Skip to content

Category: High Schools

Published on

The first lady is hosting a virtual symposium focused on educator mental health and would love to extend an invitation for school secretaries and staff to attend. Please share this with the teachers and staff at your school.

Dear Friends,

I want to sincerely thank you for the incredible work you do in Utah’s schools. While I am in the unique position of first lady, I want to do all I can to uplift and sustain the educators of our state. We received great feedback from our first ever in-person educator wellness conference last summer and will be hosting an upcoming virtual event to continue the conversation about educator wellbeing.

I am thrilled to invite everyone in your school to The Show Up for Teachers Virtual Symposium on November 12, 2022 from 8:30-11:30 am. Please share this invitation with your school community.

Kim Strobel, an internationally-known speaker and expert on the science of happiness will be our keynote speaker. In addition, we will hear from local education and government leaders and enjoy a live Q&A with a licensed therapist.

Registration is free to ALL educators and school staff. USBE will offer three relicensure credits to qualified attendees. For registration, please go to www.ShowUpUtah.org/wellness.

-Utah First Lady Abby Cox

Published on

Just a reminder that our annual Utah Skyward User Conference is scheduled for next Wednesday, November 16th. The conference will be held in person this year at Alpine School District.

This conference is an opportunity to learn about Skyward directly from the source as most sessions are being presented by Skyward staff. There are some fantastic sessions being offered this year, including Admin Bootcamp, Communication Tools, Discipline, Data Mining for Beginners, Data Mining for Advanced Users, and Skyward Tips & Tricks.

Please see the attached agenda for additional details. We hope to see you there!

Published on

For many years, Apple TVs have been an essential part of the instructional environment in Jordan School District, permitting teachers and students to display their digital screens through the classroom projector. One significant limitation of these devices has been their compatibility solely with the Apple platform, leaving Windows and Chrome platforms without options. A new device has recently entered the marketplace that solves this dilemma.

The Vivi company produces devices that permit all three major computer platforms to project through a single device (see attached for more specifics, reference the company website at http://vivi.io/product/, or view informational videos at the Vivi channel in YouTube, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjHO-hO1X3U and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTEj0EKy9GI). This is a tremendous advance in classroom technology, particularly for Jordan District, where the majority of student devices are Chrome-based.

Because of the potential value that Vivi units advertised, Information Systems purchased and tested a number of them at multiple locations throughout the district. The results of these tests indicated that the Vivi units live up to performance levels as promoted. For references, reach out to Curtis Jenson (principal) or Matt Gates (tech), at South Jordan Middle, to discuss their school’s experience with Vivi.

Information Systems wants to ensure that all schools are not only aware of this new technology, but also have an opportunity to try it out so that it can be considered when planning future technology purchases. For schools that have interest, Information Systems will provide one Vivi unit for testing among the school’s instructional staff. If there is sufficient interest, the school can retain the single Vivi unit, and then pursue the purchase of additional units on their own.

The cost for a Vivi Pro unit is $499.00. These units are great not only for classroom purposes, but also for digital signage and other advanced features. Vivi also offers a “Lite” version, which could be considered where additional features are not necessary. The cost for these units is $399.00 each. This pricing is valid through October of 2023. While the pricing for these units is clearly higher than Apple TVs, Information Systems believes that the advantage of projecting screens from computers of any platform makes these devices worth serious consideration.

To arrange for delivery of a Vivi unit to you school, please contact Mark Sowa at 801-567-8392 or mark.sowa@jordandistrict.org. We would like to have these units assigned and distributed by the end of November. If we have not heard from you by that point, it will be assumed that you are not interested in Vivi, and the unit previously reserved for your school will be redistributed to a different location. We look forward to your response.

Published on

DATE:  
November 1, 2022

TO:  
District Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
Fall Enrollment as of October 1, 2022 - REVISED

Attached to this memo is District enrollment as of October 1, 2022.

These totals are revised and approved by the State Board of Education.

 

Published on

Ideally most emergencies and disruptions to a school day can be addressed during the normal hours of operation and on school premises.

Other incidents may require releasing students to authorized parents/guardians either earlier or later than the normal end of school time, or from a secondary evacuation location. The Jordan School District Incident Command Reunification Action Plan is utilized when a school is required to conduct this type of controlled release of students. Life safety and accountability are the two main priorities. Maintaining current Student Skyward records is a key part of this.

Elementary and middle schools may have to reunify an entire student body. High schools may only have to reunify preschool children, students in special education, students with special circumstances, that have been traumatized, or need assistance getting home.

The Reunification Action Plan is available in the Incident Command Manual on Google Drive, link: JSD INCIDENT COMMAND MANUAL
You can find Student Reunification Checkout Cards in English and Spanish on the Drive as well. The plan includes the proper reunification protocol, identifies roles and responsibilities, and use of effective communication to safely account for and release students to authorized parents/guardians.

There is a Reunification Video for parents/guardians on the Auxiliary Services Incident Command Webpage, link: Auxiliary Services Incident Command Webpage
Schools are encouraged to share this educational video with parents/guardians in advance of a potential emergency.

Please contact Emergency Operations Manager Lance Everill with questions, concerns, or ideas: 801-567-8623, lance.everill@jordandistrict.org

Published on

If you are a contracted employee and need to take Annual/Personal Leave before or after Winter Recess for any reason not listed in policy DP335NEG or DP335B, you must submit a request as follows:

How to Request

During the window, the employee must send the request through email. Please include your name, school, position, and the date you are requesting the leave. Requests left on voicemail or over the phone will NOT be accepted.

Licensed employees submit their request to licensedpersonalleave@jordandistrict.org

Education Support Professionals submit their request to classifiedpersonalleave@jordandistrict.org

The employee will receive an email confirmation within two working days after submitting the request. If the employee does not receive a confirmation email, then Human Resources has NOT received your request and your leave will not be approved.

School Holiday Date of Holiday Window
Winter Recess                      (180, 184, 187, 206, 207,  Contracts) Dec. 22, 2022-Jan. 2, 2023 Nov. 7 – Nov. 17, 2022
Winter Recess                      (242, 245 Contracts) Dec. 26, 2022-Jan. 2, 2023

(245 works Dec 27-29)

 Nov. 11 – Nov. 21, 2022

Annual/Personal Leave Taken Before or After a Holiday 2022-23

 

Published on

The Utah State Board of Education has announced the 2022-23 Teacher Salary Supplement Program (TSSP) qualifications and application deadlines. The application deadlines are printed below. Information regarding the TSSP program and qualifications is found at the following Utah State Board of Education (USBE) link:

Educator Incentive Programs (TSSP)

Application Term Dates

An application term indicates a preference of when and how often the educator would like to receive any bonus. Applicants may select one of the following terms before the respective deadline:

Term # of Payments Application Available & Accepted Application Deadline
Annual 1 Saturday, October 1, 2022 6:00 AM Sunday, April 30, 2023 11:59 PM
Semester 2 Saturday, October 1, 2022 6:00 AM Tuesday, January 31, 2023 11:59 AM
Trimester 3 Saturday, October 1, 2022 6:00 AM Tuesday, November 15, 2022 11:59 PM

Published on

GRAMA HandoutAnyone with a GRAMA request must submit the request by visiting the State of Utah Open Records Portal for Jordan School District or by visiting openrecords.utah.gov and selecting the K-12 link.

For anyone who needs help navigating openrecords.utah.gov and filling out the GRAMA request form, we are providing an information card. Principals and staff can print the card and share it with those making a GRAMA request.

Here is the information card to print and cut in half.

Published on

TRAINING FOR COUNCIL MEMBERS: If you haven’t already had a training for your council members, our (State LAND Trust office) annual live online council member training will be held on the following dates. Email invites will be sent out to all council members on October 21st (following the Oct. 20th deadlines).

    1. Nov. 9 (12-1 pm)
    2. Nov. 9 (7-8 pm)
    3. Nov. 14th (12-1 pm)
    4. Nov. 14th (7-8 pm)

Published on

DATE:    
Thursday, October 20, 2022

TO: 
All School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:  
2022 RISE and Utah Aspire Plus Tableau Dashboards Updated with Student Growth Data

The RISE and Utah Aspire Plus dashboards in Tableau have been updated with 2022 student growth data. School administrators will be able to see the median growth percentile (MGP) for the district, schools, grade levels and individual teachers. In addition, school administrators will be able to see individual student growth percentiles (SGP) for each student for whom growth could be calculated.

The updated dashboards may be found at the links below:

Here are a few reminders about growth calculations:

  • SGPs are calculated on a scale of 1-99
  • SGPs are a comparison of a student’s progress in a content area (ELA, math or science) relative to the progress of other like-scoring peers across the state
    • The comparison data used to calculate SGPs come from the student’s scale scores for a specific content area on the 2021 and 2022 RISE and/or Utah Aspire Plus assessments
    • For example, if a student earned an SGP of 43, that means that this student scored better than 43% of his like-scoring peers between the 2021 and 2022 assessments
  • The state considers an SGP of 40 to be typical growth
  • Students with low proficiency will need higher growth scores to close achievement gaps
  • An MGP is the median, or middle, score of a group of SGPs (class, grade level, school, or district)
    • MGPs answer this question: How fast is my group of students growing in their learning compared to other groups of students in my grade level, school, district or the state?

Published on

DATE:
October 13, 2022

TO:
School Principals
Directors

FROM:  
John Larsen, Business Administrator
June LeMaster, Administrator, Human Resources
Brent Burge, HR Administrator

SUBJECT:  
Shift Differential – Education Support Professional (ESP)

As part of JESPA negotiations for the 2018-19 contract year, the shift differential was increased effective July 1, 2018 as follows:

Swing Shift – The employee’s shift must begin between 12:00 p.m. (noon) and 10:00 p.m. The employee must work a full eight hours. The additional rate of pay is $0.50 per hour.

Graveyard Shift – The employee’s shift must begin between 10:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. The employee must work a full eight hours. The additional rate of pay is $1.00 per hour.

If an employee normally assigned and normally working the swing or graveyard shift is asked to temporarily work earlier in the day in order to help cover for another employee who is absent, the swing or graveyard employee will receive the shift differential for that day.

Only ESP, benefit-eligible employees are eligible for shift differential. Please follow the current process to submit for shift differential pay.

Published on

DATE: 
October 13, 2022

TO:  
In-Person Elementary, Middle, High School Principals

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

SUBJECT:   
Preparation for Permits 2023-24

Utah Code 53G-6-402 (which governs the out-of-boundary permit process) was amended in the 2022 Legislative Session. The major change is a shift in dates for the permit windows, as outlined below:

Window Description Old Dates New Dates
Open Enrollment Permits awarded by Board lottery priority; seats available based on school capacity. December 1 to third Friday in February November 15 to first Friday in February
Late Enrollment Permits awarded first-come, first served; seats available based on 2.0 FTE allocation space. Third Friday in February through June of the next year. First Friday in February through June of the next year.

In preparation for the opening of the permit window, the following items must be completed by the building principal no later than November 1, 2022:

  1. Access your school’s enrollment dashboard. There is a new tab for the 2023-24 school year. In the permit section, enter the names and authorizations of all individuals who should be allowed to process permits at your school for the 2023-24 school year. Names have not been copied from previous years due to high turnover at many schools.
    • Elementary permit information begins on row 124
    • Middle permit information begins on row 170
    • High permit information begins on row 198
  2. When permit names and authorizations have been updated, click the checkbox to the right side of the permit section to signal your school’s completion.
  3. Review your school’s anticipated open enrollment permit seat total, shown just below the permit staff names and authorization section. These are anticipated numbers and are subject to change until they receive final authorization by the Jordan Board of Education.

If your school has new staff responsible for permit processing or there are administrators new to the process who need training or review, please communicate the following training information to them:

Permit Trainings
When: Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Where: District Office, room 129
Times: 9:00 AM-11:00 AM or 12:30 PM-2:30 PM
Who: Staff new to the permit process and any staff/administrators who need refresher training.

Attendance is NOT mandatory this year; only those who need training must attend.

Seating is limited to 30 per session. Please sign up using the link below. If both session fill, additional sessions will be added.

Link to Sign Up

Published on

We are excited to offer our annual Utah Skyward User Conference in person this year! The conference is scheduled for Wednesday, November 16th at Alpine School District. Please see the attached agenda for additional details.

This conference is an opportunity to learn about Skyward directly from the source as most sessions are being presented by Skyward staff. There are some fantastic sessions being offered this year, including Admin Bootcamp, Communication Tools, Discipline, Data Mining for Beginners, Data Mining for Advanced Users, and Skyward Tips & Tricks.

During these sessions you will have the opportunity to ask questions, however, if you have a problem that will take a bit longer to resolve, we suggest you call our help desk to get further assistance.

As always, we hope you get the best out of this year's conference and are able to see new things, learn new tips and tricks, get some of your questions answered, and see some of the new possibilities in Skyward. If you have any questions about attending the conference, please feel free to call Support Services at ext 88737.

Published on

DATE: 
October 10, 2022

TO: 
Principals and Assistant Principals

FROM: 
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Sharon Jensen, Consultant Student Support Services
Michelle Reyes, Prevention Specialist

SUBJECT: 
October Attendance Flyer 2022

Principals and Assistant Principals,

The end of the first quarter is near. We hope things are going well in your schools. This month our attendance awareness message focuses on the social and emotional benefits of attending school regularly. Research shows that routines, such as a structured school day, support healthy social emotional development leading to optimal mental health over time. Researches in Texas have also found that when people feel more connected to others they have lower levels of anxiety and depression.

Included is the October flyer sent out to parents on PeachJar. It would be wonderful to make this available in your schools as well. We will continue to send out a new attendance flyer each month as we strive for better attendance.

We hope your attendance in showing some improvements from the last couple of years.