance of establishing a collaborative planning team for school emergency operations plan (EOP) development, as outlined in Step 1 of the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans.
  • Reinforce how principals can contribute to EOP development and ensure school safety, security, emergency management, and preparedness.
  • Share relevant resources to be used by principals and core planning teams.

Register on Zoom to participate in the Webinar.

Guest Panelists

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida

  • Ty Thompson, former Principal

Ocali Charter High School in Ocala, Florida

  • Elizabeth Brown, Principal

Hudson High School in Hudson, Ohio

  • Michael Sedlak, Unit Principal

Sandy Hook Elementary School

  • Kathy Gombos, Principal

Panel Moderator
Janelle Hughes, Project Director, REMS TA Center

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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

Published on

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:

  • Parents and students have received a Skylert from the District with information about how to access instructional content along with a reminder about the day.
  • A direct email will go out to all employees with information about opportunities available and will include instructions about how and when to sign up for wellness day opportunities.
  • As much as possible, please allow for flexibility for employees to make the most of their wellness day.

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

Published on

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.

Register Here

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.

Register Here

Published on

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

Published on

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.

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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.

Elementary Schools Survey

Secondary Schools Survey

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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.

Published on

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.

Published on

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.

Published on

The following are new administrative assignments:

  • New Appointments effective January 2, 2024:
    • Holly Bagley, administrative intern at Silver Crest Elementary appointed assistant principal at Silver Crest Elementary.
    • Kasey Dahl, administrative intern at Ridge View Elementary appointed assistant principal at Ridge View Elementary.
  • New Appointments and Transfers effective January 16, 2024:
    • Kaleb Yates, principal at Jordan Hills Elementary appointed principal at the New Herriman Elementary.
    • Baylee Lansford, assistant principal at Rose Creek Elementary appointed principal at Jordan Hills Elementary.
    • Josh Brothers, assistant principal at Terra Linda Elementary appointed assistant principal at Rose Creek Elementary.
    • Kirt Davis, administrative intern at West Jordan High appointed assistant principal at Terra Linda Elementary.
    • Katelyn Jenson, administrative intern at Copper Hills High appointed assistant principal at Southland Elementary.
    • Samantha Robinson, administrative intern at Oquirrh Hills Middle and West Hills Middle appointed assistant principal at Aspen Elementary.
    • Betsy Lopez, administrative intern at Aspen Elementary assigned administrative intern at Oquirrh Hills Middle and West Hills Middle.

Published on

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.