Supercast

Brooke:
We do. Some of our most exciting trends are happening in math, well, in math, English language arts and science. So we are element . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
In other words, in every area in which we are tested.

Brooke:
In every subject. We are excited about everything.

Ben:
As we're bringing on more AP subjects and more students taking classes and taking the tests, those pass rates are increasing. That's what we want to see.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Have you ever wondered what enrollment looks like in Jordan School District? How about where reading scores are headed, or how we're doing on graduation rates? On this episode of the Supercast, we are drilling down on Jordan School District data with our very own experts who simply love crunching the numbers and sifting through statistics. Listen and find out why we have a lot to celebrate, and why hard work done by students, teachers, staff, and parents is paying off.

Anthony Godfrey:
We are talking today with Ben and Brooke about Jordan School District by the numbers. Would you please introduce yourselves and talk a little bit about your role in Jordan School District?

Brooke:
Well, hello. My name is Brooke Anderson. I'm the data scientist for Jordan District. I've been here in Jordan District for over 10 years now. It's been great.

Anthony Godfrey:
Awesome.

Ben:
I'm Ben Jameson. I'm the Director of Assessment Research and Accountability, and I'm excited to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about some of the things that you oversee in the department. What are some of the things that you work with?

Ben:
So I oversee all of the state and federally mandated assessments, as well as surveys between Brooke and I, we work a lot with the data in the District, and help schools with school improvement projects as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
And Brooke, as a data scientist, you do a lot to support the work in our schools. Talk about what your relationship is with Teaching and Learning.

Brooke:
Oh, I love answering questions. So my main relationship is, I hope people will ask me a question. So, you know, we have a lot of initiatives. We have implementations, and there's always questions. Is this going well? Is this effective? So I try to help District leaders answer those questions. Teachers and school leaders have those same questions. They want to know what's happening, what's going to happen, was the thing that we tried working out. So I love meeting with teacher teams and helping them understand what they can do with the data that they have, and what it all means, and whether or not what they're doing is effective. And I will say it's great because almost all the time I get to tell people that their hard work is really paying off, and we all love that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. And it's great to have the backing of a data scientist telling you, “yeah, this is working.” This is doing what you think it's doing. Or let's adjust it a little bit. Let's see what we can, let's see what we can tweak. Because we don't want just action, we want progress. And that's what we want to talk about today, is, you know, many of the areas that we're focused on in the District and the progress that we're making. But let's start with this. Our demographics are changing, and our enrollment is going down. And this is true of, I think, most, if not every district in the state and really throughout the country. Talk about some of those trends in enrollment in Jordan School District.

Brooke:
It is true of every district in our state. So overall, as a state, we are seeing fewer students coming into the school system over time in these recent years. And then in our district, we've seen about a 2%, a little over 2% drop, between the 2025 school year and the 2026 school year. So we'll see how it turns out for this school year. But that drop is really happening in our kindergarten enrollment. So we have fewer kindergartners coming in, even though our high schools are bigger than they've ever been. We have more students in high school than ever, but we have fewer kindergartners than we've seen in a while.

Anthony Godfrey:
Which translates eventually into fewer high school students than we've seen in a long time, depending on who moves in in the meantime. And, you know, these are trends that we track in a very different way than we used to. When I started many years ago in the District Office, we would drive through neighborhoods and new neighborhoods and say, “oh, we see some basketball standards, some, you know, bikes in the front yard. Looks like there'll be some kids in this neighborhood,” as opposed to the very specific methods that we have for determining just how many students to expect from a particular neighborhood.

Ben:
That's funny. I used to do that, too. When I was in a school, I would drive around the neighborhoods just to get kind of a feel for what's happening, look for new builds, look for younger kids playing in playgrounds and that kind of thing. That actually was kind of fun, even though we certainly have a much more scientific, data-savvy way to do that now.

Anthony Godfrey:
We have access to birth rate data and that sort of thing. And the trend overall, long term, will pick up again. Our enrollment will grow once again, but the economy and other things are impacting that for now. But in the meantime, great things are happening for the students that we have. I want to talk about Acadience reading, and Acadience reading is the way that we measure literacy at the elementary level. So talk to me about—let's talk about students starting elementary and ending elementary heading into middle school. What did those literacy rates look like? And there's a lot to celebrate there.

Brooke:
There is. And I was really pleased to be out at two middle schools just last week talking to them about the literacy rates for their incoming seventh graders and how those students were more prepared than ever to read on-grade level, complex text, because our sixth graders are leaving sixth grade, leaving elementary school with higher literacy rates than we've seen before. Right now, about 83.5 percent of them are reading at the expectation at benchmark.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what that means is students are reading at the level you'd expect them to as they enter seventh grade, in the '80s. Now, we would love that to be 100 percent. We want that to be better. But it's better than it's been for a long time, if not better than ever.

Ben:
Actually, it is. In terms of sixth graders exiting out of the elementary program and into our middle school program, they're at their highest literacy rate ever. And that is exciting. That means, as Brooke said, they're more prepared for seventh grade. But that also is indicative of the growth of our elementary program in terms of literacy instruction. And so that's exciting as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Talk about what testing looks like in literacy at the elementary level, beginning of year, middle of year, end of year.

Ben:
So we use the Acadience Reading Assessment, which is actually a screener. Its job is to identify whether or not a student is at risk for later literacy issues. And it simply gives us a yes or no. Yes, a student is at benchmark, or no, a student is not at benchmark, and intervention is needed. And we have a team of testers that go around to each of our elementary schools, and they meet with kindergarten through third grade students in a one-on-one setting for anywhere between five to 15 minutes. And they administer various measures that measure things like for sound fluency, or a capacity for students to blend words, or they'll read texts. And then we're looking at word count accuracy over a minute, and that kind of thing. So the assessment is really one-on-one between a tester and a student, and it gives us some good information about where that kid is in terms of their reading ability and what kind of intervention we maybe need to look at to help them improve their reading skills, if that's needed.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you for describing just how complex and sophisticated that testing is. Let's talk about kindergarten, 80% at or above benchmark, which is our highest ever. Explain that a little bit.

Brooke:
So our kindergartners obviously have done wonderful things, and our kindergarten teachers have done wonderful things. We've had a really great program at the District level called Planet Kindergarten, where our literacy specialists are bringing our kindergarten teachers in, offering them a lot of support, a lot of professional development, helping them see, okay, here's what we do with students who are coming in, with the wide variety of skills they might need help with, and trying to get to the point at the end of kindergarten where they're well prepared for first grade. Because one of the things we really want to avoid is that kind of summer slide between kindergarten and the beginning of first grade. It's great if we can get students to read by the end of kindergarten. They still have to be doing it when they come back as a first grader.

Anthony Godfrey:
These are kindergartners who are very well prepared, and we want to start where they are and take them to the next planet from Planet Kindergarten. I loved getting to see Planet Kindergarten in action last year. Planet Kindergarten involves very specific goals that students are trying to reach by the beginning of November, letter names and sounds. Now we have goals about the number of words they can read by the end of the year, and it's really exciting. There's no grade level where you get to see more progress, I think, than in kindergarten just from the start of the year till the end, and it's very exciting. And this success, as you said, is really because of family support and our kindergarten teachers diving in and trying some new things and doing really incredible work. Anytime I see our District literacy team, they are dressed in various costumes or t-shirts depicting favorite kids' books. They are on-brand at all times, all in, and that's typical of everyone in our Teaching and Learning department that's helping support our teachers and coaches and administrators out there in our schools.

Brooke:
And I'll also add our secondary literacy team, our secondary literacy team of one, Brandee Bergum, has been doing fantastic work, which is why we see such a gain in ELA proficiency in middle schools. She's got teachers working with the University of Utah Reading Clinic in order to help support students at every reading level in a middle school setting, and we really see those results coming through.

Anthony Godfrey:
Brandee's just done a great job of involving the University of Utah to make sure that all of our secondary reading teachers have the same understanding of literacy instruction and are able to help those students who may have fallen through the cracks catch up and accelerate those who are ready for more. Now, there's a lot of discussion at the state level around literacy, and, you know, that retention is an option in third grade in ways that it hasn't been before. How is that changing the way that we look at literacy in our District?

Brooke:
One of the things we're very focused on is trying to intervene as early as possible, which is why we use the Acadience Reading Screener. What we're looking for is, “how can we resolve any reading difficulties a student demonstrates in kindergarten or first grade?” So by the time we get to third grade, retention based on their reading skills isn't an option. So we really are trying to get students to show growth and show greater proficiency and respond to their interventions.

Anthony Godfrey:
It feels great every year when I get to say that we've had the best kindergarten reading scores we've ever had, and I get to say that year after year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. We discuss graduation rates in Jordan School District and what they mean.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female Voice:
They're out on the job in the rain, sleet, snow, ice and in the sunshine. As Jordan School District students navigate their way to and from school every day, we are truly grateful for our city crossing guards, always vigilant and looking out for students to ensure everyone's safety. Because they work so hard protecting our kids, let's give those crossing guards a hand. If you're driving near or around schools, slow down, pay attention, watch for students and staff, and follow instructions from the school crossing guards, and know our cities are always looking to hire crossing guards. If you like kids and need some flexible hours, contact your local city and apply to be a crossing guard today. Together, let's make this a safe and successful school year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about RISE scores. Tell me about RISE scores, talk to folks about what that means, and we have a really good upward trend.

Brooke:
We do. Some of our most exciting trends are happening in math, well, in math, English language arts and science. So we are element . . .

Anthony Godfrey:
In other words, in every area in which we are tested.

Brooke:
In every subject. We are excited about everything. I'm really excited to see the work that our science team has done in the elementary school. We've implemented a curriculum that's very hands-on, teaching students to think through the scientific process, to demonstrate what they know.

Anthony Godfrey:
And they've made it competitive in a positive, friendly, fun way. The pony races are really taken off. Kids are eager to make sure that they're learning everything they're supposed to and beyond.

Brooke:
That is our science team in a nutshell, Rachel and Lynn. They are fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
They are a blast.

Brooke:
And they help people be eager to learn. And it really shows in what students have been able to demonstrate about their science thinking skills on the RISE test. We've got the highest science scores in elementary that we've ever seen. And it's been a huge improvement over, you know, five years. We see a five-year increase of 16%, 10% in certain grade levels. It's fantastic.

Ben:
The cool thing, particularly about the RISE science test, is that it's not just your standard multiple-choice test. Kids are actually running experiments, and they're collecting data during the test. And the best assessment is one where students are learning, and they're participating in the learning experience, not just demonstrating knowledge or recalling information. The RISE science is very interactive, and it's very much aligned with science reasoning skills. So they'll go through the scientific process as they take the assessment. So students actually tend to like taking the assessment because it's interactive. It's interesting. I have three boys, all of whom have taken the RISE multiple times, and the science one is their most favorite because it's interactive.

Anthony Godfrey:
I guess that's an occupational hazard that your sons are going to have to be asked what their favorite standardized test was. Not many parents are asking that, so bravo, Ben, for checking in on that. But you're right. It's hands-on. Let me just summarize some of the numbers. Our middle schools are on a four-year upward trend in language arts scores and a six-year upward trend in mathematics scores. Science is also on a six-year upward trend at all grade levels with a 7% point gain. There's an 8% point gain in elementary schools over the last six years on RISE and a 7% point gain in middle schools over the last four years. So a lot of great things happening, a lot of intentionality around our instruction, and teachers, students, and parents are doing an incredible job.

Brooke:
I also have to shout out our math team. I'm looking at our results for seventh grade math, which is such an important year for math. If we want students to succeed through middle school and high school, we know they need a strong foundation in seventh grade math. There's a lot of algebra concepts that are going to be the foundation for everything else. And we see a huge increase over the last five years in the number of students able to be proficient in demonstrating those skills. So great job to our math team and working with our teachers to open up math discourse, to have students dive into that kind of math problem solving in class, and get them thinking more about how to be mathematicians.

Anthony Godfrey:
They've done a lot of heavy lifting, our math specialists, really transforming the way that we teach math, where we start with a little bit of a struggle. Here's a problem. How are you going to solve this? And then it leads the student to that direct instruction, this is how it's done. This is how we get to that answer. And that's very satisfying. And they've done a tremendous job of supporting teachers in looking at problem solving in a different way. And as you said, it's translated into not just better math scores, but mathematical thinking at a deeper level with our students.

Ben:
So I think the cool thing about all three subject areas and the teams that are working to enhance our instruction and the teachers that are working hard as well is the fact that RISE is a rigorous assessment. And the fact that our scores are going up means that our instruction is growing in rigor as well, which means that our students are growing in their capacity to think critically. That's really, that's our vision for our students as they move through Jordan's educational program and graduate with the capacity and the skills to think critically in the world around them.

Anthony Godfrey:
I worry that I've left people out. Let me just say there is enthusiasm, energy, creativity, and intentionality from our teachers at every level, from all of our specialists and consultants in Teaching and Learning. It's just, it's really exciting to see. And we're making progress over the last few years, unlike we've experienced before. And that's a team effort. That's everybody working together. Let's talk about AP exams. When we're looking at AP, we're looking at participation because we want a lot of students to be a part of that and feel prepared for that. And then we're also looking at the outcomes. Are we providing support to students so that they're getting the scores they're hoping for? Talk to me about both aspects of AP testing in Jordan School District.

Brooke:
So students can take an AP class and not necessarily take the test, which obviously isn't the outcome that we want. If you're taking the AP class, we want you to take the test. And so we've done a lot of work, especially Chris Richards-Khong, to make sure that students can access the test. If they need help paying for the test, we can help them do that. We've seen a huge jump in participation, at least 10 percentage points over the last 10 years. So we want, right now we're sitting at about 87 percent of students who take an AP class will go ahead and take the test, which is fantastic. We want that to go even higher, but it's a lot of great progress.

Anthony Godfrey:
Just to cite the statistic here, over the last 12 years, there has been a 93 percent increase in the number of exams being taken by students in Jordan School District. So our efforts to provide that next level of instruction and achievement is working, and that's counselors and teachers and administrators all working together and parents supporting that. Talk to me about the pass rate overall for middle schools and high schools, Ben.

Ben:
The pass rate for middle schools has increased 12 percentage points over the last four years, which is pretty exciting. Normally you would expect as participation rates increase, there's at least the chance that pass rates will decrease, but that's not the case. We're seeing both increase. For high schools, the pass rate has increased nine percentage points over the last four years. So as we're bringing on more AP subjects and more students taking classes and taking the test, those pass rates are increasing. That's what we want to see.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. Now let's talk about the granddaddy of them all, the graduation rate. That has been looking great for a while now.

Brooke:
Yes. So we've been able to get a percentage point kind of added to our graduation rate pretty steadily over the last 12 years, which is fantastic. If we look from our 2025 rate, which is our last official rate, we're still working on finalizing our 2026 rate. Our last official rate in 2025 was 91.8. And if we look back to 2015, it was 85.3. So that's a really steep increase over time. And it's contributed to by our middle schools, our high schools. It's a lot of work to get more kids over that finish line.

Anthony Godfrey:
And we talked about those kindergarten reading scores. That's where graduation rates start, is helping make sure that students have a wonderful foundation in kindergarten. Now, talk about what that graduation rate really means, because the dropout rate is different based on the way that we're required to report that. There's this impression that 8 percent of our students are dropping out, and that's not the case.

Brooke:
So our dropout rate is based on the fact that once a student hits ninth grade, we are responsible for their graduation outcome. Until they enroll somewhere else, we need to know what happened to that student. And so a lot of the students who are in our dropout rate didn't actually drop out. One, they might have gone to a different place and just not told anybody, so we can't find them. They're an unknown. They might have transferred to adult ed, and that would count against our graduation rate as well. They might have withdrawn, or they might have a pending graduation, where they said, “you know, I didn't graduate on time, but I'm really trying by October,” and maybe they do it, and maybe they don't. So there are different kinds of flavors of dropout, and students who say, “I'm dropping out of school, I'm not doing this anymore,” we have actually lowered that rate down to about half a percent. That's a couple dozen kids. So we want that to be even lower than that. We don't want any student deciding, “I'm done with school, I'm going to drop out, I'm not finishing.” But we have managed to lower that down to a very, very low level.

Anthony Godfrey:
And it requires a little CSI work sometimes, a little detective work when someone registers for one quarter in ninth grade, and then they move to Virginia, and we don't know exactly where to transfer them to. They're counted as a dropout just because they've moved, and we haven't been able to transfer that. Sometimes it's just a matter of tracking the records properly and entering things correctly. So when you say that we're still calculating the 2026 graduation rate, that's because we're sifting through that data to be sure that it's accurate. It's very encouraging to see so many students graduating, and for graduation to mean more and more because of the increased rigor and the increased opportunities that are available to students. Well, thank you for all of the work that you do to help us improve our practice, to know where we stand, and to know what we need to do next. So I really appreciate all your support, and thank you for having so much good news to share.

Ben:
It was a pleasure. Thanks for having us.

Brooke:
I always love sharing good news.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you'll do today!” We'll see you out there.

Jane:
The big ones that we have open that we're really still seeking are the special education support professionals that are working in the special education classrooms, our classroom assistants, our nutrition services, and our sub bus drivers and sub bus assistants.

Mike:
Our substitute pool is really somewhere where you can get your foot in the door. We're really looking to hire licensed substitutes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. In Jordan School District, we like to say come for the job and stay for the adventure. On this episode of the Supercast, we take a look at career opportunities available in Jordan School District in the classroom and beyond. They are jobs that support students and education every single day. Listen and find out who we are looking to hire right now and how to apply if you are interested in joining the Jordan School District team.

Anthony Godfrey:
We are talking today with two of our administrators in the Human Resources Department about job opportunities here in Jordan School District. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background.

Jane:
I am Jane Olson. I am the Talent Acquisition Administrator here in Jordan School District.

Mike:
Dr. Mike Trimmel and I am the Assistant Director in HR over Talent Development. I've been a principal and assistant principal for the past 15 years.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about some of the job opportunities in Jordan School District right now. Jane?

Jane:
So right now we have very few of our licensed positions still open. As of today, there is only eight licensed teaching positions and then an additional 10 athletic coaching positions that, you know, have an hourly period where they can teach. But the big ones that we have open that we're really still seeking are the special education support professionals that are working in the special education classrooms, our classroom assistants, our Nutrition Services and our sub bus drivers and sub bus assistants. Those are our big opportunities at the moment.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the positions that are always open? Where we, there are certain positions where we're always looking for somebody.

Mike:
Yeah, I would say definitely our special education, educational support professionals. The educational support professionals in our special education classrooms typically we have openings year-round in that setting.

Anthony Godfrey:
And they're sometimes referred to as a classroom aide; that might be the more common nomenclature that we would use for that position. So it's part-time, many times, but sometimes it's full-time with benefits, helping support the teacher in providing instruction for and supporting students. And that can be working with students with a wide variety of needs.

Mike:
Correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
Talk to me about bus drivers also.

Jane:
Yes, with our bus drivers, we're typically looking to build that substitute bus driver pool as large as we can and then that's where our primary recruitment pool for our full-time positions come out of, that sub bus pool. So it's essential for us to have a really good set of sub bus drivers. We're looking for the best people with the best personalities and making sure that we get them the credentials that they need because we pay them to get their CDL.

Anthony Godfrey:
So that's part of it is you get paid to get your CDL and this is a unique position as is a classroom aide position, where you get a lot of opportunity to work with students directly and build those relationships. For some students, the bus driver or the classroom aide looms very large in their lives, and those relationships are very important.

Mike:
Absolutely. I would say the the classroom assistants in special ed classrooms, they really build a wonderful relationship with each of the students and same thing with the bus drivers, right? It's the usually the first person and the last person that a student sees in the day is the bus driver.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, you get to know people, you're in their neighborhood, it's it's it's a great position and you get that CDL training which is a nice bonus. Let's talk about the licensed position, that there's a particular reason that we have as many licensed openings as we do at the elementary level.

Jane:
Yeah, I think it's important to remember that what you're seeing right now is not because people are leaving. We recently, the Board approved us to start a process where we're going to be selecting and recruiting gifted and talented specialists part-time at every elementary school in Jordan School District. So that is potentially 24 up to 48 positions that we would be looking for to fill, and we did we started with 14 of those schools this year. So some of those openings are because we created them, not because people left.

Anthony Godfrey:
The licensed positions are harder to come by for candidates and we've had a large number of applicants this year probably larger than we've had in my memory at least. Talk to us about the numbers and how they've evolved over the years.

Jane:
Yeah, so back when I started as the HR specialist about four years ago, we were averaging about 50 to 60 qualified candidates for elementary pools. Now our average over the course of a school year, so even when we've got a position that's only open for a couple of days, we're averaging 96 applicants per position, with our high this year of 195 for a second grade position at Riverton Elementary School. So when we're talking about qualified candidates, we're talking about candidates who have a professional elementary educator license. It's allowed us to really focus in on the high-quality instruction that you know the strategic plan really indicates is something that is a strong Board priority.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now let's talk about something you mentioned, and that is even when jobs are only posted for a couple of days, jobs go through different phases where they're posted for a longer period of time during a certain part of the year, and then they aren't posted as long, starting I believe in August. So speak to that timeline and what that looks like.

Jane:
So that timeline is, starting March 1st is when we post all of our positions that are generally filled. Our hard to fill positions actually start as far back as January 1st and then once we hit the March 1st, they are open for five business days. Once we hit June 1st, that narrows the timeline significantly because it's kind of our crunch time. We want to make sure that we get all the qualified educators that we possibly can prior to the first day of contract, so it could be as few as one day but as many as five. So really, those timelines start to ratchet down about June 1^st. So we're in that crunch time where we're typically seeing two to three days on an elementary or even middle school or high school license position.

Anthony Godfrey:
So if you are applying in the spring when most options are available, you may have to wait a little bit before interviews even start, but at this time of year over the summer, you really can expect interviews to happen pretty quickly and that's by policy. That's negotiated policy with our employee groups that those interviews happen on a different timeline. Now one thing that I've seen over the years is that you know if you're one of nearly 200 candidates and you're really trying for a position, don't lose hope because there are things that happen as the year approaches were even into the start of the year that we don't expect. People have to move things happen in their lives, and we do still hire at times that you wouldn't expect so I would say keep looking and keep applying. Talk to me about that.

Mike:
Absolutely. What I would say is I would tell people not to lose hope, right. Apply, keep checking, and get your foot in the door somewhere. Our substitute pool is really somewhere where you can get your foot in the door. We're really looking to hire licensed substitutes. We have a lot of substitutes in our District, and so we're really looking for high-quality licensed substitutes right now. So if you can get your foot in the door, you have a good opportunity when positions open to have your application looked at.

Anthony Godfrey:
And teachers and administrators really appreciate someone who's done a good job as a substitute, and then when they have an opening and they have a need, it's like, “Hey, wait a minute, maybe there's someone we could pick up.”

Mike:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is not just about the numbers. When you have a large number of applicants, then you end up with highly qualified, as you mentioned, highly motivated applicants who are really ready to be very effective in the classroom. Talk to me about how this has impacted student instruction to have such a good candidate pool.

Mike:
Yeah absolutely. What we've seen is having such a large candidate pool allows administrators to really dig deep into those applications and find the qualities and characteristics that align with Jordan School District, and interviewing top candidates and being able to select top candidates. Once we've selected those top candidates, we already know that they align with the . . .  they have the characteristics that we're looking for, they align with our values, and they're motivated to be high-quality teachers that our students deserve.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back more from the Human Resources Department about opportunities in Jordan School District.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Sandy:
Hello I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @ Jordan District. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
Where do people go if they want to apply?

Jane:
So we always accept digital applications on our website hr.jordandistrict.org, and then you would hit the “apply here” button. It's really big so it's kind of hard to miss. But if you ever have questions you can always reach out to us. We have our contact information on our website which is recently updated so you'll be able to reach out to the right team and the right group of individuals to help you find that perfect job.

Anthony Godfrey:
And there has been an expansion in the Human Resources Department. We've added personnel, we've shifted personnel's responsibilities so that we can provide the best support possible. We've added benefits for employees, so we really are doing a lot to try to attract the very best for our students.

Jane:
Absolutely, I would add that you know we are really focused on becoming a world-class HR department and that's not world-class in terms of education. We're talking world-class, competing with some of the biggest organizations, Fortune 500. That is our goal and where all of our aims are headed. We want to be known as some of the best, so we want to provide not only the best quality candidates for our students and for our schools, but the best quality experience for our employees that always results in great results for students.

Anthony Godfrey:
We have an onboarding process to welcome employees and make them feel part of things and give them the information they need. We also have a new educator induction that we've done for a few years, and although there are fewer positions this year with dropping enrollment, we have hundreds of new educators coming that we’ll be welcoming with a full day of activities and events.

Jane:
Yeah, I think it's important to note that when we hire educators, we don't just hire educators; we celebrate them before we ever take attendance. We want them to know that we're ready for them, that they have names and connections, and they know who their resources are- not only those names and connections but they're building relationships with the people around them. We know that another part of the the pillars of the Portrait of a Graduate is that culture of belonging and that extends not just to students; it extends to all of us. So because when you have a culture of belonging, you not only join an organization you stay.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love speaking to that group each year; it's a mix of brand new teachers who are just starting out their career, others who are restarting their career or shifting their career over to Jordan School District, and it's fun to see that energy and excitement around teaching and around the classroom. Now over the years, the Board has supported adding various personnel, various positions, and resources to help make sure that we are supporting all of our employees in every way possible. Talk about some of those changes over the years.

Mike:
So Jordan School District and the Board of Education have been so supportive with providing positions in the District that at the end of the day, provide support for students. Every elementary school has a school counselor, every elementary school has a school psychologist. Now the District is adding a gifted and talented specialist to every elementary school so that students have access to the highest quality education possible. So when we are saying that we have these openings, it's not just because people have left or are leaving; it's because the Board is authorizing additional personnel to benefit students.

Jane:
I think to add to that it's deepening our commitment to the Portrait of a Graduate. When you see openings at Jordan don't read them as people leaving. Read them as the Board investing in your students. We created these positions on purpose because Portrait of Graduate isn't just a poster on a wall. It's a staffing plan and a recruitment strategy.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're very intentional about who we're looking for and what we need them to be able to provide to students, and it's very rewarding. It's a rewarding job regardless of what you're doing, you're helping support students in Jordan School District. Talk about coaching positions. There are some athletic coaching positions out there that include one class period as part of the teaching, so they're listed as a teaching position, and that's not uncommon for athletic coaching. So talk about what those coaching positions look like.

Jane:
We are looking for people who are passionate about that particular sport. You'll see anything from basketball to soccer to track and field, volleyball, off-the-ball.

Anthony Godfrey:
We offer them all.

Jane:
We offer them all, yes. But what's really important is that one period is you're going to be teaching and coaching those skills and those traits that you want to see in a superstar athlete and making sure that you're supporting that community at that school. It's essential for us to have the right coaches because it's not just about what they do here in Jordan School District, but it's about setting them up for a trajectory that's success across their lifetime.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it is possible to teach one class period even if you aren't a full-time teacher and coach at the same time.

Jane:
Absolutely we love that.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that's that's been a great arrangement over the years. We love to have our full-time teachers coach. Sometimes that's not possible and this allows us to get our part-time or get our coaches into the classroom at least for one period. So to recap we have a number of athletic coaching positions open, and that often comes with teaching one of the classes in the schedule. We have, we always have bus driver positions available, and we have a lot of part-time positions where you can get the kids off to school, work a part-time position during the day, and still be home when they return. You can work directly with students in special ed. We tend to have openings for classroom aides there, but we do in lots of different positions, and you would be surprised at the wide range of positions that are available within Jordan School District. And we have licensed positions right now because of some new positions the Board approved, and it's surprising how those can still pop up as we get into the beginning of the school year. So, keep your eyes peeled, hop on that website, and we're here to help when you're applying in Jordan School District.

Mike:
Absolutely.

Jane:
We appreciate it and you know you always talk about in recruiting that it takes a community to run a school district so you name a position in a community, you will find it in Jordan School District.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you very much. Thanks for your time and thanks for everything you're doing to bring great educators and great employees to Jordan.

Mike:
Thanks.

Jane:
We appreciate being here it's always an honor to be part of the podcast.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you'll do today!” We'll see you out there.

School Psychologist:
I think helping your child actively engage in opportunities to make friendships is important. School is a great setting to do that. There are also plenty of other things, right? Neighborhoods are a great thing. I did not grow up with a neighborhood of kids and so that is something I so desperately wanted.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. As we head into a new school year, many students are thinking about more than just homework and new teachers. They're wondering whether they'll make new friends and fit in. On this episode of the Supercast, we talk with a school psychologist about how to make friends, keep friends, and how parents can access the tools and information they need to help their child in the process.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking today with Josie about how to make friends. Josie, introduce yourself and talk to us a little bit about your background in this area.

School Psychologist:
Okay, I work at Eastlake Elementary. I'm the school's psych. I've been there. This will be my sixth year, which is actually kind of crazy. Time flies, really, for sure. And so I teach the “Making and Keeping” class at Jordan Family Ed. So usually it's on Wednesday nights.

Anthony Godfrey:
Making and Keeping Friends class.

School Psychologist:
Yes, yes, that is the title actually. And we focus mostly on exactly that, making and keeping friends. So we start with really basic skills, like physically, like what your body should look like when you're trying to have a conversation or engage another person, right? So we call them body basics in that class. We talk about things like teasing and recognizing and expressing emotions. All of those kinds of things and how those play into making and keeping friends and why they matter.

Anthony Godfrey:
And I want to talk about all of those. First of all, for those who aren't aware, let's talk about the Jordan Family Ed Center and what those classes are like and how people can access them.

School Psychologist:
Yes, so the Jordan Family Ed Center is a free resource for anyone in our community, whether you attend Jordan District or not, which we actually get quite a few students who do not, which is wonderful. And students, there are classes for students, but there's also counseling for students. So you can come in. There's usually like an intake process if you are interested in counseling for your student or child. And then they kind of just like do an interview and figure out what the concerns are with that kind of thing. And then they set you up with someone who can match like your need. The counseling classes or the counseling sessions, I should say, are just in the evenings. So after school during the week. So that's the counseling side of it. And then the classes side of it, there are different topics for different grade levels. And then again, kind of like mix based on needs and targeted kind of topics that have been identified in our District. So there's things from like drugs, there's things about making and keeping friends, there's things about emotional regulation, there are parent seminars. So parents can come in and attend things if they have concerns or want to figure out how to help their child or like parenting classes almost. So we also have those. Again, evening times, they are in fall, winter, and spring. They run for six weeks in a session. And they are taught by our school psychs and our counselors in the District. So it kind of just depends on what the kind of need is for your student or your child. And then it's just a great free resource. And so it's one of those things that is really great for us as people in our buildings in our school to say we recognize that your child might need extra support. And so here's something we can do outside of school to also provide support in addition to what we do during school hours.

Anthony Godfrey:
And help them be more successful.

School Psychologist:
For sure.

Anthony Godfrey:
There are problems, the type that you describe, the the areas in which you provide support, where the problems may seem intractable. There's nothing I can really do to make this better. And making friends might be one of those. But there really are some things you can do to improve your ability to make and keep friends. For example, or solve other problems that might seem beyond reach. So let's talk about making and keeping as you called it. So how do students starting out a new school year approach making and keeping friends? Let's talk about some of the things that you mentioned earlier.

School Psychologist:
Okay. I think, I mean, there's an age consideration here, right? Younger kids and their friendships look considerably different from older kids and their relationships, right? When we're younger, I think we're focusing or what we're looking for from other kids are things like will you share with me and will you keep your hands to yourself? Do I feel safe, right? And then as we get older, I think there's more, there's a ton more nuance with it and what that really looks like is again the safety element, but also am I emotionally safe with you? Can I share those things with you? And then the playing obviously changes and morphs as we're older into more like that imaginative play and especially like I'm in elementary, the sixth graders, the play is conversational, right? A lot of that kind of thing. And so I think for making and keeping friends, it really just depends on the age of the kid and what they need to feel safe in that relationship and to build friendships.

Anthony Godfrey:
So then that's a clue toward what you need to do to be a friend, to be someone that everyone wants to be friends with and that is if you're younger, keeping sharing and keeping your hands and feet to yourself and later it's emotionally and through the conversations that you have, making sure the other person still feels safe.

School Psychologist:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think definitely. I think there's, there's a lot, kids sometimes feel a lot of pressure, right? Finding friends, especially when you're young, is very, can be very difficult because you might not know how or have the skills to relate to other people. You might feel uncomfortable, you might feel different, you might not feel like you fit in, and so I think helping students find themselves is really important and learning that I can be me and I can still have friends while being me, if that makes sense.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you get to be yourself and have friends, you don't have to try to say, "Okay, what do I have to mold myself into so that people will like me?"

School Psychologist:
Yes, yeah. I think there can sometimes be a little molding, right? If we're doing things the wrong way or inappropriately, right? A little learning curve there, maybe for some things, but generally people want people to be themselves and that's what they like about people.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you talked earlier about how body language can help you show that you want to be a friend. How does a student do that?

School Psychologist:
Yes, so our body basics, we call it FEVER.

Anthony Godfrey:
Body basics, FEVER.

School Psychologist:
Yes, it's an acronym for FEVER. Okay. So F stands for face the other person, right? We face our bodies specifically, usually like our shoulder and our hips towards the people that we're talking to.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

School Psychologist:
That shows interest in that I am noticing that you are there, right? So F, face the other person. E stands for eye contact in our culture, right? Eye contact is a sign of respect when we're listening and talking to someone and so in our class at Jordan Family Ed, we do a little trick too for students who feel uncomfortable making eye contact because we recognize that happens, right? So our little trick for eye contact is looking at the center of their forehead that you're talking to. So face the other person, eye contact. V is appropriate voice, right? So recognizing that there is an appropriate way of using my words in different settings. So that could be...

Anthony Godfrey:
So shouting, "You are now my friend. It might not work."

School Psychologist:
Probably not. Might freak someone out a little bit. Yes, so that goes tone of voice and volume of voice. Those are some things to think about as well. The second E is facial expressions. So recognizing that in reading other people's, but also using my own facial expressions to communicate effectively, right? Because it doesn't make sense if I am sad about something and telling a sad story but my face is like happy and smiling, right? So a little bit of cohesion between those two things. And then the last one is R relax. We do talk about this one and it being sometimes kind of tricky, right? Because inside I might not feel relaxed but giving the illusion that I am relaxed through my body language, right? Relax shoulders, relax stance, all those things make people feel more comfortable. And so that's kind of how we... that's what we call our body basics is FEVER.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. It's very concrete, something to practice. It is hard to think about the FEVE and then do the R and be relaxed while you're thinking about all the other things. But it does make sense that you that you pull... if you can pull all of that together then it's inviting for people to talk with you and and to be your friend.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. More tips and tricks for making and keeping friends at school.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female Voice:
They're out on the job in the rain, sleet, snow, ice and in the sunshine. As Jordan School District students navigate their way to and from school every day, we are truly grateful for our city crossing guards. Always vigilant and looking out for students to ensure everyone's safety. Because they work so hard protecting our kids, let's give those crossing guards a hand. If you're driving near or around schools, slow down, pay attention, watch for students and staff and follow instructions from the school crossing guards. And know our cities are always looking to hire crossing guards. If you like kids and need some flexible hours, contact your local city and apply to be a crossing guard today. Together let's make this a safe and successful school year.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the other things that you've talked about? Tell me about the teasing that you focus on.

School Psychologist:
With teasing, right, I think this one kind of ties into some of that recognizing and expressing emotions, right? Especially as students are older, the teasing element can sometimes change from like, "I'm teasing you to be mean to you," from "to I'm teasing you because it's funny," right? That I'm trying to like play with you.” And so I think there's a little bit of understanding and helping students understand and problem-solve through conversation with them, right? If they are feeling like they don't understand the teasing or "why is this happening to me?" or "why is somebody being mean to me?" Well, talk to me about that, right? Tell me what that really looks like. How are they teasing you? And then let's break that down. Are they really teasing you to be mean, right? Or are they teasing you to be mean? I mean, nice, right? There's this book, Julia Cook is a, I'm from Nebraska, so Boys Town is a big medical hospital in Nebraska. Julia Cook is an author and she writes and publishes under them and she has a book called Mean Tease versus Nice Tease or something like that. And that book kind of breaks down the difference between the two and helps students recognize the difference between the two to identify it and the appropriate way to react to it. So that kind of, I think, I think teasing is a lot of conversational breakdown. Just understanding what's behind it, why it's going on, and understanding the other person's perspective of it. Because if they're teasing to be mean, what are they really trying to communicate with me? And so that's where the recognizing and expressing feelings I think comes in.

Anthony Godfrey:
So teasing could mean more than just something mean. Suddenly I understand every time I've gone golfing with people my age, the teasing makes sense now. They wanted to be my friend. It's safe enough for us to make these jokes about each other because we know that we're friends.

School Psychologist:
Yeah, yeah. And I think that's part of it is that that student has to understand that this is a safe relationship for me to do that to you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

School Psychologist:
You know what I mean?

Anthony Godfrey:
Right. And so that, yeah. That's it. I can understand as students get older and they're transitioning into that phase where teasing might have a positive tone to it or an undertone to it, that it's difficult for kids to make that transition and understand what's happening.

School Psychologist:
Definitely. And even when there is something that if it was a mean tease, right, understanding that mean tease and then responding in a way that's appropriate. Because I have to take that situation and understand it was meant to hurt my feelings. How do I respond to that in a way that is not going to make this situation worse or make, yeah, make anything worse, right?

Anthony Godfrey:
Reward their efforts to make me feel bad.

School Psychologist:
Right. So there is some of that too of learning how to appropriately provide feedback to someone when they've made you feel a certain way. And we call those like I statements or I feel statements are really good for things like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
As an elementary school psychologist, you must deal with a lot of the ups and downs of friendships that can turn from hour to hour.

School Psychologist:
Definitely. Definitely. I see that a lot. And I, yeah, honestly for the younger students who have some of those difficulties with making and keeping friends for me and my, and this looks different for all of our school psychs, right? Because the cool part about our job is that we can kind of do what we want to do and what we feel comfortable in how we want to deliver lessons, right? Or teach things. So like I really love using books for like our younger students because I can read them a book. They're engaged with the characters and it some in some ways doesn't feel like learning, right? It feels like I'm just reading a book with someone, but we're learning about things like teasing or we're learning about things like sharing or things like that. And the older ones, when they have more self-awareness or more able to express themselves, then we're shifting more into and in my experiences, more shifting into those, the conversational stuff, right? Tell me what's going on. Let's work through this together. How are we going to fix this together kind of thing?

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me more about recognizing and expressing emotions. How do you use that as a tool to help kids make friends?

School Psychologist:
Yeah. So recognizing expressing emotions, how we use that is more, is that's kind of like the facial expressions in the body language, right? How do I read that to understand what someone might be feeling without them telling me? Because if someone is, has their arms crossed and is looking down, they're probably not receptive to having a conversation with me maybe right now, right? If they're giving off that they're upset, right? But if they are more open with their body language and they're facing me and they're making eye contact with me, that's telling me that they're more open to a conversation with me right now. So those things play into the kind of I feel or the I messages that we talked about. Are you familiar with I messages though?

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about I messages.

School Psychologist:
Okay. An I message we say has three parts. So the first one is I feel. So you say I feel and you use a feeling words, right? So I feel angry when you push me. And the last part is and I want. So I feel angry when you push me and I want you to keep your hands to yourself. So an I message or an I statement that kind of have different names really clearly communicates to someone what you're feeling, why you feel that way and what you need to change, right? Or what needs to change in the situation. Nowhere in there is it saying you're mean, you're wrong, how dare you, all these things, right? It's about me. It's my internal feeling about what happened and what I am asking for to be different. And so I think giving kids tools like that, very simple, very straightforward, right? Three parts, but it gives them a way to clearly and effectively communicate those feelings when they need to in a situation because it's very easy when things get heated or when I'm sad or when I'm dysregulated, really in any way. It's really hard for anyone, even adults to communicate their feelings effectively, but giving that tool, the structure, helps them to kind of do so in a very laid out way.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it helps you process how you feel and it helps you express that in a meaningful, effective and non-accusatory way so that you can repair a relationship or avoid being mistreated.

School Psychologist:
Yes, yeah, I really like that. I think the non-accusatory is a big part of it because it's very easy when we feel those big emotions to blame, right? And to sometimes, right, for our little ones who are still learning to yell a name back or to hit even, right? And so learning to replace those things with things that are a reflection about me stating how I feel makes it easier.

Anthony Godfrey:
And if the friendly teasing turns into hurtful teasing, this would be a way to clarify and say, "I feel sad when you make fun of whatever."

School Psychologist:
Yes. "

Anthony Godfrey:
And I want you to stop making fun of me for wearing my suit everywhere I go."

School Psychologist:
Yes, perfect example of when to use that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great.

School Psychologist:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good, because the first example I had was, "I feel happy when I eat a hot fudge sundae and I want another one." But I think that was missing the point.

School Psychologist:
No, I don't think it is though because I think, and that's one of the things we talk about that night of that class is that it doesn't always have to be the negative emotions that we clearly communicate with. It can also be the things that I like that you're doing or the things that make me happy or the things that I'm really enjoying or make me feel silly, whatever. Those are okay things and good things to communicate too. It shouldn't just be the hard stuff.

Anthony Godfrey:
And it's a good way for you to process how you're feeling even if you're not sharing that with someone else. I think, "Okay, what's happening here with me?" Good. What advice do you have for parents who are helping their children navigate friendships or make friendships, maintain them? You know, they may be moving up to middle school or to a new school or to high school. What advice do you have for parents to help their children through that?

School Psychologist:
Yeah, I think, well, there's a lot of ways, right? I think helping your child actively engage in opportunities to make friendships is important. School is a great setting to do that. There are also plenty of other things, right? Neighborhoods are a great thing. I did not grow up with a neighborhood of kids, and so that is something I so desperately wanted when I got older. And so I think that neighborhood kids are a really cool thing that our communities, most of our communities have. And then even like clubs, anything that you can sign up for, there's all kinds of clubs or activities. Great way to meet people, not only the ones that are in your immediate community, but also the ones who are a little bit further away. Those are great ways. Other things, other tips, I think giving your student or your child the freedom to make the mistakes while making friendships because we're all going to make those mistakes and there's going to be things that happen along the way that are hard for us to see our child or our student go through, right? And so it's very easy in those moments to say, "Well, this happened to me and you should do this." And so giving them some of that more time to explore how they think they can get through this and helping them along the way. Almost like and not necessarily as like a do this, but like a what do you think? Let's do it together kind of thing. I think yeah, some of that freedom to make those mistakes and figure out really again who they are and what matters to them because also part of your friendships as you get older is what does matter to you and a friend. And we all individually I think have to figure that out. So.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I feel like at the end of this interview we're friends. Am I right?

School Psychologist:
I would say so.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely. Well, thank you very much for helping us talk about how to make friends and keep them and hopefully everyone listening has lots of friends and is making even more in the coming year.

School Psychologist:
Awesome. Thank you so much.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today!” We'll see you out there.

Darin Nielsen:
Got what's called a statewide multi-campus model. Utah has had a strong interest in supporting some of our students who have these communication or sensory losses since before we became a state.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's remarkable.

Darin Nielsen:
I'm really proud to be in a state where that's true.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Students who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, blind, or low vision are supported in Utah in a unique way. On this episode of the Supercast, we sit down with the new Superintendent of the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Find out about the incredible things happening every day at the school and on their campuses throughout the state, and how their services benefit students everywhere in Utah. Follow along as we get a personal tour of the school's Millcreek campus.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're talking today with the Superintendent of Schools for the Deaf and Blind here in the state of Utah. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your journey here.

Darin Nielsen:
Oh, yeah. Great. My name's Darin Nielsen. I'm in my 31st year of education. I started out as a school counselor at Teton High School in Driggs, Idaho, way back in '94, '95. I came back to Utah, which is-- I'm from Utah originally, my wife and I. And I'm working in Box Elder School District for 21 years in a variety of positions. Maybe one of my favorite was elementary principal, most enjoyable. But I started with the State Board of Education in 2017 as the Assistant Superintendent of Student Learning. And then this past year with some changes here at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind, was asked to come over here around October in kind of a temporary or interim role. Then they opened the position formally after the legislative session and was appointed here in the May board meeting for the Utah State Board of Education.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, congratulations. And tell us about Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. I think it's a unique model. And I think it's one that a lot of people probably don't understand.

Darin Nielsen:
Yeah. Yeah. So maybe one of the most interesting things about the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind is it actually was founded. The Schools for the Deaf was founded in 1884. Then the Schools for the Blind was founded the same year that we were put in statehood, which was 1896. So, Utah has had a strong interest in supporting some of our students who have these communication or sensory losses since before we became a state.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's remarkable.

Darin Nielsen:
I'm really proud to be in a state where that's true.

Anthony Godfrey:
Absolutely. Tell us about the service model here in Utah for those who may not be familiar with it.

Darin Nielsen:
OK. We've got what's called a statewide multi-campus model. Some states will have a single campus. And students who are in need of those services will be transported there. And there will be residential students on that campus. You can imagine how challenging that would be for children and also for families to have that kind of separation. So Utah, the culture of Utah has really been family first. It's my experience growing up here and then also being a parent of five children in the state. So to have a multi-campus model that puts the services closer to where students live is really a reflection, again, of a value of the citizens of the state of Utah. So we have a campus in Ogden, a campus here in Salt Lake or Millcreek, a campus in Springville within the Nebo School District boundaries. And then we have one down in Washington County. We have a portable classroom at Bloomington Hills Elementary School, Washington County School District. It's been a great partner with us. And so we have a portable there on their campus. And then we have students in this past year at Snow Canyon High School. We had a classroom there where we were serving some students who were deaf, hard of hearing in that environment. We also have a temporary classroom in Carbon County in Price to help provide services to those students. And then -- those are for our campus services. But we also serve-- in fact, the majority of students we serve, we serve in their neighborhood schools through what we call outreach. So we provide outreach educators across the state of Utah. And they'll come in and they'll provide support to the students so they can be successful in what we would call special, the least restrictive environment, which is always a goal of that type of education. And then it might be interesting to some people. We actually begin providing services when children are born if they're identified as having sensory loss. We have great relationships with hospitals and other private service providers. And we're put in contact with parents. We provide what's called a Parent Infant Program. We begin training parents and supporting parents at the time of birth. So the PIP program or Parent Infant Program serves birth through three. And then we go into preschool services and then eventually K-12.

Anthony Godfrey:
Amazing. Do we have any residential schools where students come and live?

Darin Nielsen:
Yeah, we do. We have on our Ogden campus, we have cottages, residential living for both students who are deaf, hard of hearing, and students who are blind, low vision. It's a small number of students that fall into that category of services. Might be also interesting for the community to know that students get placed within our programs through their neighborhood schools. So we, unlike charter schools or other entities that go out and recruit students, we don't do that. We are part of the Individual Education Programming services for children. And they get access to our programs through their local school districts. So those teams, which include the parents, make decisions about what services students need and where is the best place for them to get those. So we do have some students that live in our cottages, our residential life up in our Ogden campus. They'll typically come in to us on a Saturday, a Sunday night. Our transportation looks a little different, too. We don't have big yellow school buses. We have vans, because our transportation often is point to point and it's often one or two students per route because—

Anthony Godfrey:
Point to point, meaning you pick them up right at their home and bring them right to school.

Darin Nielsen:
Right to the door so they're not out at a bus stop typically. And they'll come from all over. We've got a student this past year that their home is down in Southwest Utah, I think south of Blanding. For that student, their family and education team made a decision that would be best for that student to come up and receive services during the week. But that's rare. We also have some neighboring states that --  we have two students from Wyoming this past year that Wyoming wasn't able to meet their educational needs. So they contract was Utah, pay the full cost of services. And we have a couple students that come to our campus in Ogden from Jackson Hole area, Star Valley area, and spend the week and then go home.

Anthony Godfrey:
How many students do you serve total?

Darin Nielsen:
Yeah, that's a great question.

Anthony Godfrey:
To varying degrees, because obviously there are different service plans for various students, depending on their needs and their location.

Darin Nielsen:
Yeah. Yeah, our total students statewide, this would include our Parent Infant Program, preschool, our campus students outreach this past year. Well, the past year being from our annual report from '24, '25 was 2,218. And across the course of the year, we served 415 students on our various campuses.

Anthony Godfrey:
So 415 on campus and about 1,600 not on—

Darin Nielsen:
Through outreach services.

Anthony Godfrey:
--campuses throughout, yeah.

Darin Nielsen:
So this past year, there were 71 students from Jordan School District that we provide outreach services to in their schools within your boundaries. And in that case, traveling, a lot of times, they'll have more than one student in a school, in a particular school. And it's pretty close geographically. All the traffic can be challenging in these urban areas. But it could look a lot like you're and out back in a day, and you're in multiple sites in a day, and less burdensome. And then in southeastern and southwestern Utah, we can have an educator that might have to drive half a day for one, to provide services for one student.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, the bottom line is that wherever you are, whatever your needs are, we're going to find a way to come to you or to make sure that as a student, you're able to come to those services, if that's what you prefer. I love that it's been happening since before we became a state, that we've been trying to meet the needs of students who are deaf, blind, or limited vision, or hard of hearing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. We'll tour the Millcreek Salt Lake campus of the Schools for the Deaf and Blind.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Sandy Riesgraf:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @Jordan District. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
As you come into the position, what impact have you seen these educators have on students and families?

Darin Nielsen:
Yes, I'll share a couple of examples. One of our Parent Infant Program nights that I attended back in, I think, January. I had the privilege of sitting at a table with two sets of parents. One was a very young parent. Reminded me of my youngest son. They were probably in their early 20s. It's their first child who's dealing with blind, low vision issues. On my right side and then on my left side, I've got parents that are closer to my demographic. This is not their first child. It's not even their first child that's been dealing with vision loss. So, they've been connected with the Schools for the Deaf and Blind through a prior child. So they're kind of like the experts on this. Both sets of those parents, sitting between them, listening to them talk about their experiences and what the services the Schools for the Deaf and Blind are providing. That's through the PIP, that Parent Infant Program. They got emotional about that. And watching their children who were sitting there with them, if you would have been watching from a distance and just kind of observing, you might not even have known that they had that sensory loss. Then at graduation this last year, we had 17 graduates, all from our Schools for the Deaf, hard of hearing. Did it here in our gymnasium. And one of the unique things about our graduation is every graduate gets to speak. You can't do that in—

Anthony Godfrey:
That would take a while for most of our schools.

Darin Nielsen:
So they all get to speak and in this case, usually through ASL. And then an interpreter for those of us who aren't fluent in that language ASL. But listening to them talk about the experiences they've had over the course of their full educational continuum to this point, and talk about individual teachers and services. Some of them talked about their enrichment programs that we've mentioned that we discussed earlier. Some of them had taken them some years ago to Japan on an international trip, which they brought up. And the relationships that they were able to establish with their peers. Because here on our campus programs, especially deaf, hard of hearing, have the opportunity to have more natural relationships with peers because they can communicate directly with them without the use of an interpreter.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. We talk a lot about a Portrait of a Graduate in this state. When someone graduates from Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind, what do you hope they take away from their experience?

Darin Nielsen:
Yeah. Well, we also have a Portrait of a Graduate for our Schools for the Deaf and Schools for the Blind. Interestingly enough, they both developed-- both of those schools developed those before I came here. But I know that we hope that just like every parent, we hope as we work with the parents, we hope that they leave our educational system ready for the next step in their lives. Whatever they've chosen that to be, that they're able to be productive, happy individuals that contribute to the community in response to what our taxpayers who pay for these services hope that we are aligned with that as well. In our case, we hope they have accessibility, increased accessibility to the world, and also to relationships and people through the things they've been able to learn here and the programs we've been able to provide for them.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that. Let's take a walk through the facility and get to know the school a little bit.

Darin Nielsen:
This is space we have here. Obviously, the gym and the area down there. And then on this—

Anthony Godfrey:
So it's kind of a home base for educators who travel and are helping at various locations.

Darin Nielsen:
Our outreach educators are in northern Utah. This is kind of a home base where you'll see on a work day, you'll see them at different stations, sometimes doing ASL.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a beautiful open space here. It's nice.

Darin Nielsen:
Yeah, and one of the things that I noticed, especially at the Ogden campus, being somebody who's not as sensitive to accessibility as I should be or could be, I walk into the building. I've started to become much more conscientious about colors and changes on corners and for blind low vision as students. Something like when we put up our Christmas tree in the front entry of the Ogden campus, you have to think about that's now in a space that people are comfortable walking through that are blind. And so to acknowledge that, we put pine scent on the tree so you'd be able to smell that there's something—

Anthony Godfrey:
I see.

Darin Nielsen:
--in front of you. They have their canes as well that help them avoid—

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm sure you look at public spaces in a very different way.

Darin Nielsen:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Let's go down these stairs. Used to be a charter school and was acquired by the state. It's our largest campus program for our students who are deaf, hard of hearing. Not surprising because we're in the urban areas. We have a lot of student population.

Anthony Godfrey:
So now we're in the older portion?

Darin Nielsen:
Yeah, our AMS building. This space is dedicated for our students who are deaf, hard of hearing. We provide services K through 12 over here.

Anthony Godfrey:
What do services look like over the summer? You have the camps?

Darin Nielsen:
Yeah, you see here that just like your buildings, your custodial, your facilities team is doing all their deep work in the summer. So the space inside the building is less available. But we do-- we have camps that we provide. Because our students are located across the state, a lot of our camps are spread out. We will put them in different locations to try to become more accessible or available to students that live outside or off of the Wasatch Front. A lot of times we'll partner with those camps, with other entities that provide services to students as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you for hosting us here. And it's really nice to-- I've never been to this building. And so it's really nice to be here and learn more about the program and the people and the services that you provide. This is probably not where you expected to be when you started off. But I'm very glad you're here serving our students.

Darin Nielsen:
I feel very fortunate to be able to spend some time with these great people and students and families here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you will do today!” We'll see you out there.

Ian:
So upgraded technology for the classrooms. We will be improving the natural lighting here at the school.

Scott:
Right now we would estimate that building a new school like this would be somewhere between 250 and $300 million and we think this is about an $80 to $85 million renovation overall, so there's a huge difference in savings to the taxpayers.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are building for the future at West Jordan High School in more ways than one right now, as extensive renovations begin inside the 45-year-old building. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you inside West Jordan High School where an extreme makeover will transform many parts of the school, bringing it up to date and into more modern times. It's a makeover that is expected to save District taxpayers more than $100 million compared to the cost of a full rebuild. Let's check it out.

Anthony Godfrey:
We are at West Jordan High School talking with several of the people involved in the extensive remodel that has begun this summer. Introduce yourselves.

Mike:
I'm Mike Hutchings, the principal here at West Jordan High School.

Scott:
Scott Thomas, Administrator of Auxiliary Services.

Ian:
And Ian Roberts, the Director of Facility Services.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ian, tell us a little bit about the overall timeline and the need for remodeling West Jordan High School.

Ian:
So overall timeline of this project: we're looking at doing it in three phases. Beginning currently so we are under construction as we speak, and we will complete the construction in fall of 2029. We're going to be doing a handful of updates to the finishes in the building which include floor ceiling walls. I'm going to do some updates to some lighting, some plumbing, mechanical systems, life safety, ADA compliance, and then a couple little additions to accommodate some of the needs of the school.

Anthony Godfrey:
2029 sounds like a long ways away unless you're responsible for completing the entire renovation of West Jordan High School by that time. Then it feels pretty close. What are some of the enhancements that West Jordan will enjoy? What are some things that will be available that aren't currently available?

Ian:
So upgraded technology for the classrooms, so we will kind of be on par with a lot of our other high schools and the equipment that they've got in their spaces. We will be improving the natural lighting here at the school. So, the Commons area is actually going to raise, and then we're going to cut in some additional windows throughout to kind of help with the staff and students' well-being here at the school. And then obviously the additions and classrooms are going to fulfill the needs that the schools have got there as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're going to walk through the building in a few minutes, but Scott, tell us about how this fits in with other renovation projects we've done. This is the second high school renovation.

Scott:
Correct. We did Bingham High several years ago, and this fits in well with that. I mean, we're going to end up saving a lot of money by doing this renovation versus building a new school.

Anthony Godfrey:
Talk about the difference in price between a renovation and building a new school.

Scott:
Well, right now we would estimate that building a new school like this would be somewhere between $250 and $300 million. And we think this is about an $85 million renovation overall. So there's a huge difference in savings to the taxpayers. We feel good about that. We know that every area of this building will be touched to some degree. And we're just excited for the outcome and for the improvements that everybody will enjoy.

Anthony Godfrey:
And Bingham was our first high school renovation in West Jordan. West Jordan is the oldest high school that has not been renovated.

Scott:
Correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
Bingham was the older building. And talk to me about what the staging process has been. All those portables out front. And what's the plan for allowing this to go a little faster than it might if we were restricted to those summers that seem shorter and shorter every year?

Scott:
Yeah. Well, we learned some things in the Bingham renovation. We have nine -- basically we have nine good weeks in the summer to try and get an awful lot of work done. So we learned from the Bingham renovation, we were a little more strategic on this project in that we decided we'd work on it year-round. We'd take larger bites during the summer months and smaller bites during the school year. And to accommodate that, we moved in 12 portables out in the parking lot. We created some additional parking that when this project is over, the school will enjoy some enhanced and greater parking. But we moved some portable classrooms out there so that we can take those smaller bites during the school year and still accommodate the teaching and learning needs of our students.

Anthony Godfrey:
What is the expected life span of this school once it's been renovated? This takes care of some seismic issues, technology issues, makes spaces available in the school that weren't thought of when this school was built. So with all those enhancements, how long do we expect the building to last?

Scott:
We would expect this building, after everything's done, to last at least another 40 years. It really extends the life of this building.

Anthony Godfrey:
Talk to me from the principal's perspective, what are some of the things you're looking forward to most? And how are people feeling about having their innovation? It gets worse before it gets better, but it gets a lot better.

Mike:
Yes, I think overall people are pretty excited about it and are willing to go through some difficult times here in the next couple years to get to that end result. But as we went through and planned this, we walked through several high schools, some brand-new, some remodels. One thing that I felt was pretty interesting was in some of the remodels, there were just bits and pieces of areas that were touched. Here, the plan is every classroom, every part of the building is going to be remodeled. So we're excited about the additions, we're excited about just the overall better learning spaces that we'll have. And there's just a lot to be excited about.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's something to keep in mind. There's a lot of intentionality about deciding how those learning spaces are structured and making sure that this is an environment where it's enjoyable to be for eight hours a day. There are some very specific things we can do to enhance learning in terms of making sure the learning environment is everything it ought to be. It also helps with school spirit to have this new exciting building and to have the opportunity to update. It's kind of the best of both worlds. It's an update, but it's also the traditional building that everyone is fond of and connected to.

Mike:
Yeah, absolutely. In fact, even though we aren't at the point of enjoying the new parts yet, just the fact that we're starting to see some changes in the buildings brought a lot of excitement and school spirit.  

Anthony Godfrey:
We've seen a lot of interest from the community as well, people who went to West Jordan, who are excited to see things updated. Now you were able to sit down and be part of the discussions about what was needed. What were some of the things you talked about?

Mike:
Yeah, like I said, we felt like it was important that first of all the classrooms were addressed. So we have new technology. We have plans of having ceiling-to-floor whiteboards. Just a lot of things built in that we feel like could facilitate better learning. Some smaller areas outside of the classroom where students can meet in small group situations, discuss things, come up with projects, those things. But yeah, it was a pretty extensive project as we looked back at just the planning stages of it. I looked back at my email just to get some information about some things I needed to discuss with somebody and some of those discussions started well over a year ago.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Mike:
And so –

Anthony Godfrey:
A lot of work, a lot of thought, and a lot of planning went into it. And the Board wrestled a lot with exactly what to do. And I think everyone's excited about the path that we chose, where we save a lot of money, but we get a lot of advantages for students once this renovation is done. But it's also exciting to be part of it, to be here and to see the transformation, which is what we're going to do now. Let's walk out and take a look at some of the changes that are happening now.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back. More inside the renovation at West Jordan High School.

Male Voice:
Never miss an episode of the Supercast by liking and subscribing on your favorite podcasting platform. Find transcripts for this episode and others at supercast.jordandistrict.org.

Female Voice:
Does your student want to become a veterinarian, commercial pilot, programmer? Maybe they want to make a difference as a dental assistant. These are just some of the programs offered as part of Career and Technical Education, CTE, in Jordan School District. CTE provides the technical skills needed to prepare students for future employment or for a successful transition to post-secondary education. Career and Technical Education provides work-based learning opportunities. We partner with industry experts to offer apprenticeships and internships with students working in the real world at real jobs while going to school. The CTE experience starts in our elementary schools with the kids' marketplace and grows through middle and high school. To explore all CTE has to offer in Jordan School District, visit cte.jordandistrict.org today and let's get your child started on the pathway to a profession.

Anthony Godfrey:
How long have you been principal here?

Mike:
This is going into my fourth year.

Anthony Godfrey:
Into your fourth year and you've done some rebranding in addition to the remodeling. You changed the logos and there's some Easter eggs in those logos.

Mike:
Yeah, we did. We, in fact, on one of the logos we have the number of spots on the jaguar, the number of people in the first graduating class.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, wow.

Mike:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Which is?

Mike:
Which is, I can't remember the exact number, but it was around in the 120s if I remember correctly.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow, that's so cool. That is great. Now we're in the jackhammer zone. Things are happening. We're going past the sign that says "Danger Construction. Keep out." And we're into the Commons area here. Wow, that looks really big when there are no tables here. So, Ian, talk to us about what's happening here in the Commons.

Ian:
So here in the Commons, we're actually going to bring the floor up. It is recessed currently. We're actually going to bring everything up to the same level. It will help us with some ADA accessibility. In addition to the floor, we are going to raise the ceiling and add some lights and some windows to bring in more of that natural light and make it look a little more—

Anthony Godfrey:
The larger the room, the higher the ceiling needs to be so you don't feel like you're trapped in this little very claustrophobic space.

Ian:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
So raising the floor and raising the ceiling, some additional lighting, and those are some things that have happened in other schools, not just the Bingham remodel as well.

Ian:
That is correct. So we-- I don't want to say that we've modeled this after Alta, but we've definitely got some ideas from the construction that's taken place there.

Anthony Godfrey:
We have multiple buildings in the District, and Alta, of course, was previously part of Jordan School District. So, at various times and various stages, we would adopt a model and then build multiple high schools or elementaries with that same floor plan, and then kind of modify as the years go on. So, we've learned from the remodel of Alta is what you're saying.

Ian:
Absolutely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Let's talk about how this space is used by students and how this is going to help once we have a more inviting space here.

Mike:
So this-- yeah, this is definitely one of the gathering spaces in the school. One thing that I'm excited about is we have a few spaces that are multi-use spaces that can be used for some classroom instruction, some meetings, banquets, a whole host of things. And so this is one-- the Tech Atrium is probably the room that I'm most excited about in the building. It will have some big-screen TVs up in the front, retractable seating, so it can be used for some large meetings as well as some banquets and being able to move tables in and have some small group things as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
I understand that as part of the demolition you uncovered a board signed by some student body officers with a statement about a rival school. Is that accurate?

Mike:
That is accurate.

Anthony Godfrey:
We will not name that school, but I'm wondering whether you are going to hide anything in this remodel, maybe sign a board or bury a time capsule or something. Is there-- are there any plans for memorializing yourself or your student body officers here?

Mike:
We don't have any specific plans yet, but I can guarantee that we will build that in somehow.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, what I just heard is that you aren't going to tell me what your plans are, but you have it all cooked up and ready to go.

Mike:
You might be right.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, all right. Perfect. That's fair enough. All right, let's take a look at the gymnasium. One of the features of schools built this way is that you have one large gym to divide off rather than separate gyms.

Mike:
Correct. So we have, yeah, three gyms in one currently.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what are the changes that are going to happen here?

Mike:
So as far as the gym itself goes, we will still have the gym that's on the far west side. We'll have the main gym in the middle, but then on the east side, on that third gym, we will be building a hallway between the two gyms and we'll have an additional auxiliary gym that we'll be able to use.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's going to be nice to be able to be in a completely separate room because right now a curtain just doesn't do the trick.

Mike:
Correct. And so you imagine cheer and drill trying to practice at the same time with their different music, those type of things. It'll be possible to have them practice at the same time in the two different gyms.

Anthony Godfrey:
I think it would be easy to underestimate just how many activities are going on at a high school and just how much space you need to be sure students have all those opportunities.

Mike:
Yeah, our gyms are currently used nonstop.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. We just opened the door going outside from the gym and we walk into lots of dirt that will be the new weight room. Talk to us about this, Scott.

Scott:
I'll let Ian take this one.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ian, tell us about how this dirt is going to turn into a weight room and the need for that.

Ian:
So, yeah, they've gone ahead and excavated the asphalt and concrete in this area. Going to add some footings and foundation walls. This particular space is going to house the dance room, the weight room, and the aerobics.

Anthony Godfrey:
These are amenities that have not been available previously. The weight room was here, but it was very small.

Ian:
Pretty similar with each of these programs, I believe.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm a guy who needs a large weight room. I need a lot of variety, work all those muscle groups, and I'm glad these kids will be able to do that. Hutch, you know what I'm talking about, right?

Mike:
I do, yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
All right. So, how about parking spaces ultimately? Again, this is a situation where it's going to get worse before it gets better. This is part of the driver ed lot and the parking lot. What's the net result on parking space?

Ian:
I believe we're almost a -- we will equal out when this project is complete. So, once those portable classrooms move out of the front of the school, I believe we're going to maintain the same amount of parking that we've had. In this back area, where we have taken some parking, we are going to expand to the west to create some additional parking, which the new building footprint has overtaken.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's -- West Jordan has always enjoyed a larger footprint, I think, than a lot of our schools. So, there's space to expand and still have lots of practice fields out there.

Mike:
Correct. Yeah, we'll have to coordinate a little bit better on some of the spaces that we do currently have. But the great thing about West Jordan High School is there is a lot of grass space that we will be able to maintain.

Anthony Godfrey:
They're having some nice upgrades out back with concession stand in the not too distant past and good field space and a great stadium out there. Tell me about the Black Box Theater that we're adding.

Mike:
So, right now we have some small theater presentations that we put some seating up on stage and just have an intimate performance there. We'll be able to use that Black Box Theater for those types of performances. In addition to that, we'll just be able to use it for a lot of our arts needs to be able to perform and practice and those type of things.

Anthony Godfrey:
Lots of performances can be held there and meetings and that sort of thing. And again, that's something that other schools have had access to that, because of the age of the building, just wasn't included in the original plans for West Jordan High School.

Mike:
Yeah, and in addition to that, we'll be able to use it as a classroom by our theater teacher, so it'll be used on a daily basis.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now, the auditorium here actually has a feature that no other auditorium has, and that's closing off those rooms at the back corners of the auditorium. I've always thought that was interesting. These tracks and these walls that you can close in to get a couple of enclosed classrooms at the back of the auditorium during the school day.

Mike:
Yeah, it's pretty interesting, those accordion doors.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, you're going to have to give up those accordion doors probably. Can you spare those?

Mike:
So the Black Box Theater space will be right here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Mike:
So in addition to that Black Box space, it's going to be nice because we're going to have some large entry doors, and these doors will be larger as well. So it's going to be easier to get props in and out to be able to use with the auditorium.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great. Well, this is really exciting. Can't wait to see it, and I'm glad you're here to set that vision and really create a legacy here at West Jordan for decades to come.

Mike:
We're all very excited about it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Ian, Scott, thanks for all your hard work making this possible, putting our taxpayer dollars to great use and saving money and creating an incredible space for students.

Scott:
Thank you.

Ian:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you'll do today!” We'll see you out there.