Author: communications

Adapting to the safety measures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic can be overwhelming. If you get infected or were in contact with someone who is infected, chances are you’re required to quarantine.

If you’re struggling to keep up with all the demands, you can talk to a Utah Strong Recovery Project counselor seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call/text 385-386-2289 or email your first name and phone number to UtahStrong@utah.gov. Video chat and counseling in other languages are available. This benefit is offered by the State and available to all Utah residents.

If you need an immediate response after hours, you can contact the Utah Statewide Crisis Line at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or the SAMHSA Distress Hotline at 1-800-985-5990.

Get clarity for 2021! Focus on your mental and emotional well-being in this challenge and explore how to improve self-care through mindfulness and meditation.

Join PEHP for a 3-week email based “course” and challenge including an intro to Mental Health!

• WEEK 1 Self-Care isn’t Selfish: Learn the importance of self-care and how to put daily deposits into your emotional bank account to increase your overall well-being.
• WEEK 2 Calm Space, Calm Mind, Calm Body: Learn how our environment can influence our mood and ways to create tranquil spaces in your home or office.
• WEEK 3 Tap into your True Self: Learn how to nurture your spirit by becoming mindful and connect more authentically with yourself.

REGISTER TODAY or at pehp.org. Sign up early to receive all the weekly emails.

Wellness challenges are email based, self-paced educational programs that focus on areas of well-being. Often used to jumpstart habits and personal goals, challenges provide information, resources, and motivation to help you achieve good health.

Start 2021 off on the right track by setting small, attainable goals which can add up to big improvements in your overall health! PEHP will provide you with motivational tips to help you achieve your physical activity goals for the New Year.

Join PEHP's self-paced, email-based physical activity challenge.

• Register here or at pehp.org
• Track your activity
• Report your step total at the end of the month
• Enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card

We want to remind you that the current Friday schedule will continue through the end of the 2020-21 school year. 

Thanks for your hard work and enjoy the well-deserved winter break.

The COVID-19 vaccine will be available to all Jordan School District employees beginning in mid-January at locations throughout the district. After the winter break employees will receive a link to sign up for a vaccination time slot and location. COVID-19 vaccinations will be available to all employees, but are not required. More information will be forthcoming.

The following are new administrative assignments:

• New Assignments effective December 14, 2020:
  • Elizabeth Felt, assistant principal at Blackridge Elementary appointed principal at Mountain Point Elementary replacing Carolyn Bona who is retiring.
  • Michelle Kilcrease, assistant principal at Mountain Shadows and Copper Canyon Elementary transferred as an assistant principal at Blackridge Elementary and her replacement is to be determined.
  • Ross Menlove, administrator on special assignment in Teaching & Learning appointed an online principal (Elementary) and his replacement is to be determined.
  • Spencer Campbell, assistant principal at South Hills Middle appointed an online principal (Middle) and his replacement is to be determined.
  • Ammon Wiemers, consultant in Teaching & Learning appointed an online principal (High) and his replacement is to be determined.
• New Assignments effective January 19, 2021:
  • Suzanne Williams, principal at Eastlake Elementary appointed principal at the new elementary school in Daybreak.
  • Kristy Howe, assistant principal at Antelope Canyon and Oakcrest Elementary appointed principal at Eastlake Elementary and her replacement is to be determined.

Below you will find the return to school testing information pamphlet for schools, in English and Spanish.  Please note, that registration is REQUIRED prior to someone coming to the test events.

• COVID-19 School Quarantine Testing - English - Updated 12/10/2020
• COVID_SchoolQuarantineTesting_COVID-19 School Quarantine Testing - Spanish - Updated 12/10/2020

Jordan Education Foundation and Christmas for Kids has an opportunity for you to help bring Christmas joy and it is COVID-19 friendly.  Over 400 Jordan School District secondary students, who deserve an amazing Christmas, have been selected to receive a $115 shopping spree at Walmart (3590 W. Jordan Parkway) in South Jordan just off Bangerter Highway.  The students have already shopped online and we have their list.

Volunteers are needed Monday through Thursday (Dec 7-10) to do the actual shopping. Sign up at www.jefchristmasforkids.org to come to this Walmart, pick up the shopping list for a student at the north doors of the store, receive a $115 gift card, and do the shopping.

The student will NOT be there. It will just be you and whoever you bring with you to have this great, magical experience. After you check out, the items will be bagged and tagged for the student to pick up on Saturday morning. On Saturday, Dec. 12, the students will drive through the garden shop area and we will deliver their Christmas bags to their car.

Contact the Jordan Education Foundation office if you have any questions. We need about 400 volunteers so sign up and let your neighbors and friends also know.

Check out the Dec. 2020 Be Well newsletter. Stories include:

• Save Time for Exercise: Finding time for fitness activities can be challenging for folks with work and family demands. First, consider the rewards of regular exercise: protecting your health and feeling your best. Second, make exercise a priority. Third, don’t make excuses with every little interruption that comes along.
• Warning: Be heart smart when shoveling snow: It can significantly stress your cardiovascular system — similar to being at peak exercise during a stress test.
• Vaccines are vital: Before the 1950s, serious diseases, including polio, measles and diphtheria, sickened hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. Thousands died each year. Fortunately, with vaccines these diseases now occur rarely in the U.S.
• Better Breakfast Menu: Do you ever start the day with a sugary donut but feel hungry about an hour later? The food you choose at breakfast can set your energy level and hunger cues for the whole morning, so make smart selections.
• Tame the Seasonal Craze: Holiday shopping, cooking, decorating and festivities are fun but can also cause stress. Exhaustion, occasional family squabbles and feelings of sadness when things don’t always go as planned can dampen holiday spirits.
• Annual Safe Gift Guide: This year, the world seems to be focusing on safety more than ever, so giving the gift of safety is one that many people may choose.

To receive the monthly Be Well Newsletter via email and check out back issues, please visit the EMI Hope Health Newsletter page.

• Dec. 2020 EMI Be Well Newsletter

Zoom Bombing can happen when a hacker/attacker spoofs the meeting ID and joins the meeting uninvited and proceeds to disrupt the meeting by sharing their screen with inappropriate images, sending files, sending profanity laced chats etc.

To protect yourself from zoom bombing please follow the following process.

1. Use a Unique ID by using the Generate Automatically instead of using your Personal Meeting ID (PMI), also do not post your Personal Meeting ID (PMI) on social media, use calendar invites or email.
2. You may want to require a password to join your meeting.
3. You can require a waiting room.
4. Make sure that only the host can share their screen.
5. Create an invite only meeting
6. Lock your meeting once they start
7. You can also kick someone out or put them on hold.
8. There are options to disable participants camera, prevent animated GIFs as well as other files, you can also stop private chat messages.
9. Additional options include mute participant, mute upon entry.

Blomquist Hale has provided a video presentation on "Teaching Through Times of Uncertainty."  You can watch it or download it using the link below:

• Teaching Through Times of Uncertainty Presentation by Cory Eddington

URS Individual Retirement Planning Sessions are now available through video conferencing or over the phone.

Meet one-on-one with a URS Retirement Planning Advisor for custom retirement guidance. The format will be identical to in-person sessions previously offered throughout the state.

We can answer questions and provide advice about your retirement benefits such as:

• Which Tier 2 benefit should I choose?
• How much should I save?
• Which retirement savings plans (401(k), 457(b), IRA, Roth IRA) are right for me?
• Which investments are right for me?
• How much will my pension pay me in retirement?

Go to www.urs.org/us/counseling for more information about Individual Retirement Planning and how to sign up for a session.

The Teaching and Learning Literacy department is offering one final round of training for the Multisyllable Routine Card (MSRC) program from 95% Group.

Teachers who have implemented this program have been excited with the results that they are seeing. Some of the comments have been, "Where has this been my whole career?"  "Why haven't I known about this until now?"  "This was so easy to implement and has such a big impact!"

If you have not yet been trained we hope that you will sign up for one of the final training dates.  Please register on JPLS.  The Course Title is "95% Group Multisyllable Routine Cards (MSRC) 3rd-6th Grades" and the course number is 101525.  The final training dates are:

• Wednesday December 2nd - 4:00-7:00 (off contract - teachers will be paid)
• Friday December 4 - 8:00-11:00 (on contract - teachers will not be paid)
• Friday December 11 - 1:00-4:00 (on contract - teachers will not be paid)

Any and all websites that are domain specific to Weebly or Wix will be blocked by the JSD iBoss Filter on January 18, 2020. All Weebly or Wix sites content will need to be transferred to a JSD supported website. For assistance please contact your school Digital Coach and your school assigned Digital Learning Specialist.

During the 2020-21 contract year, performance evaluations for Education Support Professionals will be optional, with the exception of Provisional employees.  By policy, provisional employees must be evaluated twice in their first year of employment.  For career employees, evaluations are recommended if performance concerns exist.

Healthy Holidays - Maintain Don't Gain
November 16th - January 4th

The holidays can be a busy time of year. Maintain your health throughout all the festivities with tips and resources to help you eat wisely, stress less and keep moving!

Schedule:

• Week 1: The Scents & Sounds of the Holidays - Prepare for the upcoming season with a plan and a healthy holiday meal.
• Week 2: All is Calm, All is Bright - Create a more serene you by giving yourself the gift of self-improvement.
• Week 3: Tis the Season to be Freezin’ - Get “winterized” by preparing your home and immune system for the colder weather.
• Week 4: Making Spirits Bright - Enhance the well-being of others by serving and discovering new strategies for a happier holiday season.
• Week 5: Even if “The Weather Outside is Frightful” - Stay active this holiday season indoors or outdoors.
• Week 6: The Best Present is Family Presence - Connect with your past and experience a heart-warming holiday season.
• Week 7: For a Better & Brighter Future - Set your New Year’s resolutions with a positive mindset for better health in the new year.
• Week 8: To All a Good Night - Reward yourself for the healthy habits you created during this challenge and put an eventful 2020 to bed!

Wellness challenges are email based, self paced educational programs that focus on areas of well being. Often used to jump-start personal goals, challenges can help you take charge of your health.

Do you know who your school’s ELD teacher lead is? (It might be the Instructional coach and it might not be). We will be meeting with all school level ELD leads on Fri. Nov. 20th, via zoom, from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. Even if you are not the ELD lead, we encourage the instructional coach to attend.

• Zoom Meeting: https:/rb.gy/un149Z
• Meeting ID: 825 0735 1859
• Passcode: 799772

• Payroll Due: 11/3/20
• Last day to change direct deposit accounts: 11/10/20
  ** Please let Payroll know of any changes to your account after this date. Any bank account changes will affect your check on payday.
• Paychecks available for viewing in Employee Access: 11/21/20
  ** Strongly recommended
• Payday: 11/25/20
• District Office will be closed for Thanksgiving Recess: 11/26-11/27/20

---

True Time Deadlines for Pay Period
10/5/20 – 11/1/20

• Employee Final Submittal: 11/4/20
• First Approval: 11/6/20
• Final Approval: 11/10/20

Please inform new True Time employees of these deadlines.

---

Thanksgiving Recess

• *YRE, 242, 245 contracts: Nov 26-27
  *These employees must record a leave day if not in attendance on Nov 25th (Traditional school principals may use a vacation day as this is a non-student day)
• Traditional, 206 contracts: Nov 25-27

As per DP335(B): Employees who have not been approved by Human Resources for using an annual/personal day before and after a holiday may be docked (certified $131 or classified 40% of their daily rate). Please refer to policy for further clarification.

---

Parent/Teacher Conference

• Traditional Elem (Comp Day Nov 13) Nov 9-12
• YRE Tracks A,B,C (Comp Day Nov 7) Nov 2-6
• YRE Track D (Comp Day Nov 21) Nov 16-20

As per DP335 NEG: Licensed employees may not use a personal or annual leave day if absent from parent teacher conferences. They may use a sick day or a no-pay day if applicable. The absence should be entered on the comp day.

The Blomquist Hale Newsletter for the 4th Quarter has arrived.  In this issue, you will find articles on Managing Holiday Stress, 5 Ways to Relax Over The Holidays, and Family Fun For The Holidays.

• Blomquist Hale 4th Quarter 2020 Newsletter