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Published on

DATE:  
May 16, 2019

TO:
All Principals and Directors

FROM: 
June LeMaster, Ph.D., Administrator, Human Resources
Administrator of Schools

SUBJECT:
Employee Attendance at Relative's Graduation Exercises

This year, all high school graduation exercises are on Thursday, May 30th, with the exception of Valley High on Wednesday, May 29th.

Principals and Directors are encouraged to direct parents or grandparents who may wish to attend these graduations, but who are scheduled to work in their own locations to District Policy DP335 NEG and DP335B NEG.  This policy specifically states: "Personal leave shall not be taken during the first five days and last five days that students are in school except...to attend to personal or business matters which require the employee's attendance and scheduling is beyond the employee's control."

Since graduation scheduling is beyond the employees’ control, it is desirable that immediate supervisors will cooperate and provide employees who may fall into this category, an opportunity to attend graduation ceremonies of family members.

Licensed employees are responsible for requesting a substitute through the Absence Management system, if applicable.  In the blue “Notes to Administrator” box, the employee should add “graduation” along with his/her relationship to the graduate.

For additional assistance, please contact Juli Martin in the sub office at 801-567-8219.

Cc:
Administrators of Schools

JL/am

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Published on

DATE:  
Thursday, May 16, 2019

TO:  
Elementary Principals
Middle School Principals

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

SUBJECT:   
2019 RISE Validity and Reliability

RISE Reports on Nextera:
Classroom reports for RISE continue to see delays of up to a week to access accurate information.  When students submit the test, the scale score they see is accurate, but that score will take up to a week to show up accurately on classroom, school and district-level reports.  This means that schools will need to wait for a week after they are completely finished with RISE testing to access accurate raw scores for their school.

RISE Validity and Reliability:
There have been a number of questions and concerns raised about the validity and reliability of the RISE test and the effect that the five outages have had on student scores.  To clarify, validity as used in the assessment world, means that the question items on the test are measuring what they intend to measure.  In the case of RISE where we are using the same question items that were in SAGE, we can be confident in the validity of the test because the items have been proven to be aligned with the Utah State Core.  There are five years of SAGE data to confirm this.

Educators often ask, “Were my students able to demonstrate their proficiency as intended?”  This is actually a question of reliability.  In other words, how consistent are students’ scores at representing their achievement when compared with their previous results?  In an email to superintendents across the state earlier this week, State Superintendent Sydnee Dickson said, “Unfortunately, the mounting issues with the operating platform created by Questar bring up many questions that will need to be answered.  The frequency of the problems that have occurred may impact the Utah State Board of Education’s ability to use the results for purposes of statewide accountability…. We believe the results can still be used to inform classroom instruction and individual student learning.  However, we are less confident about overall accountability.”

We recommend that principals be cautious in telling their teachers that their students’ RISE scores are not valid and reliable.  At this point, we do not know this for sure.  Here’s what we do know:

  • We know that the test itself is a valid test as it measures what it was intended to measure.
  • We know that students who were not affected by system outages will have had a similar opportunity to demonstrate their proficiency to that of the previous five SAGE-tested years.
  • We also know that if we filter out students whose scores were affected by outages (we are talking a smaller percentage of students in our district since most of our schools started testing later in the RISE window), we will have more accurate scores – accurate enough that principals and teacher teams may make instructional decisions based on RISE data – along with their own formal and informal assessment data – as has been done in years past.
  • We know that we don’t know how students’ scores were affected; therefore, it would not be appropriate to conclude that the data are invalid. In fact, four of the RISE system outages were issues with the submission of a session of the test after the student had already finished that segment.  Last Friday’s outage was an issue of students and educators not being able to log into the system to take the test.  The outages had less of an impact on students when they were actually testing.

School Accountability:
While we will likely be able to use RISE data for instructional decisions, its use for school accountability has not yet been determined.  The issue lies in the fact that the state accountability system requires that we count all students who participated – even if they were negatively impacted by the system outages.  Questar will be analyzing the RISE results of all students to see if and what the impact may be from the system outages.  The USBE will engage an objective third party to analyze and verify those results.  We will be monitoring this analysis closely.  Depending upon what they find, there are three options:

  1. If the analysis determines there is little impact, the state will move forward with the accountability system as planned.
  2. If the analysis determines there was an impact, there is an option to place an asterisk indicating where there have been testing irregularities that may have skewed the data.
  3. If the analysis determines there was a more significant impact, the USBE may decide to discontinue the accountability system for the 2018-19 school year. Superintendent Dickson indicated that this was a last resort.

Please contact Ben Jameson with any questions you may have.  Please look forward to more communication throughout the summer and fall of 2019 regarding the state’s findings.

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Elementary Principals:

Parent letters for EOY DIBELS are attached. The Evaluation Department will send spreadsheets to Principals when testing is complete. The testing window closes on June 15 and letters must be sent home with ALL first, second and third-grade students on or before the last day of school for A track and traditional calendars. Year-round tracks B, C and D need to send the letters home by June 30. Please do not send this letter home with Kindergarten students, as the reporting law does not apply to them. The parent letter from mCLASShome.com is appropriate to share with all parents. Please contact Michelle Lovell with any questions.

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Published on

DATE: 
May 15, 2019

TO:   
Principals
All Certified Special Education Staff

FROM: 
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education
Julie Brown, Program Specialist
Courtney Titus, Program Specialist

SUBJECT:
Year-End Checkout for Traditional Schools/Year-Round Schools

Please see attached memo.

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All Classified and Certified Administrators:

Please take a moment to fill out the following survey to help us narrow down your interests and needs for training provided at our Annual Administrative Leadership Conference 2019, which will be held August 6 & 7 at South Hills Middle School.

Survey Link for Administrators' Conference Breakout Sessions
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BJB7Z9J

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The USBE is collaborating with Kim St. Martin to offer this year's Literacy Leadership Institute for 6-12 principals and instructional coaches. Dr. Kimberly St. Martin currently serves as the Assistant Director of Michigan’s Integrated Behavior Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) and Co-Director of the MIBLSI Promoting Adolescent Reading Success (PARS) Project. Prior to her current appointment, Dr. St. Martin was a school administrator and teacher with experience in urban, urban-fringe, and rural school districts. She works regularly with State Education Agencies, Regional Education Agencies (REAs), and districts across the country to assist them in the successful use of an implementation infrastructure that can scale the components of an integrated behavior and reading Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) model. Dr. St. Martin is the lead author of the Reading Tiered Fidelity Inventory (R-TFI) Elementary and Secondary Editions; measures designed to assist elementary and secondary school teams in the installation and on-going use of the reading components of an MTSS model. In addition, she has collaborated with the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) in the development of implementation capacity assessments at the regional and local district levels that are available for national use.

This 4-day literacy institute is focused on creating the systems and structures that increase literacy outcomes and provide the school-wide organization that ensures an appropriate and improved MTSS educational framework for all students. By putting these systems in place, the job of the principal, coach, and teacher leader transforms from reactive to becoming a high-quality instructional leader.

The Secondary Schools Institute will consist of 2, 2-day sessions (total of four days) from 9-4 each day.

Each session of the institute will be held in the Salt Lake Area (specific locations TBD). Participants will be responsible for their own meals, mileage, and lodging. There is no cost for this institute.

Dates for Secondary Level Literacy Leadership Institute: October 2-3, 2019 and February 5-6, 2020. To register, please use the following form: https://forms.gle/jwZqCNi7kyM3Gmsu5

If you have any questions, please contact Garret Rose at garret.rose@schools.utah.gov

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Published on

DATE:   
May 9, 2019

TO: 
Elementary Principals
Elementary Head Administrative Assistants

FROM: 
John Larsen, Business Administrator

SUBJECT: 
Summer Pool Hours for Elementary Head Administrative Assistants

As a reminder, elementary head administrative assistants are given forty (40) hours for  use during the summer months. These hours remain optional and flexible and are to be used as needed in coordination with the school principal.

These hours should be used to address matters that typically build up over the summer months such as mail, voice mail, purchase verifications, timesheets, etc. The hope is that these summer hours will aid the school in a successful opening for the students.

The hours should be reported through True Time under the heading of “Contract Pool Hours” and will be charged to account number: 10 E xxx 0050 2483 152.

JL/jc

cc:
Cabinet
Sarah Palmer, Director of Payroll

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Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, May 16, 2019

TO:  
Elementary School Principals

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

SUBJECT:
Research Project

The Research Review Committee has reviewed a research project in which your school has been asked to participate.

Project Title:  BTSALP Elementary Art Specialists in Utah: Curriculum and Teaching

Applicant:     Tara Carpenter Estrada

The project has been approved by the District Research Review Committee.  The applicant has been directed to contact you to discuss the extent of the project and to obtain your permission to conduct the study at your school.  Participation in the study is at your discretion.  If you have questions or concerns relating to participation, please contact Ben Jameson at 801-567-8243.

The project will involve an online survey link that will be sent to eligible teachers that participate in the Beverly Taylor Sorensen Arts Learning Program.  In addition, a smaller subset of BTSALP teachers will be selected to participate in interviews.

Thank you for your assistance.

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Published on

DATE:   
May 9, 2019

TO: 
Principals and Administrative Assistants on Traditional Calendars

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

SUBJECT: 
Summer Hours for School Personnel

Please review the attached 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.

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Published on

DATE:  
Wednesday, May 8, 2019

TO:
Administrators of Schools
All Schools

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

SUBJECT:   
Research Project

The Research Review Committee has reviewed a research project in which your school has been asked to participate.

Project Title:     Exploring the Perceptions of Educators Who Are Implementing Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

Applicant:     Elizabeth Cutrer and Ellie Young, Brigham Young University

The project has been approved by the District Research Review Committee. The applicant has been directed to contact you to discuss the extent of the project and to obtain your permission to conduct the study at your school. Participation in the study is at your discretion. If you have questions or concerns relating to participation, please contact Ben Jameson at 801-567-8243.

The project will involve an interview of principal supervisors, building administrators, and building leadership teams on their perspective of implementing a multi-tiered system of supports program in schools.

Thank you for your assistance.

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Published on

DATE:
Thursday, May 9, 2019

TO: 
All Principals

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

SUBJECT:  
Research Project

The Research Review Committee has reviewed a research project in which your school has been asked to participate.

Project Title:     General Education Teachers’ Self-Reported Response to Overt Student Problem Behavior in the Classroom

Applicant:     Ingrid Shurtleff

The project has been approved by the District Research Review Committee. The applicant has been directed to contact you to discuss the extent of the project and to obtain your permission to conduct the study at your school. Participation in the study is at your discretion. If you have questions or concerns relating to participation, please contact Ben Jameson at 801-567-8243.

The project will involve you sending a link to a 7-10 minute online survey to your general education teachers. The survey attempts to explore how general education teachers experience and address student problem behaviors and to what extent they feel equipped to manage those behaviors.

Thank you for your assistance.

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Principals:  Desks, chairs, etc. are needed to fill seven elementary portables. Do you have extra items just sitting around in your building that you could contribute? Please call Curtis Hagen at 801-567-8752 if you have items you can share! Thank you!

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Published on

DATE:     
May 7, 2019

TO:  
All Principals

FROM:     
C. Brad Sorensen, Administrator of Schools
Michael V. Anderson, Administrator of Schools

SUBJECT: 
Final Approved Fee Schedule for 2019-20 School Year

The Board of Education has approved the 2019-20 fee schedule which can be found on the district website under the following link fees.jordandistrict.org. Because it is required by the Board of Education to approve all fees charged at schools, only fees listed on the website may be charged for the 2019-2020 school year. Please make sure that every fee charged at your school appears on the approved website. If it is not on the website, do not charge the fee.

We need each school to do the following prior to the beginning of the 2019-20 school year:

  • Place a link of the fee website (fees.jordandistrict.org) on your own school’s website
  • Make sure the website link (fees.jordandistrict.org) is included in all of your registration information and is sent out to your community
  • Encourage each of your teachers/coaches/advisors to include this information at parent meetings and in their disclosure statements
  • Have copies of all approved fee forms on file for review and available for an annual audit which will be done by the appropriate Administrator of Schools

Additionally, in the event a fee was overlooked or not submitted prior to the Board approved fee schedule and you want to appeal for it to be added to the website, the following process has been put in place:

  1. Require a written request from your teacher/advisor/coach explaining the need for a fee
  2. Evaluate your school finances to determine if it can be covered at the school level
  3. Talk with and submit a written request to your Administrator of Schools for consideration
  4. Administrator of Schools will appeal fee request to Cabinet
  5. If approved, the requested fee will be submitted on the Board of Education’s consent agenda
  6. The website will be adjusted and the new fee will be reflected on the school’s fee schedule
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Requests for Certificate of Insurance must be made through the District Insurance Office to Utah State Risk Management.

If you are participating in an event at a location that requires a Certificate of Insurance please provide the following information as soon as possible and no later than three days prior to the event:

  • Location of Event
  • Date of Event
  • Purpose
  • Number of participants
  • Contact Person
  • Certificate Holder
  • Insurance Requirements (limits, additional insured, etc.)

If you have any question please contact:
Cheryl Matson
cheryl.matson@jordandistrict.org
801-567-8285

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Published on

DATE: 
May 3, 2019

TO: 
All Elementary, Middle, and Traditional High School Principals

FROM:
John Larsen, Business Administrator
Derek Anderson, Director of Accounting, Budgets, and Audits

SUBJECT: 
May 2019 Budget Transfer Request

If you would like to transfer budget between your postage, supply, textbook, technology supply and equipment budgets, please complete the following, sign and return to Derek by June 7, 2019.  If Derek does not receive this back from you by June 7, 2019, Derek will assume no transfer is requested.  The next opportunity to make such a transfer is January 2020.

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