Category: Middle School Action Required

DATE:
Thursday, January 10, 2019

TO: 
All Principals

FROM: 
Dr. Anthony Godfrey, Associate Superintendent
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT: 
2019 WIDA Testing

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The 2019 administration of the WIDA Access 2.0 for students receiving ELL services has begun. Testing will run through March 8, 2019. Because the WIDA assesses English language proficiency, the data gleaned from this assessment will have value for school administrators and teachers as they make instructional decisions to support the learning of EL students. In addition, the results of the WIDA assessment play a factor in the new School Accountability Report Card system.

With this in mind, here are a few helpful hints and reminders for the 2019 WIDA administration:

• The Evaluation, Research & Accountability Department will be sending one (or more) of four teams to your school to administer the WIDA following the schedule attached to this memo.
• When possible, try to schedule a hardwired computer lab for WIDA testing. At times, wireless networks are less than reliable with some test sections like the speaking subtest.
• Try to limit the number of announcements over the intercom during testing.
• When possible, please arrange to have your school technician present on the day of testing in case there are any technology glitches.
• Your Test Coordinator should enter students’ accommodations on the test schedule that has been shared with them via Google Drive. This is the only way for our WIDA testers to know what students should have which accommodations.
• Please work with your ESL teachers/ELL leads to provide students an opportunity to interact with the testing interface and take some practice tests. Sample test items can be found at: https://wbte.drcedirect.com/WIDA/portals/wida.
• Please encourage students to take the test. While state law allows parents to opt students out of the WIDA, the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act does not.

As in the past, WIDA results will be distributed to schools in the spring and will be available on the Data Gateway later in the summer.

All Principals:

Thank you for your past and present participation and assistance with the JSD Teacher Transfer Fair Events. This is an important event for teachers and for you as you fill vacancies at your school location.  A special thanks to Jim Birch and his administrative team for volunteering to host the first Teacher Transfer Fair in 2019.

The first JSD Teacher Transfer Fair in 2019 is scheduled as follows:
Date:  Monday, January 14, 2019
Time:  12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m.
Location:  West Jordan High School - Gymnasium
Enter at the northeast end of West Jordan High School

Both Elementary and Secondary Schools will be participating.

As previously discussed, there will be a separate area available for conducting interviews.  This interview area is in addition to the tables, where interviews have been conducted in the past.

If you are unable to attend this event, please assign another administrator to take the lead, as all schools must be represented.  You should also notify your respective AOS.

HR will be communicating the details of the Teacher Transfer Fair to teachers soon via JEM and would appreciate your assistance. Please remind all educators attending the Teacher Transfer Fair to wear their JSD ID badge, which will allow them entrance into the fair.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the 2019 Teacher Transfer Fair at West Jordan High.

Please see attachment regarding critical dates for 2018-19.

Attached you will find a copy of the WIDA Testing schedule.  It is somewhat tentative where the numbers of students can increase before your scheduled time.

As in past years, some schools will need more than one computer lab on one or more days. Please check the schedule carefully.  Our goal is to work as efficiently as possible so as not to take up too much of your and the students time.

Please, check the date or dates your school is assigned, reserve the necessary lab, or labs.  If there are conflicts let me know as soon as possible.  I would like to have the schedule finalized by the first week of December, to help in your planning.

Like last year, middle schools and high schools will be scheduling the students.  We will send you a list of your students.  We will do the elementary schedules.  As in the past as students complete the test we will ask for other students to come in, so the schedules are a guide.  We do make sure the students go to lunch.

This year we are asking that besides reserving your lab/labs on our testing days, that you reserve the lab on the Friday of the week we are testing your students.  This will help in facilitating absent testing.  Schools with large numbers of students requiring the test, might require our coming back multiple times but, we will make those arrangements as needed.

Thank you so much for your help.

DATE:  
November 8, 2018

TO: 
Principals
Special Education Staff

FROM: 
Dr. Anthony Godfrey, Associate Superintendent
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Kristin Norris, Teacher Specialist-SLP/A, ESY Coordinator

SUBJECT:  
ESY MID-YEAR UPDATE

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Critical things to be thinking about for Extended School Year now:

1. Every student must have regression and recoupment data.

This is the first step in determining eligibility. The second step of looking at predictive factors is only completed after first looking at the regression/recoupment data. Therefore, every student needs data on regression and recoupment.

START NOW!  We just completed fall recess, and Thanksgiving and Winter breaks are coming quickly.

To aid you in this process, we have included the data collection page for this step.

2. Be clear about why students attend ESY.

Ask yourself this question for each student.
Does this student need an Extended School Year because without it this student would not be able to make adequate progress on their goals and maintain adequate access to their education? The purpose of ESY is to provide FAPE for students who without ESY would not be able to access their education appropriately.

Thank you for all of your hard work for our students in identifying and meeting their needs!

Attachment:
Determination of Eligibility for ESY page 2

As a reminder, every school needs at least three CPR certified staff. Certification only lasts for two years, so some of your staff certifications may be expiring. Remember that staff need to complete an on-line course before signing up for their skills test. Please see the attached flyer for details. Thank you!

College & University Information Fair

Tuesday, November 13, 2018
4:00-5:30 p.m.
Auxiliary Services Building - Auditorium (north end)
7905 S Redwood Rd, West Jordan

Principals: Please share this information and flyer with your teachers

DATE:   
September 18, 2018

TO: 
Principals
Assistant Principals

FROM: 
Scott M. Thomas, Administrator of Auxiliary Services
Paul Bergera, Staff Assistant of Auxiliary Services
David Rostrom, Director of Facility Services
Lance Everill, Emergency Operations Manager

SUBJECT:  
Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) Hands-On Training

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As indicated in a separate memo, you can anticipate the delivery of your school’s TECC kits sometime between October 1 and October 15, 2018.  However, even before your school receives the TECC kits, administrators are to begin the process of calling their local fire department representative to schedule a date and time that works best for you and your staff to receive your 45-minute hands-on training.

School administrators are responsible to have teachers and staff account that they have received the hands-on training and to keep that documentation on file.

Once you’ve scheduled your hands-on training, please notify your respective AOS of your scheduled date and time so that they might have the opportunity to participate.

Attached is the map and fire department contact name and number that corresponds with the city and your school.

Cc:
Administrative Cabinet

Principals:

Please share the attached flyers with your School Community Council members. One flyer contains dates for Jordan School District trainings. The other is provided by USBE and has the list of the trainings they are offering.  As a reminder, new principals and new chairs are required to attend one of these trainings. A video will be available for training purposes if needed.

Principals:  Please take note and share this information with the appropriate teachers.

The following dates are scheduled as make-up days for the Safety and Wellness Training for those who were not able to attend in July and August:

October 26th - 8:30 am - 3:30 pm in the ASB Presentation Room

January 14th -  8:30 am - 3:30 pm in the ASB Presentation Room - This training will only contain the "Wellness" part of the presentation. After October 26th the Safety (ADD) training will only be available online.

Teachers who missed the original training days can either attend a make-up day or use leave for having missed a contract day. If an employee has already taken a leave day for the missed training and would now like to attend the make-up day, they can work with their administrative assistant to reverse the leave day in Skyward, once they have attended the make-up day.

The final live training of classified personnel for Avoid Deny Defend (ADD) and Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) will be held at:

Elk Ridge Middle School
Friday October 26, 2018
8:30 to 11:00 am

Please work with your school’s classified personnel to afford them the opportunity to receive the training while on the clock.

After October 26, 2018, the ADD and TECC presentations will be available online to be viewed at each school by the administration, licensed and classified personnel at their convenience. The online presentation will also be available to all new hires, personnel that were unable to attend the live trainings and for retraining on an ongoing basis.

Principals are accountable to maintain appropriate documentation that all classified personnel are trained prior to December 31, 2018.

Thank you for your cooperation.