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Category: High Schools

Published on

DATE:      
August 5, 2024

TO:  
All administrators

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

SUBJECT:
Beginning of Year SafeUT Reminders

Administrators,

As a reminder, SafeUT tips will continue to be sent through the Dashboard to all individuals assigned. If staff members would like to make any changes to their settings (such as text message notifications) or there are needed updates to your school’s dashboard, please inform Angie Rasmussen or McKinley Withers.

In addition, it is essential that ALL SafeUT tips are “closed” and that the SafeUT Dashboard for each school is up to date for the following reasons:

  • When the tip is not closed, the issue appears to not have been addressed or handled.
  • The legislature and USBE can review this data as part of funding decisions.
  • It allows SafeUT to improve how tips are distributed.

Here is a step-by-step information sheet that includes this process with images.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Angie Rasmussen at angie.rasmussen@jordandistrict.org

Published on

DATE:    
August 8, 2024

TO: 
School Administrators
Elementary Administrative Assistants
Secondary Attendance Secretaries
Secondary Registrars

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

SUBJECT:  
Third Party Information Release Opt-Out

Parents (and students over the age of 18) have the right to opt-out of the release of their student’s directory information to third parties. This right is communicated to parents annually in the FERPA, PPRA, and Directory Information notices in the online “Registration for Schools” process.

Please see the memo below for all the details.

Published on

TO:
Administrators
Directors

FROM:
June LeMaster, Administrator Human Resources
Jane Olsen, Recruiting, Licensing & Hiring in Human Resources

Reserve your Job Fair Table!

Please see the documents below for all of the information!

Published on

DATE: 
August 8, 2024

TO:
School Administrators
Elementary Administrative Assistants
Secondary Attendance Secretaries
Secondary Registrars

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

SUBJECT: 
New Student Grade Level Placement

Age-Appropriate Chart” in the online Planning & Enrollment Manual). This would include students that enroll from another state or country. Exceptions include:

  • A military child who does not meet the deadline but has previously attended kindergarten or a higher grade as a resident in another state. (53G-4-402 and 53E-3-902)
  • A student who was accelerated or retained in a previous school or district within the state of Utah. Jordan District will honor the acceleration or retention and continue to place the student in the next consecutive grade.
  • A student who was home schooled should be placed based on the parent’s request. Examples include, but are not limited to:
    • The student attended a public school in the 7th grade but was in home school for the 8th grade. The parent(s) or guardian(s) requests placement in the 8th grade. The school would place the student according to the request.
    • The student attended public school in the 7th grade but was in home school for the 8th grade. The parent(s) or guardian(s) states that the student completed both the 8th and 9th grade during the past school year, and requests placement in the 10th grade. The school would place the student according to the request.
  • A student who has never been in an educational setting should be placed according to their age.
  • A student may be enrolled in the first grade even though the child did not meet the entry date for kindergarten the previous year, provided a full year of kindergarten was successfully completed in another state or private school (not daycare or preschool). The parent(s) or guardian(s) shall provide convincing evidence that the child has the academic, social and emotional skills necessary to succeed in first grade AND provide a statement from the previous school that verifies the student’s successful completion of the kindergarten curriculum.

Jordan School District does NOT enroll:

  • Any student who has previously received a diploma.
  • Any student who is not five (5) years of age before September 2nd of the year they will be entering school (R277-419-2).

If the parent(s) or guardian(s) disagree with the student’s placement they may request acceleration or retention testing. Acceleration and/or retention testing is conducted to determine academic ability (see “Accelerations and Retentions” in the online Planning & Enrollment Manual).

Please contact Planning & Enrollment (801-567-8183) with any questions you may have.

Published on

DATE:   
August 8, 2024

TO:   
School Administrators
Elementary Administrative Assistants
Secondary Attendance Secretaries
Secondary Registrars

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

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 the enroller in writing that within 30 days the enroller shall provide to the school either: (a) a certified copy of the student's birth certificate; or (b) (i) other reliable proof of the student's: (A) identity; (B) biological age; and (C) relationship to the student's legally responsible individual; and (ii) an affidavit explaining the enroller's inability to produce a copy of the student's 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.

If no documentation is available, code requires the school to assemble a review team to work with the enroller to determine the student’s biological age. Administrators should contact Planning & Enrollment for assistance with this process.

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

Published on

TO:
All School Administrators

FROM:
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services

ParentSquare, the communication suite that has replaced Skylert for the District, allows for a connection with Google Calendar (additional in-person and virtual trainings on ParentSquare are available through the beginning of the school year; see this JAM for more information). A single schoolwide calendar can be linked to ParentSquare for each entity to allow users to see school events from the ParentSquare dashboard.

Only one calendar can be linked from Google Calendar to ParentSquare, and this calendar should be a publicly accessible calendar of school events. In order for district events (such as school recesses) to appear in ParentSquare, they will need to be added to each school’s public Google Calendar.

There are two options for adding these events to your school’s public Google Calendar:

  1. Manually enter events from your school’s level calendar, available on http://planning.jordandistrict.org/calendars/, or
  2. Import the files linked below into your schools public Google Calendar. Importing files will “mass add” events without the need to go entry by entry.
    1. Elementary School Events: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JUa2uinMXbG1p_X8b6kVQ5YUmSiBTrtXIxIopVC_ev0/edit?usp=drive_link
    2. Middle School Events: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mo-ddCi3-iLUxCNXXUM2C36CNo2Z4OviXdMFUb7n7Jk/edit?usp=drive_link
    3. High School Events: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Kmf97Rk7wnBbcmpUTrQ2FGBb4e-Ubi6ORNeqQRDU-JQ/edit?usp=drive_link
    4. High School A/B Rotation: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y3YCnfLsjsW6m3PfKSeRiPxbLJxAfkN7gZiTggD4pds/edit?usp=drive_link

If any of the events in the files already exist on your calendar, a duplicate entry will be created that can be deleted later.

For directions on importing a file of events to Google Calendar, please follow the process outlined in “Step 2: Import events into Google Calendar” at this link: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37118. The calendar you select in Step 5 MUST be the public facing school calendar. Events will be added to whatever calendar you select and there is no easy way to “undo” this action.

Once the events have been imported into your school’s Google Calendar, an individual with administrator access rights to ParentSquare should follow the instructions below to connect the public Google calendar to ParentSquare:

Specific questions about ParentSquare should be directed to the Information Systems Help Desk at 88737. Questions about calendar dates should be directed to Caleb Olson at 88251.

Published on

DATE:  
August 8, 2024

TO: 
Principals
Administrative Assistants
Attendance Secretaries
Registrars

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

SUBJECT: 
Reporting Completion of 10-Day Accounting

Students who are registered to a District school and have not attended (or been marked absent with a valid excuse) for ten consecutive school days at any point in the school year must be withdrawn from membership. This is particularly important during the first ten days of the school year so that our enrollment calculations and reporting is accurate.

Accurate enrollment counts are used to generate future projections. Projection totals are needed very soon after ten-day adjustments are completed. To assist in preparing projections, we are asking all schools to report the completion of their 10-day drops on a Google Sheet as soon as these drops are processed. Only the staff member responsible for processing the drops should indicate completion status. The Google Sheet is available at this link and will be emailed to attendance staff again close to the 10th day of school.

10 day drops for high schools may be processed at the end of the day on September 3, 2024. Elementary (Grades K-6) and middle school may process drops at the end of the day on September 4, 2024.

Guidelines for how to process these drops are available at the links below:

Published on

TO:
Building & District Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Caleb Olson, Consultant, Planning & Enrollment

The "Assistant Principal Directory" has been updated for 2024-25 and can be downloaded at the links below. These links will remain valid for the entire school year; if changes occur at your school, please communicate them to me so that I can make updates and upload the directory. The date of the last update is located at the bottom of each directory page.

 

Published on

TO:
Middle & High Administrators

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Chris Richards Khong, Associate Administrator of Teaching and Learning

As announced to the AP community, the AP Program is accelerating the transition to digital testing to ensure the continued security of AP Exams. All schools must administer these 28 AP Exams digitally. Late-testing exams in these subjects, if offered by the school, are also in digital format.

For the full list of exams going digital, hybrid, and staying paper-pencil, please visit the main announcement page link listed on the resource page attached to this JAM message.

Overview webinars will be held on Thursday, September 12th and Monday, September 15th, 2024. Registration information for webinars is located on the resource page attached to this JAM message.

Action required: Please make certain your AP Coordinator and AP teachers have this exam information and the resources attached to this JAM message.

 

 

Published on

DATE:     
August 8, 2024

TO:   
Principals
Administrative Assistants

FROM:  
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Jordan School District Nurses

SUBJECT:    
Immunization Policy and Guidelines, Skyward and USIIS Inservice

Jordan School District Nurses will be conducting this inservice on:

Friday, September 20, 2024
9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
ASB (Auxiliary Services Building), PDC Room 102

This inservice is open to all office staff and administrators. It is not required that you attend; however, if you are involved with student registration, this inservice will be of benefit to you since immunization status is an important part of the registration process.

Class size is limited. Please contact your school nurse if you are planning to attend. See attached nurse assignment list for 2024-25.

Published on

DATE:
August 8, 2024

TO:  
All Principals
Administrative Assistants

FROM:    
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Jordan District Nurses

SUBJECT: 
Medication Administration Training

Utah State Law and District Policy requires that all school personnel delegated to administer medication to students in schools must complete Medication Administration Training.

New employees who will be giving medication are required to attend the live training on Friday, September 13, 2024. Prior to this meeting, they need to view the online training, click on this link Jordan Nursing Services click on Medications, and then Medication Inservice (use a browser other than Firefox).

Employees who have attended this training and have a certificate of completion will not be required to attend this meeting. However, they will be required to recertify by viewing the online training video and completing the corresponding test available on the district website.
(see above)

Please identify staff members that should receive medication administration training. This may include head administrative assistants, office assistants, cluster teachers or aides, counseling center personnel, and the principal if appropriate. Please inform all personnel that have the potential to administer medication to students at school of their responsibilities in this matter.

Medication Administration Training
Friday, September 13, 2024
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
District Office Room 129 

Class size is limited. Please contact your school nurse if you are planning to attend. See attached nurse assignment list. Thank you for your responsiveness and support.

Published on

DATE:
August 8, 2024

TO: 
Principals
Assistant Principals

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

SUBJECT:
Panorama Student Feedback Surveys

The student feedback survey conducted within Panorama is to assist schools in providing accurate student and school-wide interventions when needed as well as to inform schools regarding student perception regarding their wellness. These surveys may not be a part of any grade and are never required and always optional for parents/students to take.

53#-9-203 requires prior written consent when a student registers for surveys related to an early warning system. This consent will be included in both the online and printed registration process. Please refer to the “Parental Consent for Surveys” JAM (June 2024) for more information. Only those students whose parents have opted in may take the survey.

The Panorama student feedback survey windows for the 2024-25 school year are as follows (please share with your survey coordinator and other relevant staff):

Fall Winter Spring
Aug. 30-Sept. 20, 2024 Jan. 22-Feb. 21, 2025 April 18-May 16, 2025

Survey information, questions, results, and survey window dates can be found here.

Information and instructions for administering the student feedback surveys may be accessed here.

Published on

DATE:
August 1, 2024

TO:
Principals
Head Financial Secretaries
Special Education Teachers (Resource and Self-Contained)
Speech-Language Pathologists/Technicians

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

SUBJECT:
Special Education Budget Allocations 2024-25

In the document attached below are the special education budget allocations for Resource, Self-Contained Teachers and Speech-Language Pathologists for the 2024-25 school year. (Cluster Leaders and school psychologists do not receive a Special Education budget.) Remember that special education monies must be spent in ways that provide the most benefit to special education students with the goal to improve student achievement and performance.

Published on

TO:
Administrators

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

Leadership in Personalized and Digital Learning Academy 2023-2024

The LPDL Academy is designed specifically for administrators to lead schools toward blended and digital learning through research-based content and job-embedded experiences. Upon completion, you may receive USBE's Educational Technology Endorsement.

The LPDL Academy will follow the blended-learning model; online course expectations in Canvas, five face-to-face meetings, completion of a digital implementation roadmap, and consultations as needed. As a participant, your school will receive professional development grant money to build the capacity of teachers and leaders, $5000 per school.

The face-to-face sessions will primarily be held at the ASB in Room 112 from 8:00 am - noon on the dates listed below. Mark your calendar and look for the Canvas course invite coming soon. If you have questions, please contact Jared Covili, Digital Teaching & Learning Consultant, at  801-567-8191 or jared.covili@jordandistrict.org 

Sign up today at: https://bit.ly/jordanLPDL

Session 1: Blended Learning

Wednesday, September 11, 2024 

  • Session focuses on personalized learning models (competency-based, blended, etc), digital leadership, and an introspective look at you as a digital leader.

Session 2: Culture & Change Management

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

  • Session focuses on understanding school leadership and cultural interactions, a framework for leading school change, and engaging stakeholders.

Session 3: Shifting Teaching & Learning
Wednesday,  November 14, 2024

  • Session focuses on personalized learning and teaching, supporting all students, and the leader's role in observing and evaluating.

Session 4: Human Capacity and Professional Learning

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

  • Session focuses on effective elements of professional learning, digital learning competencies, distributed leadership, and professional learning models

Session 5: Systems for Transforming to Personalized and Digital Learning

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

  • Session focuses on technology and infrastructure systems, devices, budgets, learning spaces, and rethinking current structures to facilitate change.

Published on

DATE:
August 1, 2024

TO:
Administrators
School Safety Personnel 

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

SUBJECT:
National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security

You are invited to join the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on September 25 and 26 for the 2024 National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security. This virtual event brings together K-12 school leaders and practitioners to discuss and share actionable recommendations that enhance safe and supportive learning environments.  

Registration is now open for the 2024 Summit. This year’s event will feature panel discussions, sessions and keynote speakers covering topics such as violence prevention, emergency planning, youth online safety, student mental wellness, K-12 cybersecurity and student interventions and support. These sessions are designed to foster a nationwide dialogue on some of the most critical school safety issues, as well as equip school stakeholders and personnel with resources, training and best practices to apply in their local K-12 communities. 

EVENT DETAILS
Dates: Sept. 25-26, 2024
Time: 10:00-1:00 p.m. MDT each day
Location: Held virtually via Microsoft Teams 
Registration: Registration is required and there is no cost to attend. To register, please visit 2024CISASchoolSummit.eventbrite.com. 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
The Summit is open to anyone with a passion for improving school safety but will be of particular interest to K-12 school and district administrators; principals and superintendents; school-based law enforcement; teachers and school staff; mental health practitioners; first responders; federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government partners; and other school safety and security professionals. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Additional details, including speakers and agendas, will be shared when available. To learn more about the Summit, please visit cisa.gov/news-events/events/2024-national-summit-k-12-school-safety-and-security. 

Published on

TO:
All Principals
All Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Nadine Page, Administrative Assistant

The following instructions are to help you in compiling the timesheets that will be coming to you from your licensed personnel. The complete list of instructions is attached to this JAM.

PRINCIPAL/ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT INSTRUCTIONS 

Principals and administrative assistants have 11 assignments:

  1. Assign a designated person to oversee this program. Add their name to the google sheet.
  2. Make sure the plans are turned in on or before September 30, 2024.
  3. All plans must be logged (with the date received), by the designated person, no later than Oct 31st on the provided google sheet.
  4. Provide time for eligible staff to complete the plan.
  5. Gather and track the timesheets as licensed employees complete them.
  6. Make sure teachers follow through.
  7. Add the actual number of hours the employee worked, (up to a maximum of 32 hours, which is determined by the FTE of the employee) after you receive the timesheet.
  8. Verify that all employees, that are eligible, have turned in their timesheet on or before April 11, 2025.
  9. If an employee works at multiple sites, the school listed as the check location is to track the timesheet for that employee.
  10. If an employee changes locations during the school year, the administrative assistant for the new location must collect the timesheet and log it by the April 11 deadline.
  11. Keep the plans and timesheets on file at your location for auditing purposes.

Eligible licensed personnel must turn in their plan to the principal or administrative assistant (designated person) on or before September 30, 2024.

Principals are asked to give time in a meeting at the beginning of the year for eligible staff to fill out the Professional Hours Plan and turn it in.

A google doc (school name – Educator Directed 32 Hours 2024-25) will be shared to each individual school to be used in tracking the plan as well as the timesheet. Please use this original google doc to track the hours. Do not create your own form. 

    • Administrative assistants, or other designed person will add 
      • the school location, 
      • names of the employees, 
      • employee ID (six digit #), 
      • FTE of the employee (the awarded amount is determined by the FTE of the employee; 1 FTE = 32 hours, .5 FTE = 16 hours,
  • ***the items above will be prefilled. Please double check to make sure all employees are listed correctly for your school, 
    • date that you received the plan, 
    • finally, the date when you have received the timesheet and the hours to be paid (once you have received the final hours worked).

Thank you for your help in making sure all eligible employees receive the correct pay.

Published on

DATE:
Thursday, August 1, 2024

TO:
Middle and High School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:
Summative Testing Changes for 2024-25

Principals are asked to share the following information with their Utah Aspire Plus and RISE tested teachers.

With the change in the ELA core approved by the Utah State Board of Education in recent months, the state’s summative assessments will need to reflect those changes. The changes to RISE and the Utah Aspire Plus are highlighted below:

Utah Aspire Plus

  • The English subtest will no longer be administered. Only the Reading, Math and Science subtests will be administered.
  • Scores will be delayed as the state will need to undergo a standard setting process because of this change. This means that teachers will not have access to Utah Aspire Plus scores when students complete testing. No grade incentive will be possible for the 2024-25 school year for any of the subtests because part of the standard setting process includes the predicted ACT scores, which requires scores from all of the subtests. We expect to receive scores sometime in the fall of 2025.

RISE

  • The ELA RISE assessment and the RISE Writing assessment (5th and 8th grades only) will also be revised according to the new ELA core. We do not expect scores for these assessments to be available either due to the necessity of a standard setting process. No grade incentive will be possible for the 2024-25 school year for these two assessments, though they may still be used for RISE Math and Science.
  • RISE Writing benchmarks will also be suspended for just the 2024-25 school year. USBE is working to field test new RISE Writing benchmarks, but they will not be available until the 2025-26 school year.
  • The Listening and Editing benchmarks will be permanently removed from the RISE system beginning with the 2024-25 school year.

For questions about these changes, please contact Ben Jameson in Assessment, Research & Accountability.

Published on

DATE:   
July 1, 2024

TO:   
Principals
Special Education Teachers (Preschool and School-Age) Speech-Language Pathologists

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

SUBJECT:   
Extended Year Special Educator Stipends 2024-25

The legislation allows a specific group of special educators to work up to 5 additional days for a $200/day stipend (plus applicable benefits). The Bill applies to Special Education Teachers (Preschool and School- Age) and Speech-Language Pathologists only (Speech-Language Technicians are not included). The number of days and stipend amount are based upon the educators assigned FTE equivalent. Please note that eligible staff will only be allowed to work these days two weeks before the first contract day of the 2024-25 school year and two weeks after the last contract day of the 2024-25 school year, not during vacation periods (e.g., holiday recess, Spring Break, etc.). Please see attached memo for more information.

Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Kurt Prusse, Director of Central Warehouse
Brandon Sax, Warehouse Coordinator

The Central Warehouse is disposing of all its expired hand sanitizer. If any school has expired hand sanitizer, whether it originally came from the warehouse or if you purchased it during the Covid-19 era, the Central Warehouse will dispose of it for you.

After August 7 we will no longer be accepting old hand sanitizer and schools will have to dispose of the rest on their own. We need a final count so we can get quotes from hazardous waste disposal companies that can remove this for us. We are compiling a list of schools so we can coordinate pickup before August 7. Please call Lisa Costanza at x88899 or email her, lisa.costanza@jordandistrict.org, if you have sanitizer you would like picked up.

We would greatly appreciate your cooperation in this effort. If you have any questions please let us know.