Skip to content

DATE:   
October 5, 2016

TO: 
All Jordan School District Principals (with bus route students)

FROM: 
Scott Thomas, Administrator of Auxiliary Services
Herb Jensen, Director of Transportation
Kathy Simmons, Transportation Trainer/Risk Coordinator

SUBJECT: 
State Required Bus Evacuations and School Bus Safety 2016-17


State required semi-annual school bus evacuations have been scheduled for this fall.  This applies to those students that ride the bus daily to and from school.

The evacuations will be conducted during the week of:

Monday, October 10 through Friday, October 14, 2016

Your school’s regular bus driver will perform this evacuation as they drop your students off in the morning, one day during that week. This procedure takes place at your school and is located in your normal bus drop off/pick up zone. All professional school bus drivers that transport students are required to perform evacuation procedures in case of an emergency. Bus evacuation will be conducted through the rear door, side door, front door or a combination. Students will then, under the direction and supervision of the bus driver, evacuate and meet in a safe place approximately 100 feet away from the bus.

Your assistance is welcome but not mandatory to complete this required evacuation drill quickly, safely and effectively.

We appreciate all you do to help us safely transport your students.

We have released more items to Surplus Reallocation for the schools on PublicSurplus.com.  Please check to see if there are any items you may need at your schools.  This reallocation will run from 09/29/2016 to 10/13/2016 after which it will roll over to public auction.
Please remember to continue to send in all your surplus paperwork as you get it so that we can schedule pick ups as they are needed.  All paperwork needs to be signed by the principal and then sent up to your Area Administrator at the District Office.
If you have any questions, please contact Kris Wishart (801) 567-8709 or Corie Fuller (801) 567-8717.

As discussed in Principal Meeting, teachers are not required to attend on grade transmittal days, and they are not required to submit a time sheet or sign in. The only change is that they are being paid automatically for eight (8) hours instead of three (3) hours for each grade transmittal day. Teachers may choose to organize a meeting or PLC on their own, but no meetings can be required on these days. Please contact your Administrator of Schools with any questions.

Principals:

Reminder of what items need to be completed by the October 20th deadline.

LAND TRUST / SCC Timeline:

Deadline: October 20th

The principal posts the following on the website and in the school office:

  1. The proposed schedule of meeting dates for the year
  2. The names of council members, with a phone or email contact (or both)
  3. A summary of the implementation of the School LAND Trust Program school plan including how the goals were completed and how the money was spent.

Principals enter fall reports on the website:

  1. Council Signature Form – names and email addresses of the current school community council (remember to submit form electronically to the members)
  2. Signed Principal Assurance – assurance that the council is properly constituted and that elections and subsequent appointments were made according to the law and board rule
  3. Final Report on last year’s implementation and results

Please be aware that all educators and administrators are required to click the 'Start' button to begin their evaluations (full or interim).  If teachers have not clicked the 'Start' button administrators will not see them under 'Evaluation of Others.'  Please contact the JES office if you have any questions."

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) is taking steps to assess the quality of professional learning throughout the state based on the Utah Professional Learning Standards. Learning Forward is supporting this effort by inviting all educators to participate in the Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI), a 58-item survey that will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Participating schools will have access to data reports and an extensive series of “Resource Briefs” that include activities and resources to address the Utah Professional Learning Standards that could be used in school improvement planning. Please encourage your teachers to participate in the SAI from October 10 – 21. All educators will receive an email once the survey is available. A FAQ sheet from Learning Forward is included as an attachment. If you have questions, please contact Shelley Nordick at shelley.nordick@jordandistrict.org or 801-567-8110.

DATE:  
September 13, 2016

TO:   
Principals
School Psychologists

FROM:   
Laura Finlinson, Administrator of Curriculum/Staff Development Lisa Robinson, Special Education Director

SUBJECT: 
Invitation to A.S.P.E.N. Behavior Training


All school administrators and school psychologists are invited to attend one of the following courses on the A.S.P.E.N. Behavior Management Training. This training provides strategies for school personnel to effectively manage and de-escalate aggressive student behavior in the school setting. Two training times will be provided to allow for multiple personnel in the school to attend.

Please register in JPLS so we can plan for the appropriate materials. If you can attend at the last minute please feel free to come, however, because we are providing certification for attendance, it is important that you do attend an entire session. This course will be offered to other educator groups in the future or could be customized for your individual school staff needs. We look forward to seeing you there!

A.S.P.E.N. Behavior Management Training
JATC-South Auditorium
Wednesday, October 12th
Session 1: 8:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Session 2: 12:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Sign up through JPLS for ASPEN Behavior Management Session 1 or Session 2

DATE:
September 21, 2016

TO:   
High School Principals

FROM:
C. Brad Sorensen, Administrator of Schools, Herriman K-12 Feeder
Holly Bell, Secondary Counseling Specialist

SUBJECT: 
24-Credit Diploma through Valley High School


Currently, all seniors who are deficient in the credits required for the traditional 27-credit Jordan District diploma, as outlined in the Jordan District Credit Guidelines, have the option of transferring to Valley High for the second semester of their senior year in order to complete a 24-credit diploma.

It was determined, as an alternate option, that Jordan District students who meet the Utah State graduation requirement of 24 credits, may be eligible to receive a Valley High School diploma at the conclusion of their senior year while remaining enrolled in their boundary school.  Students who meet the qualifications required to access this option will work with their counselor and the boundary high school principal, the same way they do with an SEP, to apply for a 24-credit Valley High diploma.

The attached application will be made available to seniors, through their counselor, who have fallen short of meeting the Jordan School District graduation requirements, but plan to remain at their boundary school throughout their senior year. Students who apply for this diploma will acknowledge and commit to the following, as will their parents, counselor, building principal, and appropriate Administrator of Schools.

  • They are working with their boundary high school counselor and principal to develop a plan to meet the 24 credits required by the state.
  • They acknowledge that they are not eligible for early graduation.
  • They acknowledge that they can only walk at the Valley High School graduation ceremony and not their boundary school’s graduation ceremonies.
  • Their diploma will be a “Valley High School Diploma” and not their boundary school diploma.

Students who have met the 24-credit state requirements will have the option of immediately receiving a Valley High diploma by transferring their credits to Valley 3 days prior to graduation in order to participate in the Valley High graduation ceremony.  Students may otherwise choose to continue to pursue their 27-credit boundary school’s diploma through the summer following their senior year in order to meet the requirements. At a designated date, which cannot be later than September 15th of their graduation year, a boundary school diploma or a Valley High School diploma will be issued if all requirements are met.

JSD Administrators:

Due to scheduling conflicts, the HR Administrators have REVISED the voluntary 2016-17 HR Administrator Training sessions. Please refer to the attached REVISED schedule, which is also available for view on AdminOnly.

These sessions will provide you with information you will find helpful as laws, policies and practices continue to evolve. The first session on October 5th will address a progressive discipline plan for both licensed and classified employees.

We look forward to seeing you at each of these three training sessions.

DATE:
September 15, 2016

TO:
All School Principals
All School Financial Secretaries

FROM:
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Heather Ellingson, Director of Accounting, Budgets and Audits
Daniel Ellis, Accountant/Internal Auditor

SUBJECT:
Quarterly School Financial Report for July, August and September 2016


Each school is asked to report the quarter end account balance and transaction detail with the Apple Volume Purchase Program and return with your bank reconciliation.  If your school has no Apple account, please so indicate and return.

Please include the account balance with Apple on the reconciliation sign off form and print a report or screen shot(s) of the balances and quarterly transactions from Apple’s website.  If you need assistance, please contact your Curriculum Technology Specialist – Bonnie, Deana, Harrison, Nancy.

Please photocopy the selected elements and send to Accounting by October 17, 2016.

Please include:

  • The signed attached memo to Accounting
  • A copy of your July, August and September 2016 Reconciliation Worksheets
  • A copy of your July, August and September 2016 Bank Statements
  • A copy of your July, August and September 2016 Skyward Balance Sheets
  • A copy of your July, August and September Outstanding Check Reports
  • Screen shot(s) of your September 30, 2016 Apple Volume Purchase Program transaction history and balance

If you have questions or need assistance, please call Liz Robins at (801)567-8267.

Thank you.

Cc:
Michael Anderson, Administrator of Schools
Jill Durrant, Administrator of Schools
Anthony Godfrey, Administrator of Schools
Brad Sorensen, Administrator of Schools
Teri Timpson, Administrator of Schools

DATE:  
September 19, 2016

TO: 
Secondary School Principals
Secondary School Registrar Secretaries

FROM:    
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Luann Leavitt, Consultant of Planning and Student Services
Daniel Ellis, Accountant/Internal Auditor

SUBJECT: 
October 1 Head Count Reports


As October 1 approaches we wanted to remind schools of the report which should be used by the auditors for the head count. The report is titled Student Enrollment Count by Entity, and can be found in Skyward Student under: Students, Jordan Programs, Entity Reports. See attached documentation for Instructions on running the report.

This report should be used to ensure the numbers the auditors use to count match the student count numbers Luann Leavitt sends to the State. If there are questions on how to run the report please contact Denise Smith at (801)567-8258.

Thank you.

At the beginning of the school year a document was sent to all secondary principals discussing changes to student Active Directory accounts and passwords. – As a reminder a student’s Active Directory account is what students use to login to Windows and Mac computers. – Due to the number of student password reset calls still coming into the help desk and the low numbers of students who have enrolled in the Self Service Reset Password Manager (SSRPM) we are sending out that document as well as additional instructions on how students use SSRPM to reset their passwords after they have enrolled. Please make sure that all teachers who make use of school labs and mobile carts in their classes receive a copy of these two documents which are attached to this message.

Additionally, principals need to designate two members of their staff to reset student passwords. Principals should submit a request to the help desk for these individuals to be given the necessary securities and training to reset passwords by Oct 31. Suggested staff members to give this permission to are; Media Center Coordinators, Head Secretaries, Registrars, etc. It is unadvised to give this permission to teachers as they would be unavailable to reset passwords during classes. This is being done to reduce the number of calls coming into the help desk for student password resets and hopefully reduce the amount of time a student who has forgotten their password is out of class.

Please contact the help desk at 801-567-8737 or your school tech for any questions.