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Information Systems would like you to be aware that as of tomorrow, June 11, 2021, all Kajeet devices throughout the district will be disabled for the summer. They will be re-enabled on August 16th. If you have any questions, please contact Mark Sowa at 801-567-8392.

The following are new administrative assignments:

New Assignments effective July 1, 2021:

  • James Groethe, assistant principal at Copper Hills High appointed assistant principal at Bingham High School, replacing Kenneth Damron who resigned.
  • Sterling Hunt, assistant principal at West Jordan High appointed assistant principal at Copper Hills High, replacing James Groethe who was transferred.
  • Noelapoomaikala (Noelani) Ioane, teacher specialist in Teaching & Learning appointed assistant principal at West Jordan High, replacing Sterling Hunt who was transferred.
  • Josh Sullivan, assistant principal at Channing Hall, appointed assistant principal at Bluffdale and Antelope Canyon Elementary.
  • Aubri Moench, teacher at Fox Hollow Elementary, appointed assistant principal, on an open contract, at a location to be determined.

Date:
June 10, 2021

To:
All School Administrators

From:
Shelley Nordick, Ph.D., Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

Subject:
2021 WIDA Access Results and Dashboard


Results for the 2021 WIDA Access assessment administered in January-March this year are now available on your Tableau Viewer account. School administrators may access the following data:

  • District level data
  • School level data
  • Student level data

School administrators may interact with the data using the following demographic filters:

  • School year
  • Grade level
  • Gender
  • Economically disadvantaged
  • Race/ethnicity
  • Students with a disability

A data analysis protocol has been provided to help school leadership and EL teams examine the assessment data and brainstorm possible responses or implementations to further support the learning of EL students.

As a reminder, if having a group of teachers work with the Tableau dashboards is something principals are interested in, temporary access to the 2021 WIDA Access results may be granted through Tableau. Please contact Ben Jameson for more information.

 

The following are new administrative assignments:

New Assignments effective July 1, 2021:

  • Michael Haynes, JEF Board Member appointed director of the Jordan Education Foundation, replacing Steve Hall who is retiring.
  • Amanda Bollinger, consultant in Special Education appointed staff assistant in the Special Education Department.
  • Kaye Rizzuto, Social Studies teacher at Elk Ridge Middle appointed consultant in the Teaching & Learning Department, replacing Pam Su’a who is retiring.
  • Tamara Rajczyk, teacher specialist in Special Education appointed consultant in the Special Education Department, replacing Shelly Davis who is retiring.
  • Audrey Fish, assistant principal at Fort Herriman Middle appointed principal at Sunset Ridge Middle, replacing Kim Searle who is retiring.
  • Lisa Jackson, principal at Southland Elementary appointed assistant principal at Fort Herriman Middle, replacing Audrey Fish who was transferred.
  • Garett York, assistant principal at Westvale Elementary appointed principal at Southland Elementary, replacing Lisa Jackson who was transferred.
  • Tyler (TJ) Davenport, elementary teacher at Plymouth Elementary in the Granite School District, who was offered open contract in February 2021, appointed assistant principal at Westvale Elementary, replacing Garett York who was transferred.
  • Frank Preston, assistant principal at Herriman and Butterfield Canyon Elementary appointed assistant principal at Herriman and Daybreak Elementary.
  • Jennifer Smith, assistant principal at Foothills Elementary appointed assistant principal at Copper Canyon and Welby Elementary.
  • Michelle Kilcrease, assistant principal at Blackridge Elementary appointed assistant principal at Blackridge and Foothills Elementary.
  • Angela Hamilton, assistant principal at Bastian Elementary appointed assistant principal at Bastian and Butterfield Canyon Elementary.
  • Allyson Stovall, assistant principal at Southland and Welby Elementary appointed part-time assistant principal at Southland Elementary.
  • Kami Taylor, teacher specialist in Teaching & Learning appointed consultant for STEM and Computer Science in the Teaching & Learning Department.
  • Todd Theobald, assistant principal at Daybreak Elementary, part-time, appointed part-time administrator on special assignment in the Teaching & Learning Department.

DATE:  
May 26, 2021

TO:  
All Principals and Administrative Assistants

FROM:
June LeMaster, Administrator of Human Resources
Administrators of Schools

SUBJECT: 
Summer Hours for School Personnel


Please review the schedule of Summer Hours for School Personnel below, with all designated summer school personnel at your location. Extended school office/business hours are acceptable; however, other adjusted schedules are NOT acceptable because they limit public access to school personnel.

In an effort to keep you informed about changes in current technology support, Information Systems is announcing the following:

  • Information Systems is now able to support the new Apple operating system, OS 11, also called Big Sur, for devices that are capable of running it. Upgrading to this new operating system will need to be a technician assisted process. To determine if your computer is capable of accepting this upgrade, and to begin the process where applicable, please contact your building computer technician.
  • The newest generation of Apple computers using the M1 chip are now supported. Please see your building computer technician for further assistance with getting these devices deployed.
  • Information Systems is changing the district's antivirus from Sophos to Trend Micro. If you have any questions about this change, please consult your building computer technician.

DATE:
May 19, 2021

TO:
Elementary, Middle, High Schools Administrators

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

SUBJECT:
“NEW Behavioral and Mental Health Crisis Resource”


The Utah Department of Human Services has recently created the Stabilization and Mobile Response Team. This is meant to be an alternative to the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT). This resource is available for children and families from 7am-11pm. This resource can be reached by calling 1-833-SAFE-FAM (1-833-723-3326). This resource is meant for any parent or caregiver that is experiencing any of the following challenges with a child: threatens to inflict harm on self or others, is verbally or physically aggressive, uses substances, destroys or steals property, has difficulty in school, often runs away, bullies or is bullied, demonstrates severe changes in mood, experiences depression or anxiety, is withdrawn from friends and peers.

Here is a brief description of how this team will assist with these challenges.

Mobile Response Services

Provided to you in your home or at school to ease an immediate challenge and provide support.

  • Minimize the impact of the challenge on you and your family
  • Create safety plans
  • Connect you and your family to other helpful resources

Stabilization Services

Short-term services may be provided in addition to mobile response to help ensure your family’s long-term success.

  • Teach skills to improve family functioning
  • Create plans that prepare you for and prevent future challenges
  • Prevent the need for out-of-home services
  • Equip you with ongoing resources and support

For more information visit their website and review the attached flyer.

Dear Educators,

We would like to share a new professional learning opportunity with you called Utah Microcredentials. This resource is supported and funded by the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and is available to all educators in Utah’s public education system, including teachers, instructional coaches, paraprofessionals, counselors, related service providers, administrators, and other educators.

Microcredentials acknowledge all the different types of professional learning that educators do, both formal, traditional courses and independent, self-directed learning. Realizing that educators are continually honing their craft, Utah Microcredentials provides a way to recognize that learning. Microcredentials represent instructional skills and concepts. A microcredential is competency-based recognition that the holder has demonstrated effective and consistent use of the target skill or concept as a part of their practice. Microcredentials are not earned through seat time, assignments, or tests. They are earned by submitting the required evidence for a specific microcredential on the target skill or concept.

Each Utah Microcredential is worth a 0.5 USBE credit, which may be used for relicensing and for salary changes in certain districts/charters. The cost for each is $20. Earning microcredentials is also a way to demonstrate leadership. Posting earned microcredentials on your webpage, social media, and even outside your door is an invitation to share your skills with others. For more information, you can use these resources:

  • A narrated video that provides an overview of microcredentials,
  • The UEN website for Utah’s Microcredentials,
  • A one-pager of the most frequently asked questions about microcredentials.

You can start earning Utah Microcredentials on MIDAS. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to supporting learning for our Utah students.

Multiple Federal agencies are investigating numerous fraud schemes targeting the unemployment insurance (UI) programs across the United States.  Fraudsters, some of which are transnational criminal organizations, are using the stolen identities of U.S. citizens to open accounts and file fraudulent claims for benefits, exploiting the unprecedented expansion of the benefits provided in response to economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Many victims of this crime have no knowledge that criminals have applied for UI benefits in their name.  You may only discover that you were a victim of this crime upon seeing the following red flags:

  1. You are told by a current or former employer that a UI claim has been submitted with your information;
  2. You did not apply for UI benefits, but you receive a determination letter from your state or another state regarding a UI claim filed under your name;
  3. You receive a notification that you failed the security verification process for your UI claim;
  4. You file a lawful UI claim and you receive a notice that your claim was rejected because the state has already received a claim under your name.

The District Human Resource department is taking immediate steps to address suspected fraudulent claims.  These include:

  • Contacting current employees to verify if the employee filed a UI claim.
  • Immediately notifying the state agency of confirmed fraud claims.
  • Providing impacted employees steps to follow to report fraud.

For more information or if you believe you may be impacted, please visit the following websites for information on reporting fraud and protecting your credit.

Utah Attorney General (https://www.identitytheft.gov/UnemploymentInsurance)

“Unemployment Insurance Fraud Consumer Protection Guide” (https://www.oig.dol.gov/public/Unemployment%20Insurance%20Fraud%20Consumer%20Protection%20Guide,%20Final.pdf)

Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Labor (https://www.oig.dol.gov/public/media/DOL-OIG%20UI%20Fraud%20Alert.pdf)

Administrators & Program Directors:

As we are beginning to make plans for the 2021-22 school year, we wanted to remind you about the master calendar for the district. You can find it on mastercal.jordandistrict.org. This calendar is intended to inform Principals, Administrators & District personnel of district events and due dates (it does not include individual school events).

If you would like to copy anything on this calendar to your personal google calendar, simply click on the “see more details” link and then copy it using the 3 vertical dot (options) button.

To search for an item in the master calendar, you can use Command+F (Apple) or Control+F (PC). This will bring up a search bar where you can type a few key words to help you find the information you are seeking.

if you would like to add a district event or make a revision to the master calendar, please contact Lisa LeStarge at 801-567-8186 or lisa.lestarge@jordandistrict.org.

Performance evaluations for part-time ESP employees for the 2020-21 school year are optional. However, the evaluation documents you provide can be crucial in justifying employee terminations and potential unemployment claims.

Please review the included evaluation description memo and the evaluation form for instructions. Please contact Brent Burge at 88224 if you have any questions.

All ESP employees are considered non-exempt and are eligible for overtime and/or comp time if they work over 40 hours in any work week. Please view the included memo which summarizes the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in regards to overtime and comp time. Also included are the procedures for accumulating, tracking and using accrued comp time.

If you have any questions, please contact Brent Burge at 88224.

FRAUD ALERT. We've received reports of individuals reproducing and presenting these mask exemption cards with the state of Utah seal on them to businesses and schools. These are FAKE. The state of Utah, UDOH, and local health departments do NOT provide mask exemption cards. Mask exemptions and how to obtain them are outlined in the public health orders here: https://bit.ly/3dUxOKY and here (schools): https://bit.ly/3g9oFRA.

Many people are aware that computer hardware gets old and becomes unusable in a secure environment. What is not so well known is that computer software also gets out of date, resulting in vulnerability to malicious attacks. These vulnerabilities affect not only the software, but also all data on the machine, and even the network it is connected to. Through monitoring equipment in Information Systems, we see thousands of these attacks occurring on a daily basis.

To keep our district's data and systems secure, Information Systems has performed a district-wide audit for installations of one of the most frequently attacked pieces of software - Microsoft Office. All schools have versions of this software that are out of date and vulnerable to attack. Some schools have only a few licenses that are out-of-date, while other schools have hundreds.

We are informing you of this dilemma now so that you can plan to allocate an appropriate amount of your technology funds to replace older, unsupported licenses of Microsoft Office, and keep your data and machines secure. To find out how many licenses you will need to replace, contact your building computer technician. Microsoft Office for Education licenses currently cost $46.05 each. Please purchase the number of licenses necessary, then let your tech know that they have been purchased. The tech will thereafter update the associated software. To ensure licensing compliance, techs have been instructed to upgrade licenses only after being shown proof of purchase.

Alternatively, if you would prefer to save money, there are free alternatives to Microsoft Office, most notably Google Docs. As with many free offerings, there are advantages and limitations to the use of Google Docs. Nevertheless, it is an alternative that many educators use, and it is free of charge. It is important to realize that even if you choose to use Google Docs, older unsupported versions of Microsoft Office cannot remain installed on machines. In this situation, techs will remove those outdated licenses, and users will be free to use Google docs without purchase or further installation.

Thank you for your concern and cooperation in maintaining the security of our collective computing environment, and the very sensitive data it contains.

Mark Sowa, Instructional Technology Manager