Skip to content

Category: Information Items

Published on

April 2023 Blomquist Hale Workshop FlyersBlomquist Hale has four workshops coming up! See attached for workshop flyers and details outlined below.

  • Topic: Parenting Your Adult Children – Part II
    • Date: April 11
    • Time: 2 – 3 p.m. MT
    • Location: Online!
  • Topic: New Ways to See & Treat Addictive Behavior
    • Date: April 17
    • Time: 12 – 1 p.m. MT
    • Location: Online!
  • Topic: What’s the Deal With Opiates?
    • Date: April 26
    • Time: 12 – 1 p.m. MT
    • Location: Online!
  • Topic: Anxiety Group (Monday’s)
    • Date: May 8th – June 12
    • Time: 5:30 – 7 p.m. MT
    • Location: Online!

To register for any of our upcoming workshops, please visit the Blomquist Hale Workshops page.

Published on

District support staff are among the unsung heroes of the Jordan School District.

Each year Jordan District school principals and department heads are invited to nominate one non-teaching/support staff employee for recognition. Through a designated committee, Jordan Education Foundation Board of Directors will select up to five individuals to be recognized as Outstanding Education Support Professional Employees.  Each recipient will be given $1,000 and a commemorative award at the Board of Education meeting in May.All full-time Jordan School District Education Support Professional employees are eligible. Past winners of this award are not eligible for nomination. One nomination per department/school will be considered.  Please make sure the Nominee's Department Head or Principal has approved this nomination.

Nominations will be accepted until 11:59 pm, Monday, April 17, 2023.

For more information and to nominate, please visit the Jordan Education Foundation website.

Published on

April 2023 DHH NewsletterThe JSD Teachers for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Team has created a monthly newsletter.  The full newsletter for April can be found at the link below. Stories include:

  • Top Three Things You Can Do to Enhance Understanding for DHH - Face the DHH speaking. Your expression, and even
    lip-reading abilities are essential for understanding. Make language visible. Writing things on the board, using pictures, gesturing, using models, acting, and other visual cues are a huge benefit to DHH students. Increase Processing Time. Often thought of as wait time after a question is posed, letting concepts, ideas, and questions sink in before a response is expected, is important.
  • Six Ways to Accommodate Instruction - Use visuals to support content. Allow and encourage primary language support. Provide multiple entry points. Make adapted texts available. Offer sentence frames for writing and speaking. Give choice and differentiation in products.
  • DHH Students are Most Often ELL Students - Spoken language is not as accessible for DHH students, leaving a learning gap in their native (i.e. English) language acquisition. Deaf children whose native language is a signed language (i.e. ASL), are learning English as a second language.

Published on

The following are new administrative assignments:

New Assignments effective July 1, 2023:

  • Julie Scherzinger, assistant principal at Herriman High appointed CTE consultant in the Career & Technical Education department.
  • Michael Trimmell, principal at Riverside Elementary appointed consultant in the Special Education department.
  • Amanda Edwards, principal at Bastian Elementary appointed principal at Riverside Elementary.
  • Jessica Stowe, assistant principal at Heartland Elementary appointed principal at Bastian Elementary.

Published on

The Digital Teaching & Learning Team needs feedback from teachers to will help them determine technology needs for the 2023-24 school year.  USBE is conducting a Teacher Digital Learning Survey that provides a foundation for that effort. Participants  will be asked questions specifically about the impact of the grant in school and more generally about the use of technology in schools and classrooms.

Responses are anonymous and will take approximately 20-25 minutes. The Survey is due by April 28.

Published on

Every student deserves to be taught by an accomplished teacher. National Board Certification was designed to develop, retain and recognize accomplished teachers and to generate ongoing improvement in schools nationwide. It’s the highest certification a teacher may obtain in addition to being the most respected one.

Perks for teachers:

  • Jordan District will pay NBCTs a stipend of $2,400 per year
  • USBE offers grants through TSSP funds to cover costs
  • USBE provides classroom teacher bonus for NBCT: $1,000 for classroom teacher, $2,000 for Title 1 classroom teachers.
  • USBE Educator Incentive Programs
  • NBPTS Support

Teachers who have gone through the Board certification process say that it is the most valuable and transformative professional development they have ever received. The opportunity to connect professional learning with classroom practice brings to life a teacher’s experience, helping them reflect on individual student learning needs.

Contact Amy Wood with questions: amy.wood@jordandistrict.org

Published on

Paycheck iconSpring Recess

  • Traditional, 206-day contracts March 28-31
  • 242, 245 contracts - March 30-31

As Per DP335(B) and DP335 NEG:  Contracted employees who have not been approved by Human Resources for using an annual/personal day before or after a holiday may be docked (licensed $144 or ESP 40% of their daily rate) unless the leave reason is listed as an exception in policy.

An explanation of exception must be written in the time off description box. Please refer to policy for further clarification.

  • Payroll Due March 2
  • Direct Deposit Changes by March 9
  • View Paycheck - March 22
  • Pay Day - March 24

True Time Deadlines | Date Range Feb 6 – Mar 5

  • Employee Submittal - March 8
  • First Approval - March 10
  • Final Approval - March 14

Grade Transmittal Day

  • All Levels - March 27

*All 206, 242 and 245 employees must record a leave day if not in attendance.

Published on

2023 Transition Fair FlyerSpecial Education is excited to announce an in-person, Special Education Transition Fair for 2023 and would love for you to join us! There will be over twenty community resources attending to help answer any post-secondary questions for our students and families.

The Transition Fair will be held on Monday, April 10 from 4 - 7p.m. at the Auxiliary Services building. We hope that you will be able to attend! For questions please contact Ashley Calhoun at 801-567-8208 or
ashley.calhoun@jordandistrict.org.

Published on

March 2023 Literacy Matters NewsletterThe Literacy Matters Newsletter has the latest literary updates. Be sure to read this edition to stay connected with literacy. This newsletter includes:

  • 2023 Updated District ELA Daily Time Allotments - Check out the updated English Language Arts Daily Time Allotments for each grade level. The total ELA time has not changed, but we've clarified our recommendations for how much time should be spent on specific ELA areas of instruction. Find them on our website under Standards - K-6 Information or on specific grade level pages.
  • Fluency Routine - Blast Decodable Passage 5-Day Routine - We've created a 5-day fluency routine for first graders! There are detailed lesson plans for each Blast decodable passage. Available on our Elementary Literacy website under programs - Really Great Reading - Blast Fluency Routine. Lesson plans coming soon for 2nd grade HD Word decodable texts too.
  • Oral Reading Fluency Development Plan - For any grade level and any kind of text, try this easy Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) from Timothy Rasinski.

Published on

America's Freedom FestivalAmerica’s Freedom Foundation is hosting a variety of contests that allow youth to learn about and create projects centered around the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. There are speech, essay, art, and video contests.

These contests are an incredible opportunity allowing students to showcase their talents in real world settings. Links to some of the opportunities and prizes awarded to winners of the video contest and information for the other contests can be found below:

If you have questions, please feel free to contact Ashley Ondoua at 703-332-1902.

Published on

Dear Employees of Jordan School District:

We invite all school employees to participate in completing the Utah School Climate Survey (district employees do not to take this survey).  This survey includes questions about student learning, school safety, and interpersonal relationships, as well as your attitudes about the institutional environment and your work environment at the school. Your responses will be very helpful in improving student relationships, learning conditions, and the overall school environment.

The survey is completely confidential and brief.  Please submit your responses no later than Friday, May 5th.

Survey results will only be reported as group responses. There are no right or wrong answers. We just want to know about your personal experiences. Responses are housed securely in an anonymous format with the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) for evaluation and research purposes. All evaluation research projects are in compliance with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, (343 CFR 99.31 (6)) and human subjects regulations (Protection of Human Subjects 45 CFR 46).

As you respond to each item, think about your role and responsibilities at your school.
Please answer all of the questions.

We hope you will take the time to provide us with this valuable information. Each school’s total survey results will be used to inform and develop appropriate strategies, procedures, and/or programs to enhance school climate.

Thank you for your time and participation!

Published on

The date for the Jordan School District High School Graduation exercises is Thursday, June 1, 2023.  Valley High School graduation exercises are scheduled for Wednesday, May 31, 2023.  School graduation plans and times will vary from school to school.

Principals and Directors are encouraged to provide flexibility to parents or grandparents requesting the opportunity to attend the graduation ceremonies of family members.

Licensed employees are responsible for requesting a substitute through the Frontline 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 the Sub Office at 801-567-8219.

Published on

March 2023 Moreton & Company Insights NewsletterMarch’s Health Insights examine your sleep habits and the relationship they have with your physical and mental well-being. Use the Healthy Habits calendar and 30-Day Lights Out Challenge to get your sleep on the right track to lighten or avoid the problem’s outlined in this month’s articles. Use the link below for your copy of Health Insights.

Published on

We are excited to announce that in response to teacher requests there are some updates and improvements to the ELA Instructional Minutes Daily Time Allotment documents. The recommended times have not changed, but more detail has been added to provide clarity around the recommended use of the allotted ELA time.

Published on

March 2023 Language & Culture Services NewsletterMarch is here, which means St. Patrick's day, spring, and (hopefully) warmer temps. It is also Women's History Month, which began the week of March 8th, after President Jimmy Carter declared it Women's History Week. Then, in 1987 congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month.”

The full newsletter can be found at the link below. Stories include:

Culture Corner
St. Patrick's day is coming up. Remember that many of your ML students may not know the holiday or why they celebrate in class (if you plan on doing this). Teaching about the holiday, informing parents about your plans, and giving them some information about the day is incredibly helpful to those students and their families who have never celebrated.

Teaching Strategies Small Groups

  • Why? More time to talk encourages oral language growth (speaking & listening). It gives students a small, safe group to practice with Builds classroom community.
  • For Success - Teach students how to work in small groups. Assign roles so they know what to do. Give sentence stems for language support (bonus points for helping them practice saying those things out loud in the hallway). Guiding questions or printed out steps can help guide them.

Reflective Questions
At this point in the year, what have I learned about: my students’ lives, families, and past experiences? my colleagues? my school community? my local community? myself?

What more do I want to learn as we end 3rd quarter (March 24) and move into 4th?

ELLevation Tips and Tricks
You can use the Student List to make targeted instructional recommendations for students who meet specific criteria. To batch recommend Activities for multiple students at once from the Student List, found in the full newsletter below.

ELD Lead Celebration
Melanie Nixon is both the coach and ELD Lead at Mountain Point Elementary. She has established great relationships with both teachers and students. Not only does she know what is happening at her school, she knows students by name. She is a great resource for teachers who need language and culture support for MLs as she helps teachers with RtI, language strategies and data. Melanie is very organized and on top of things and the MLs at Mountain Point are lucky to have her as an advocate.

Published on

March 2023 EMI Health NewsletterCheck out the March 2023 EMI Health newsletter. Stories include:

  • Unplug and Unwind - How would you feel about spending 24 hours away from your electronic devices? The National Day of Unplugging (NDU), observed every first weekend in March, has a message for us: Consider living an entire day, from sundown to sundown on March 3 to 4, without the static of technology. It’s a chance for you and your family and friends to fully disconnect from your phones, computers, streaming — and kick back and enjoy some relaxation together.
  • Personalized Nutrition - Nutrition advice is often standard for healthy adults — eat more vegetables, choose whole grains and consume less sugar. But what if you could get advice unique to your health needs?
  • Are You a People-Pleaser? - People-pleasers are often well liked because they pay so much attention to making others feel at ease and happy. But in the extreme, this pattern can make your own needs and welfare secondary.
  • Decompression 101 -  Do you often get home from work and feel tense? Whether it’s a long commute, constantly facing deadlines or feeling revved up all day at a job you love, it can sometimes be hard to truly decompress and relax after work — which you need to do.

Published on

March 2023 Workshop FlyersBlomquist Hale as four events scheduled for the month of March! You’ll notice that they have added a Spanish speaking workshop this month! See attached for workshop flyers and details outlined below.

  • Topic: Women in the Workplace
    • Date: March 13
    • Time: 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. MT
    • Location: Online!
  • Topic: Parenting Your Adult Children
    • Date: March 14
    • Time: 2 – 3 p.m. MT
    • Location: Online!
  • Topic: Monthly Divorce/Separation Support Group
    • Date: 3rd Thursday of Every Month – Next group is March 16
    • Time: 6:30 – 8 p.m. MT
    • Location: Online!
  • Topic: Concientización sobre la Salud Mental
    • Date: March 29
    • Time: 7 – 8 p.m. MT
    • Location: Por Línea!

To register for any of our upcoming workshops, please visit our website at https://blomquisthale.com/workshops/

Published on

March 2023 Incidental Learning NewsletterThe JSD Teachers for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Team has created a monthly newsletter.  The full newsletter for March can be found at the link below. Stories include:

  • Common Requests for Self-Advocacy - I can't hear you if you cover your mouth. I can't hear you if you don't face me.  I can't hear you if you mumble. Speak one at a time.
  • Asking for Help is Scary - It can be frightening to ask for what you need. As teachers, we can encourage our DHH students to advocate for themselves. The more comfortable they are making sure their own needs are met, the more efficient their learning will be. We can help them figure out what their needs are and how to ask for appropriate accommodations.
  • Tools for Classroom Success

Published on

JEAC Open House FlyerThe Jordan Ethnic Advisory Committee is pleased to announce a Parent, Guardian, and Student Open House event at JATC South, which will take place on March 1st, from 5 - 6:30 p.m. The purpose of this event is to provide a platform for families to share their ideas with administration and teachers, and to engage in meaningful dialogue about the challenges and opportunities facing our students.

Through this event, we hope to foster a sense of community and collaboration, and to work together to build a stronger, more inclusive school environment for all students.

To that end, we would like you to extend an invitation to school communities electronically, and to personally invite four families to participate in this open house. Principals will receive paper invitations in District mail.

We would be honored to have schools support in this initiative, and we believe that your participation will have a positive impact on our district as a whole.

Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any questions or concerns, please email jeac@jordandistrict.org.

Published on

The Blomquist Hale Newsletter for the quarter has arrived. In this issue, you will find articles on:

  • Volunteer Work & Your Mental Health - Volunteer work is a great way to give back to your community and make a difference in the lives of others, but did you know that it can also have a positive impact on your mental health? The main reason most of us volunteer is to help out those in need, but we don’t usually think of how it can benefit ourselves as well. There are many opportunities for you to feel the benefits of volunteering your time in any community from being an official volunteer for a well-known organization to just spending quality time with a friend or relative.
  • Volunteering Makes You Happy - When you volunteer, you are able to see the impact you are making and the difference you are able to make in the lives of others. This can increase feelings of self-esteem and personal satisfaction, as you are able to see the positive impact you are having on your community.
  • Donating to Charity - An alternative way to donate your time when life’s responsibilities make it hard to volunteer work, would to be donate to a charity. You may not directly be doing the actual work while donating to charities, however, you are providing resources that make these organizations’ missions possible whether you are donating money, clothes, or any other supplies. There are a wide range of charitable organizations to choose from.