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Published on

DATE:
Thursday, April 11, 2024

TO:   
Elementary School Administrators

FROM:  
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
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: Connections Between Learning Intentions, Success Criteria, and Metacognition: A Mixed Methods Investigation in Grades 3-5

Applicant: Jason Hart, Utah State 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.

Thank you for your assistance.

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Published on

DATE: 
April 11, 2023

TO:   
All Principals / Department Directors / School Administrative Assistants

FROM: 
June LeMaster, Administrator of Human Resources
Brittany Bauer, HR Recruiting, Licensing & Hiring

SUBJECT:  
Requests for 2024-2025 Special Calendars – Licensed Only

Your assistance is requested, as the Human Resource Department is preparing special calendars for the 2024-2025 academic year for licensed employees. Special calendars are essential to ensuring appropriate contract pay, time entry, emergency protocols and temporary employee tracking. Employees who meet certain criteria, as listed below, should have a special calendar on file with the Human Resource Department.

A list of licensed employees at your school/department location who are currently on a special calendar for the 2023-2024 contract year will be emailed to you for review on Monday, April 15, 2024. If needed, please make all appropriate additions, corrections, or other changes by submitting an online Hire/Change form in Skyward to the Human Resource Department. Please follow the additional instructions below.

Criteria for determining if an employee requires a special calendar:

  • 187 Modified/207 Modified-educator who is less than a 1.0 FTE working a schedule that is modified by hours per day or number of days during the wee (i.e. .50 FTE working 8 hours every other day, for example)
  • Multiple Location Employees- employees split between two or more locations.
  • Elementary Job Shares

If you have an employee you would like to review to determine if they may need a special calendar, you may contact the Human Resources Department, HR Assistant Seniors, for assistance. If a list is not included, there are currently no employees on a special calendar at this location. However, if you anticipate a special calendar for a licensed employee, please follow the instructions below.

Instructions for Special Calendar Requests:

  1. Principals set up a meeting with employee(s) who meet the criteria for a special calendar. Attached is an optional email template that can be modified to fit each employee; however essential information should remain unchanged.
  2. Collaborate with each employee and complete the appropriate calendar for any/all licensed employee(s) on a special calendar found on the HR Connection These calendars are fillable and will self-calculate.
  3. Print the completed calendar, sign and obtain signatures from the employee(s).
  4. Return the original calendar to the Human Resource Department by May 3, 2024 for processing.
  5. If a licensed employee will not continue on a special calendar, an online change form must be completed at the school/department and submitted to the Human Resource Department in Skyward.

Important Reminders:

  • Special Calendars may only be changed twice per contract year. Revisions must be pre-approved and signed by the principal/director.
  • Special calendars must be followed as outlined. If a calendared day is missed, the appropriate allocated leave time must be entered in Skyward for that day. (The calendar has a calculator to assist with time entry.)
  • Trade days are problematic and require a change to the employee’s special calendar, written approval by the supervisor, and notification to an HR Administrator, prior to taking leave or modifying their calendar.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. Failure to follow these procedures may cause an employee to be paid incorrectly. Any questions about this procedure or completing a special calendar should be directed to Julie Sharp, HR Senior Asst Elementary, at (801) 567-8230 or Lisa Garner, HR Senior Asst Secondary, at (801) 567-8226.

JL/bb

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Published on

DATE:
 April 11, 2024

TO:
 Elementary Principals Elementary
Head Administrative Assistants

FROM:
 Jill Durrant, Administrator of Schools
April Gaydosh, Administrator of Schools
Becky Gerber, Administrator of Schools
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools 

SUBJECT:
 Elementary Administrative Assistants Trade Days and Summer Hours

Elementary administrative assistants are calendared to work 206 days in a school year, including 5 days in which students and teachers are not in the building. These days generally occur the Friday after parent-teacher conferences (2) and on grade transmittal days (3). The PTC days can already be traded for the Friday compensation day if the administrative assistant works both evenings of the PTC. They are also allowed to be paid for up to 10 additional optional days during the summer months which are not included in their 206-day contract. These days are intended to provide additional pay for them to keep up with work, such as student enrollments, over the summer.

Beginning immediately, greater flexibility may be provided to Elementary administrative assistants by: 

  • Trading up to 5 non-student/teacher work days during the school year to work in the summer months, and/or
  • Converting up to 5 optional summer days into pool hours for office assistants to work additional hours during the busiest times in August, in preparation for the start of the school year.

Option 1
Elementary administrative assistants may choose to trade up to 5 contracted days (three grade transmittal and two PTC compensation days) to use as additional work days the following summer. This could provide up to 15 additional work days in the summer.

Option 2
Elementary administrative assistants may choose to convert up to (5) five of their optional summer days into additional pool hours for their office assistants to work prior to the first day of school. For every full day that is not used as an additional day by the administrative assistant, 10 hours will be added to pool hours to be used by the office assistants to work prior to the first day of school. 

Option 3
Elementary administrative assistants may choose to do a combination of options 1 and 2, not to exceed 5 trade days in the school year and not to exceed 5 converted pool hour days to use for office assistants.

Tracking
For Option 1 - Administrative assistants will have an option in the Skyward Time Off System to log the grade transmittal day as a “Trade Time - Days” with the reason code “Trade Time Day Taken Off” for building principals to approve. When they work the day in the summer they will need to log it in the Skyward Time Off System as a “Trade Time - Days” with the reason code “Trade Time Day Worked”. We will ask you to also include this on a Google form in the checkout process for this coming year as a double-check with the True Time system.

For Option 2 - A Google form will be available in the checkout materials to declare the number of optional days that will be converted to pool hours for the upcoming school year. These hours will then be documented and tracked in the Pool Hours spreadsheet by the district AOS administrative assistants.

A Google form will be distributed as part of Principal Checkout. Building principals will need to approve these traded and/or converted days on the Google form and submit it as part of the checkout process.

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Published on

TO:
Elementary Principals
Elementary Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Michelle Lovell, Consultant in Teaching & Learning

Just a friendly reminder that KEEP testing for kindergarten is required for the 2023-24 school year and kindergarten teachers should plan to use the testing days set aside in this year’s calendar to administer the KEEP test. The data from the assessment is reported to USBE and it is expected. Beginning next year, KEEP will not be required.

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Published on

TO:
All Administrators
All Administrative Assistants

FROM:
June LeMaster, Administrator of Human Resources

If you are a contracted employee (Benefit eligible) and need to take Annual/Personal Leave on a Critical Day before or after Memorial Day 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 Impacted Days Window
Memorial Day May 27, 2024 May 24 and 28, 2024 April 12 – April 22, 2024

Licensed Annual/Personal Leave Taken on a Critical Day 2023-2024

ESP Annual/Personal Leave Taken on a Critical Day 2023-2024

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Published on

DATE: 
Thursday, April 11, 2024

TO:
All School Administrators

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

SUBJECT:   
State Testing Reminders

The following are friendly reminders from the state’s testing ethics policy:

  • “Utah LEAs and Licensed Utah educators may use a student’s score from a statewide assessment to improve the student’s academic grade for or demonstrate the student’s competency within a relevant course.”
  • “Licensed Utah educators shall ensure that:
    • “Students are not penalized who have been exempted by a parent from a statewide assessment
    • “Students aren’t provided a nonacademic award for participating in or performing well on a statewide assessment
    • “Students are provided an alternate learning activity if they are exempted by a parent from a statewide assessment”

The following additional guidance may help address specific questions that arise from the part of the state’s testing ethics policy quoted above:

  • Using a student’s score from a state assessment can only improve a student’s grade – not hurt it.
  • Educators may not use a student’s score on a state assessment to determine an overall grade for the course. It can be used in conjunction with other evidence to help determine a student’s overall grade.
  • Educators may not assign participation points on students’ grades for taking a state assessment.
  • The alternate learning activity for students whose parents have opted them out of taking the state assessment can be an alternate assessment. That said, using a student’s score on the alternate assessment or activity on a student’s grade can only improve the student’s grade – not hurt it.
    • In addition, if the incentive is that a student who demonstrates proficiency on a state assessment means that they don’t have to take the class final exam, then students who have been opted out would also need two opportunities to demonstrate proficiency. For instance, if a student who was opted out demonstrated proficiency on the alternate assessment (administered while other students took the state assessment), then they wouldn’t have to take the class final exam.

Please contact Ben Jameson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability with questions.

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Published on

DATE:
April 4, 2024                      

 TO:
Jordan District Administrators, Directors

 FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
 Administrators of Schools

SUBJECT:
 Time Schedule for the Last Day of School  

Please review this memo carefully for your school dismissal time, and convey this information to your students and parents.

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Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Scott Thomas, Administrator of Auxiliary Services

Accidents can occur when working in unfamiliar areas because employees are unfamiliar of the hazards in the area. See the document below for ways to pay attention to your surroundings.

 

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Published on

DATE:    
April 4, 2024

TO:  
Principals
Assistant Principals

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

SUBJECT:  
Safe School Due Process Hearings

Beginning April 2024 the procedures for District Safe School Due Process Hearings have been updated. You may find the updated process and documents to request a Safe School Due Process Hearing on the Student Support website here. Each Safe School Due Process Hearing form is a fillable pdf. The updated process outline is as follows on the attached memo.

 

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Published on

DATE:  
April 4, 2024

TO: 
Principals
Assistant Principals

FROM:   
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services

SUBJECT:   
Early Warning System – Panorama

During this year’s legislative session HB84 – School Safety was passed requiring each school within an LEA (District) to implement a Student Intervention Early Warning System (53F-4-207). Panorama meets all the criteria established by HB84-School Safety and will be the District’s early warning system.

Panorama is $2,000 per school annually. For the 2024-2025 school year the cost of Panorama will be paid by Student Services.

Optionally, Panorama has a PBIS module that may be purchased by each school separately for $1.40 per student. If you are interested in implementing or learning more about the Panorama positive behavior module please contact Travis Hamblin in Student Services at travis.hamblin@jordandistrict.org.

In-person and virtual trainings will be set up in the fall to ensure administrators and school leadership teams are trained in the use of Panorama. School administrators may request additional Panorama trainings for their school’s administrative team, school leadership teams and/or teachers and staff by contacting Travis Hamblin (travis.hamblin@jordandistrict.org).

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Published on

Log on to learn about the supplemental services you can use with your multilingual students. Language & Culture Services will have training for teachers grades K-6 on Imagine Learning and 7-12 on National Geographic.

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Published on

DATE:    
April 4, 2024

TO:  
Principals
Assistant Principals
SEL Testing Coordinators

FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services

SUBJECT:  
Early Warning (Panorama) Spring SEL Survey

The final SEL survey window for the 2023-24 school year will open on Monday, April 15, 2024 and close on Friday, May 17, 2024 at 12am. Please ensure that you are following the guidance provided in the August 10, 2023 JAM (found here) regarding SEL survey windows, administration, and communication with parents. Please know that you may share the survey questions, with anyone interested, that are included in the August 10, 2023 JAM link above.

It is strongly encouraged that schools administer this survey at least twice a year.

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Published on

TO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Michelle Love-Day, Director of Language & Culture Services

Language & Culture Services is inviting parents to come out to their feeder high school to learn about English language learning in our District. JOIN US as we CELEBRATE student successes, LEARN about the WIDA test and what the results mean for students, and GROW our multilingual community. Please use this canva link to access flyers to share with families and to create additional languages you may need.

All events will take place at the high schools from 6:30 - 8 p.m.

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Published on

DATE:
April 3, 2024

TO:
Principals
All Certified Special Education Staff

FROM:
Lisa Robinson, Administrator of Schools
Kim Lloyd, Director of Special Education

SUBJECT:
End of Year SCRAM Detail Report

All SCRAM reports and SCRAM document changes must be received by the Special Education Office no later than Wednesday, May 1, 2024.

See the memo below for all instructions.

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Published on

DATE:  
April 4, 2024

TO:  
Principal
Assistant Principal

FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, School Safety Coordinator

SUBJECT:  
Safe Routes To School Meeting Sign Up (Herriman Schools ONLY)

The City of Herriman has reviewed the Safe Routes To School (SRTS) forms we submitted and is prepared to meet with each administration to discuss them.

The meetings will be held on April 15th from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM over ZOOM. Each meeting will be held in 15-minute increments. Please select a time slot on the SIGN-UP sheet provided. Times are on a first come first served basis. Feel free to work with one another as needed.

If more time is required to discuss an issue in depth, then we will schedule a time with the city soon after to do so.

Take a moment to review your maps on the new website, found at Safe Routes Utah, please ensure the routes are accurate and complete.

For any additional assistance or clarification please contact Matt Alvernaz at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org or by phone at 801-567-8623.

ZOOM Link

SIGN-UP Link

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Published on

DATE:  
April 4, 2024

TO:  
Principal
Assistant Principal

FROM: 
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director of Student Services
Matt Alvernaz, School Safety Coordinator

SUBJECT:  
Safe Routes To School Meeting Sign Up (West Jordan Schools ONLY)

The City of West Jordan has reviewed the Safe Routes To School (SRTS) forms we submitted and is prepared to meet with each administration to discuss them.

The meetings will be held on April 23rd from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM over ZOOM.  Each meeting will be held in 15-minute increments.  Please select a time slot on the SIGN-UP sheet provided.  Times are on a first come first served basis.  Feel free to work with one another as needed.

If more time is required to discuss an issue in depth, then we will schedule a time with the city soon after to do so.

Take a moment to review your maps on the new website, found at Safe Routes Utah, please ensure the routes are accurate and complete.

For any additional assistance or clarification please contact Matt Alvernaz at matt.alvernaz@jordandistrict.org or by phone at 801-567-8623.

ZOOM Link

SIGN-UP Link

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Published on

NASA - How to Safely View the April 8, 2024, TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSETO:
Administrators
Administrative Assistants

FROM:
Communication Department

As you may be aware, a partial solar eclipse will pass over Utah on Monday, April 8, 2024, at approximately 12:32 p.m.

We encourage everyone to know the safety risks associated with viewing an eclipse.

Please make sure your students and staff know the importance of wearing the proper safety glasses when viewing the eclipse and the importance of not looking directly at the sun.

Below is information from NASA that may be of assistance to you in answering any questions you may have or questions that may come your way regarding safety during the eclipse.

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