Author: communications

Superintendent Godfrey:
Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It's not a typical summer of rest and relaxation for nearly 100 middle school students at Jordan School dDistrict. That's because they are immersed in things like abstract reasoning, problem-solving and computer science. In this episode of the Supercast, we're going to explore something called the Pre-Freshmen Engineering Program or PREP, which is an academically rigorous mathematics-based summer enrichment program. Find out how this program is giving students the opportunity to earn college credit at a very young age. Our guest today is Stacy Pierce, who started the PREP program for students in Jordan School District. Stacy, thanks for joining us.

Stacy:
Glad to be here.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Jordan PREP is the first program, and you are the first person I highlighted with the Board as Superintendent. I get to do a little Superintendent highlight at the beginning of the meeting, and I think it was maybe two weeks before my first meeting. I saw you the culminating event for Jordan PREP last summer, and I bumped the person I already had scheduled. I put you on the agenda just because I was so impressed with your program. So, thanks for talking about it today.

Stacy:
Thank you, I loved it. Thank you for inviting me back.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Give us just an overview of what Jordan PREP is about.

Stacy:
I'd be happy to. Jordan PREP is a program that targets under-represented students. We start recruiting students from the sixth grade. We don't talk to parents, we only talk to students. So the students self-select for this program and they enter in sixth grade and now, believe it or not, they're going to exit in 12th grade. At the time we started recruiting last year, it was a three year program. They invest six weeks of their summer vacation and they choose to study logic, physics, computer science, engineering, statistics, algebraic structures, computer programming, and technical writing. We are in our third year of this program for the Jordan School District. We're the only school district in the Nation with this program. Now, this program has been around 40 years, but in general, it's supported by colleges, not by school districts. So it's a very, very exciting program. We love it. And we're doing it online this year and, believe it or not, we love it online. So that's Jordan PREP.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I'm really interested in hearing how it has transitioned to the online experience. But,  one of the things I thought was particularly impressive about the program as you described, it is the number of guest speakers that you involve to inspire the kids and give them some vision for what they can do with their lives.

Stacy:
I'll tell you, the guest speakers this year have been knocking it out of the ballpark, but every single year I say that. So we try to get a representative population of career speakers. There are a very diverse population of career speakers, men, women of all ethnic diversity, that come and speak to our students. And when we're in-person, we do it every single day. And when we are online, we've done it twice a week. Believe it or not, it's been as effective online as it has been in person. So these speakers come from all areas of STEM. They come from medicine, they come from the natural sciences. They come from engineering. We've had ornithologists come and bring a peregrine falcon. We've had bat specialists come and bring that little itty bitty schools. We've had engineering from every single discipline. We have the University of Utah Games, masters program professor coming this week. We've had presidents of companies. We've had lawyers, we've had bankers, from every discipline that touches on STEM. We've had common inspire our students. It's a big part of the program. Probably hard work is the biggest part of the program. And right next to it would be those career speakers and our teachers and our teaching assistants, inspiring our students and coming from a very diverse background.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Why do you think it's so important for them to hear from people who have found success?

Stacy:
Well, the number one thing, I think, is they not just talking about their success, but they talk about their failures. They talk about their challenges. They talk about their struggles and a lot of these students have all of the above. Our last speaker was a lawyer and a student asked, "Did you ever think about quitting law school?" And she said, every single day. But the thing that inspired me was something very negative. Somebody said that to me and it rang in my head every single day. And I though, now, wait a minute. I am smart. I do deserve this because I work hard. And so every single speaker brings that to the table for our students. Not just their success and what their career looks like today, but how they got there and their journey.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I love that, and I sensed from the kids, when I saw the culminating event, you expect a lot of them.

Stcy:
I do. Fortunately, sometimes it's our hardest life experiences bring us the farthest. I just put six kids on probation, right? So this online school, I should just be grateful that they show up. But that's not good enough.  They're expected to keep up with their work. They're still expected to be on time every day, they're expected to be participating and they have to be on their cameras. We have to see their faces every day so that we get a chance to build that tribe. My expectations haven't lowered this summer. In fact, maybe they're higher, right? So these kids need to push through this. It's midterms and we'll be at the end of the program in just two weeks. And I think every single one of them will meet those high expectations. We're not lowering our expectations just because it's online. They know it, they sign up, they are rising to the occasion, just like they did before.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, it's the best example I can think of, of how high expectations brings the best out in students, because implicit in that is that you believe in them.

Stcy:
We do, we absolutely do. We had one student show up today and he stayed online with all the teachers. I said, are you comfortable talking to all of us? And he said, "Yes, I want to know if the reason you're kicking me out of Jordan PREP is because of football". And I said, "No, absolutely not. You're not on time. You missed and you're missing assignments and I need you to be the very best version of yourself. And I believe you can. You're not kicked out of Jordan PREP. You're given an opportunity to become the best version of yourself that you possibly can. I know you can do it. All of these TA's know you can do it. We're here for you. You just tell us what we have to do to help you be successful because we know you can." So, that's what we do.

Superintendent Godfrey:
It's obvious they get the message. I can't think of a more inspiring meeting I've been in with teachers and students interacting. And, um, it was just really apparent to me that you had made a permanent impact in their lives.

Stacy:
Well, we ended that conversation with we love you and, and he said, thanks for being the best. And I know that on Monday, every single one of his assignments will be done because we truly care about these kids and they know we love them and it's through love and holding those expectations high that I believe that these kids are going to change the world. I truly believe that.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I don't doubt it for a second. Tell me more about the rest of the staff.

Stacy:
Oh, I'd be happy to. I try very, very hard to make my staff as diverse as my population of students are. I have an amazing staff of both teachers and teaching assistants. The teaching assistants generally come from the college population. These are young people that bond closely with these students. I have an engineering student from Salt Lake Community College. He just graduated from Salt Lake Community College and on one of our field trips to Merit Medical, we were able to provide him with a job. So now, on the weekends, he works at Merit Medical, through the week, thank heavens, he works for us. And he's a young, hispanic man named Renee. And we all hope and pray that he doesn't become an engineer and that he actually becomes an educator. There's no question about it, but someday I do think he'll return to the world of education because he is such a powerful influence on our students.

In addition, we have  two Hispanic teachers. mr. Baez was the Teacher of the Year for Jordan, at Western Junior High or Middle School. And he's a phenomenal problem-solving teacher, but all of our teachers are absolutely amazing. And all of our teaching assistants are absolutely amazing and they're such an inspiration to the students. There's nothing they won't do for these students. They're incredible.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, great people get attracted to a great program like that and the chance to really make a difference in the lives of students. Speaking of that, you talked earlier about hoping that Renee stays an educator instead of becoming an engineer and you did things in the opposite order.

Stacy:
Yes, I do. I do think that Renee will go into engineering ,as I did.  I spent 30 years in the world of engineering. I was a Principal eEngineering Manager at a company called Rockwell Collins, formerly Evans and Sutherland.  We worked on flight simulators for the military, as well as the commercial airlines. It was a phenomenal career. There wasn't a day that I didn't enjoy myself, or I didn't learn something. But when my father passed away, and he was an educator on the Navajo Reservation. I decided that it was time to become an educator myself. I had an education degree in math, computer science and statistics, but I never used it until 30 years later. And that's when I joined the field of education and was fortunate enough to get a job at West Jordan Middle School. I always knew that I wanted to start a program to help under-represented students and pave their path to careers in STEM. So I found the PREP program and brought it to Jane Harward and she found the funding from Boeing. And here we are. We have five additional years of funding from Merit Medical, and we just won a National Science Foundation Grant to extend it through high school. It's been a dream come true.

Superintendent Godfrey:
You've had donors dying to be a part of this that have really wanted to be associated with this program, after they see what a great impact it has on students.

Stacy:
Right. So, to quote Fred Lampropoulos, he said, "This is my hood. These are my students. I'll do anything I can to support this program". So there's a real bonding to our neighborhood, our family, our tribe. And when you have a program that has the magic components that make students want to literally give up their summer and not hang out with their friends for six weeks to study math, that's insane. Who does that? Right? And we don't ever talk to a parent until the mandatory meeting. We never speak to a parent. These kids are the ones who want to better their lives and better the lives of their families.

Superintendent Godfrey:
It's empowering. And it's focused on students beginning to end.

Stacy:
Exactly. Hopefully, we'll be able to get very close to an Associate's degree in technical engineering by the time they finish high school, so they're on their way, their path is paved. They've got the analytical skills, the problem-solving skills to truly make a difference in this world. These are the kids that are going to solve the COVID problem. These are the kids that are going to solve the rest of the problems that are out there that yet need to be solved.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Absolutely. And when you see that you've been underserved, but now you prove yourself in a program like this, nothing is too daunting.

Stacy:
Nothing is too daunting. There's nothing, these students can't do.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back with what parents need to know about getting their students involved in PREP.

(13:59):
Do you want to know what's going on in Jordan School District? Get updates on the latest information that could impact you and your child, or just find an uplifting story about the good things happening in schools throughout the District. Check out our website at jordandistrict.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter at Jordan District.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Stacy, what role do parents play? I know that you don't talk with parents immediately when students are signing up for the program, but ultimately, what part do parents play in student success?

Stacy:
You know, there's no way that students can be successful in Jordan PREP without that parental support. So, historically, the parent's responsibility was to make sure that the students had a ride to Jordan PREP and a ride home. And if they didn't, we tap into the village and find them a ride to PREP and a ride home. They also have to encourage the students to make sure that their work is done and make sure that they are loving and supporting them and encouraging them to stay up on their work. In addition, a lot of students need to take care of their little brothers and sisters during the summer. That means that the responsibility is back on parents to find additional support for those little brothers and sisters.

Now, with it being online, the parents need to provide a quiet environment. We did provide heads headphones with microphones for each student, but the distractions can be great. The parents have been wonderful at eliminating those distractions. We've had grandmothers sit in their classes with their students all day long. It's been absolutely beautiful to watch that, you know, a grandma of one of our Polynesian students just learning right alongside of him and enjoying the program right alongside of him. It's been absolutely beautiful. So the parents are critical part of PREP.

And when we have the unfortunate situation where we have to put a student on probation and encourage them to catch up and continue to be a part of the program, it's the parents that come and say, thank you. We support you. We understand you're not going to lower those standards and we don't want you to. So we've had phenomenal support, even in those difficult situations from our parents. They're just amazing.

We've had mothers go back to school and finish their high school degree because their children are in PREP and they want to show their children that they want to go learn, and they want to be better themselves to encourage their students to continue and be an example to them. So it's kind of a full circle situation with parents. Believe it or not, a full circle where the students are doing something really hard encourages their parents to go do something really hard and makes their students proud of them.

Superintendent Godfrey:
The impact can be immediate, in a lot of ways.

Stacy:
It really can. It absolutely can.

Superintendent Godfrey:
When you presented to the Board, there were some stunning statistics that you cited about what happens when someone goes into the PREP program. And I'm not going to ask you to come up with those off the top of your head, but really, students who would have very little chance statistically of graduating from college, suddenly going through this program have a very high chance of graduating from college and well beyond.

Stacy:
Oh, absolutely. I actually, I can  quote those too. With the population that we serve, of over 50% minority, over 50% girls, 71% are on free lunch. So they are low income. And 68% of the students do not have a parent who either graduated from high school or went to college. That's our demographics. So with that demographic, you would expect 15% of these students to go to college and less than 5% of them to actually graduate. The PREP program did not start with Jordan PREP. It started 40 years ago in Texas, and they've gathered those statistics. It turns out that the kids willing to invest their summers are not losing their skills over the summer. They're gaining mathematical ability. 90% of PREP students go to college.  From that 90% that go to college, 68% graduate from college and from that 68%, 64% actually take the difficult path in my opinion, which is to graduate in a STEM career.

Now of that 68%, 57% are minority and 64% are girls. So, if you think about this 40 years ago, girls pursuing degrees in STEM, that's unheard of. The statistics statistics are what drew me to this program. I spent six months studying STEM programs out there, deciding if I wanted to join an existing program, which is always better because you don't spend the money creating it, or start a new program. There was no reason to start a new program. This program had the success statistics. That made sense. That  is what I wanted to be a part of.

Superintendent Godfrey:
It's staggering, how this reverses the pattern and changes lives that we know otherwise may not have access to the resources that they now see as something that is within their grasp.

Stacy:
Absolutely. So the second they joined the program, these kids know what they're a part of and what they're a part of is a path to success. And that is probably why we have only lost one student from our third year class. All the students that joined us the first year, we've only lost one student, and that was because of extracurricular activities. They just decided, and that's the beautiful, right, that extracurricular activities would not allow them to focus enough on the program to be successful in both. And that's totally understandable, totally supportive of that student's decision. But students want to better their futures and they want to better the futures of their family. They know that this program has all of the key components to help them.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Are there specific stories you could tell us about individual students?

Stacy:
Oh, absolutely. Our first year, and I get so teary eyed every time I tell this, a student lost her father and we only allow three absences in the summer. We always tell the students that you can always go to school, but you can't always be a part of PREP. You can miss three times, that's it. So if you feel like you need to go out for a week, this isn't the program for you because you're not going to be able to come back. After that week long vacation, we just cover too much material every single day. But, the first year, we had a little girl who lost her father from brain cancer. And, of course, we told her that she is more than welcome to miss as long as she needed to miss in order to help her through that time.

But two days later, not three but two days later, she was back and  as one of our strongest students. And she's still with us today. There are so many stories of the resilience of these students and their commitment to this program and their ability to bounce back. Some from things that I could never have bounced back from at that age. We had a student that left because of medical reasons to go back to Taiwan for medical treatment for a year, she came back this year and she's on her way, moving to South Carolina. But every morning her parents wait until PREP is over and then they get back on the road. The next morning, they're in a different hotel and they wait until PREP is over and they're back on the road. So she didn't just say, I'm sorry, I'm moving to South Carolina. She made sure and her parents made sure that she could continue to be successful in our program. So, true resilience from these kids. They touch my heart every single day.

Superintendent Godfrey
It just, it's impossible for me to describe how proud I am of the work that you're doing and how thrilled I am to have you in Jordan District.

Stacy:
Well, we couldn't do it without your support. So thank you so much for being supportive  of a program that is my dream come true and is definitely changing the lives of our students.

Superintendent Godfrey:
When I first met you, our students in Jordan PREP made so much progress in the program. There wasn't anywhere for them to go next. They go back into regular programs and there wasn't a next step. Isn't that true?

Stacy:
That is so true. And so now we're so grateful that last year, after our closing ceremony, that you came to and we're so grateful that you were there, the head of the Engineering Department at Salt Lake Community College was also in attendance. I had been courting him for four years when I came to work for Jordan School District. I wanted to start the program with Salt Lake Community College because that's the natural fit. Sure. They were in flux of leadership at that time and it didn't work out. But after he sat through that closing ceremony and looked into the faces of our students and saw the diversity and the population of our students and the families, and really got to feel our tribe, he came back and said, "Let's write a grant together for National Science Foundation and extend this through high school."

Without that ladder for the kids to climb, there's a possibility we'd lose a few. There is always a possibility we'll lose a few. So we wrote a grant with Salt Lake Community College, and believe it or not, the first day of online PREP, we found out that we had received that grant with Salt Lake Community College. Now our students will extend to a fourth year in the summer and do a Capstone Pro Project of their choosing. And then their junior and senior years, there'll be over on the Salt Lake Community College Campus, taking college classes and graduating with at least their certification, if not their Associates degree in Engineering Technology. And that particular degree feeds into Weber State University, manufacturing and engineering seamless. They'll also graduate with a small scholarship to help them continue their education and the ability to make money, decent money while they're going to college. So, it's a beautiful transition we have now.

Superintendent Godfrey:
So how many students are currently involved?

Stacy:
We have 96 students online this summer.  We had to pay for a Zoom, professional license that will handle 500 because there's 100 to 500, all online. They are all on their cameras. We see their beautiful faces every single day. And with my staff and with the speakers, we're well over a hundred. Four our closing ceremony, we'll invite grandparents, we'll invite aunts and uncles, and we hope to use all 500 spots for our closing ceremony.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, please reserve one for me.

Stacy:
You got it. Of course.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I would love to be a part of that again. I don't think I'll ever miss it again.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, thank you so much. We don't ever want to miss it again. Tell me what was the transition to doing this online like?

Stacy:
Oh, it was very interesting. Every single PREP Program in the Nation, did their own thing. We had a choice and I felt very privileged that I had been able to do online teaching prior to making the decision of what PREP would look like. And so, as an online teacher, I taught a normal class three times a day, once during the time slot I was allotted and two in the evening for those students that had to go to work. What I found is that I had students that were coming to all three classes, even though they knew the answers, the very first class of the day, and they were doing it for the social interaction. So I knew that we had to keep that component in PREP. What we do is online teaching live for 30 minutes, and then we have a social engagement for 30 minutes and then back to online teaching for 30 minutes.

Superintendent Godfrey:
So what happens during the social engagement?

Stacy:
They'll bring their pets to school, have Spirit Days where they have funky hats or funky socks, or we say, "I spy with my little eye", something in your background that helps us get to know you better. So the social engagement and the building of the tribe is still in effect and building those relationships because they don't come from one school. They come from all of our Title I schools and so we have to be able to build those relationships and then learn. And they say that you learn 75% faster if you're actually having fun. So that's the fun component of PREP that we've been able to maintain. And then on Fridays, we go on virtual field trips because we can't go on real field trips. We go on virtual field trips with the component of our program. There is gratitude. We write thank you notes to our speakers. They can also write thank you notes to their family or to one of the teachers or TA's. So, we've kept the component of gratitude alive. And then we do robots. We built robots the rest of the time and they struggle building those robots and they learn through that struggle. So we've kept all of the components of PREP, the hard work, the inspiration, the fun, the building of the tribe and the gratitude all alive.

Superintendent Godfrey:
What an incredible program. That's fantastic. Maybe you could read the sentence what you have posted up behind you, of learning things about you from your background, the mathematics quote strikes me there.

Stacy:
I could click search and then I select quotes for them to decorate my classroom the first year that I was a teacher. And I thought, even on those bad days, I can look at these pictures of nature and these inspirational quotes and I'll be okay. One says, "Mathematics is not only for solving numbers. It's for dividing sorrows, subtracting sadness, adding happiness and multiplying love and forgiveness".

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, I think that's a great summary of what happens in Jordan PREP.

Stacy:
I do too.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Hey, Stacy, I've heard tell of a Swag Wagon. Tell me about that.

Stacy:
Well, industry is very kind to us, as well as businesses. Once you tell them the story of Jordan PREP, they've been incredibly generous and we always have a Swag Table and we reward kindness. We reward our Student of the Week. We reward the best note taking for the week, but this year we can't have a swag table. So I made my car into a Swag Wagon and every window of my car has words, such as PREP Strong. So our logo this year, our slogan is PREP Strong because it's difficult to go to PREP online. And instead of little gears, we have little COVID viruses on our T shirts and on my car. It says,  Jordan's Wagon. It says PREP Strong. It says, Believe in Yourself. It says Computer Science, Statistics, Physics. Every window is decorated. I drive up to the houses and I interrupt the students from class. And those students that have been selected by their TAs and their teachers come out and select something from the swag in the Jordan Wagon. It's a lot of fun to visit those students at home. In fact, you should come some day. It is a treat to visit their homes and see how much pride their parents have and their brothers and sisters have. They all run out of the house and there's three doors worth of swag that they have to weed through and select what it is that they want. I had one student, yesterday, who would not leave class. His brother kept saying somebody at the door for you.  And he would not leave class, he's the Student of the Week. This wagon has been just a lot of fun.

Superintendent Godfrey:
That's amazing. I would love to join the Swag Wagon. Let me know. I'll hit the road with you. Thank you so much for spending time with us and for the wonderful things you do for our kids.

Stacy:
Well, thank you and thank you for your support. And I'm grateful to my amazing staff and my amazing students.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Please thank everyone for me. And I will definitely be there for graduation.

Stacy:
Perfect. I'll send you an invite right away.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on the Supercast. And remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today, even though it's summer, we'll see out there.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Today, we're talking about the enormous amount of work that is underway as we prepare to reopen schools this fall, after they were dismissed last March due to the pandemic. We know that there is a lot yet to be decided, but we would like parents, students, and employees to know about the unique and unprecedented plan for deep cleaning, sanitizing and providing meal service in our schools, as we make every effort to keep students, teachers, and staff as safe as possible. We're going to start by speaking with the Director of Custodial and Energy Services, Steve Peart. Steve, welcome.

Steve:
Thank you.

Superintendent:
You've been on the show before.  We have asked you come on one more time. You're considered a friend of the show. So welcome.

I know that you're doing a lot of work preparing for the fall, and we just want to talk with you about some of the cleaning and disinfecting procedures that will be in place and some of the equipment that we've purchased to help keep schools as clean as possible in the fall. I would note that in the spring there was the ability. while students were not in school. to do a lot of the deep cleaning that normally would happen over the summer. From my understanding, we've been able to catch up on a lot of work orders during that time. Is that correct?

Superintendent Godfrey:
Yes, it is. We've done relatively two extra months of summer cleaning that is totally summer cleaning because there were still people occupying the buildings. It still gave us a time to go through  the classrooms with additional thoroughness in the cleaning and disinfecting, all the desks and stuff were cleaned and disinfected. We were able to use that time for getting ready to come back to school. There was a lot to do, but there was also some additional time to take some things off the to-do list.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Yes. Tell us about the equipment that has been purchased for the fall. The Board approved some additional equipment for each building.

Steve:
Okay. We have purchased some sprayers that will enable us to go through and spray each area down. Those can be used after school. They're not necessarily for during the day or for when students are present. You may have heard that they're called "misters". They've also been called "foggers". It's just a way of dispensing disinfectant and being able to get into areas that you couldn't normally get into with hand wiping,

Superintendent Godfrey:
I was in a Zoom focus group meeting with fifth graders, and I described how we have a machine that uses fog to clean playground equipment because they wanted to be sure they were able to still go out to recess. And one fifth grader asked, "So does it create a fog around the whole playground that just kind of stays there? So we'd be playing in the fog?" And I explained to him that, no, it just sends the cleaner around the surfaces. And I'm really excited about having that equipment. That means that we would have one per school. Is that correct?

Steve
Yeah, there would be at least one per school. Once all the equipment arrives, there should be at least one per school. Some of the larger buildings are going to have mobile pieces of equipment because they are going to need to clean sports equipment in between uses. Some of those kinds of things will need to be done multiple times a day. This will also enable a head custodian or somebody to go into a restroom, (which, in the past, the restrooms have been cleaned and disinfected after school, which will continue to happen), but there might be times where they need to go in multiple times and just do a quick disinfectant for the restroom during the day.

Superintendent Godfrey:
That will increase the efficiency with which custodians can disinfect surfaces, even during the day.

Steve:
Correct. An example of that is, if you were to go and completely wipe down a restroom with a Reagan, that it might take you a 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the restroom. If you go in and spray, you can cover the area in just a few minutes.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Now I understand that we are looking at using a disinfectant that you don't necessarily wipe away, but that you spray on and it stays on the surface and actually can last for quite a long time.

Steve:
We are in the process of acquiring that particular disinfectant. It is in the process of getting an EPA number. That's a huge process they have to go through to get certified by the EPA saying that it'll be specific dwell times for how long for what type of surfaces it's good for, what type of viruses or bacteria is that it's good for. They're in the process of getting that and that should be happening in the next week or so

Superintendent Godfrey:
Am I correct that this is supposed to last up to 30 days?

Steve:
That's what the company and the chemists are saying ,that it will last up to 30 days. I'm hoping that the EPA comes out and agrees with them because if that's the case, then that will also help.

Superintendent Godfrey:
It would make surfaces a less hospitable environment for the virus too?

Steve:
Yes, I'm assuming that when we get the EPA approval on this, our initial plan is to go through and mist all of the classrooms and all the schools once a week for the first month, then every other week for the second month. And then we will go to once a month later on.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I love that you're looking for additional ways to disinfect beyond the normal routine that we will continue to keep in place. Now Steve, I've visited the warehouse. I've seen the tall shelves and the big boxes. We have lots of paper towels, lots of disinfectant, lots of supplies.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Yes. We have ordered truckloads of those supplies. We're anticipating accelerated use as people start to clean desks more often, as they wash their hands more. We are planning on going through additional paper towels and so we purchased much more this year compared to a normal year.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Now, you guys work very hard to be behind the scenes and not to disrupt what's going on during the day. Many people may not realize just how much cleaning is going on in the building.

Steve:
True, the best time to clean is when people aren't in the building. So we come in after school and clean, so we're not disrupting classes. It's hard to run to vacuum around a class. So you do that after, when nobody's around. Same with restrooms. The best time to clean is when people aren't aren't around.

Superintendent Godfrey:
And, additional disinfecting cleaning that will be going on during the day as well. They may see more of the custodian during the day, but it's just a good reminder that there's a lot going on behind the scenes that we may not be aware of.

Steve:
Yes.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Now the schedule we will be on in the fall was not designed around Custodial Services. It was designed around providing time for teachers to structure individual learning for students on Fridays, without students in the building on Fridays. That does create some additional space for custodians to either catch up on some of the maintenance work that may need to be done, that they had to put off because of disinfecting that they did during the week when students are there. But, at the very least, it allows some space for a deep clean and just for some other things to happen at a custodial level.

Steve:
Yeah, we're planning on using Fridays for maintenance and for doing a deep clean. One of the drawbacks of using a lot of disinfectant is it can have a buildup and become sticky. That needs to be removed so we can start fresh for the next week and we don't end up with this sticky disinfectant all over. That's all stuff that we'll be doing on these Fridays.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Great. Well, thanks for everything you're doing to prepare. I know you've been very hard at work, nonstop for a while. You're always hard at work, but especially ever since this started. I just really appreciate your expertise and support in preparing our schools for the fall.

Steve:
Okay. Well, thank you. I appreciate that and appreciate everything that the school administration does.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Now, we wanted to talk with some custodians out in the field about what they're seeing and doing. We're speaking now with Mark Nelson, the head custodian for the building here at the District Office. So, Mark and I get to see each other on a regular basis, or we used to much less. So now, with  the soft dismissal, how are you doing Mark?

Mark:
I'm doing great today. How about you Superintendent?

Superintendent Godfrey:
I'm doing great. Thanks for joining us here. We're still social distancing for this interview over Google Meet. Tell us, you have been a custodian in the dDistrict for how long? Well, if you count my sweeper years, this is my 33rd year.

Superintendent Godfrey:
So Cindy Lopper was topping the charts when you started with Jordan School District.

Mark:
Probably had her in my Walkman and as I did my route each night, yes.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, within your years of experience, have you ever seen anything like this from a cleaning and preparation standpoint?

Mark:
No, this is as intense as it gets. We love these kids. We love our staffs. They're family, friends, and neighbors, you know, to be a custodian you've got to care.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I know you're also very aware of what's happening out in the schools because your staff helps out in schools when there's a shortage, when we need some additional coverage.

Mark:
Yes, yes. So we're always doing what we can and lending staff.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Tell me some of the things that you have seen that are being done to increase the level of cleaning and disinfecting that's happening in building.

Mark:
I think we do a great job. We train the same. Every school has the same training. All the things that we doin one building would be done the same in another building because of the training. But as COVID took over, we've had to up that. I'm here at the District Office. I've always cleaned restrooms every two hours because we do not have enough restrooms for all the public and staff that come and use our restrooms. Now we check them hourly to make sure things are getting done. Touch points are crazy. Anywhere you can think, someone touches. If someone stands at your door, they're putting their hands on your doorframe. We wash doorframes, we hit the handles, the drinking fountains, the front doors. It's almost like I could just pop them open and leave them open all day because that's just something we have to hit all day long. That's something that many people may not realize, just how well a custodian gets to know the building and how familiar they become with those touch points. They know where it gets dirty. They know where people's hands are and they're able to focus on those areas to be sure that they're disinfecting.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Yeah.

Mark:
And then, behind the scenes, we're changing filters more regularly. Jordan has an amazing HPAC staff. The guys over there have helped us with so many things, but we maintain a higher level of filtration on our HVAC units throughout our District. We're making sure filters are changed more often over the last 32 years. I'll tell you, custodial work has gone from whatever you feel like cleaning and how you used to do it from learning from your grandmother or your mother or whoever. Now there are best practices. It's a very structured environment we work in. We want people to feel safe in our buildings. We want everyone to feel like where they have to spend their day and work and deal with the public and help the public is clean and safe.

Superintendent Godfrey:
That it is, a good location to be, and they feel safe. Thanks for everything you do, Mark. You're a great support here. And I know, to the schools you and your staff work to support them as well.

We're speaking now with Jared Sprague. I've known Jared for a long time and members of his family for a long time. It seems his whole family works for Jordan School District. We did the earlier Supercast with your brother who let me ride the Zamboni and clean the floors. It's a fun mission as a fun machine. Hey, thanks for joining us today. I know you're really busy. We just want to talk about some of the additional measures that custodians are taking in our schools. First of all, how long have you been a custodian and Jordan School District?

Jared:
I'm going on my 20th year with Jordan School District and enjoyed every minute of it.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, we love having you and we love having your family as part of Jordan District. Have you ever seen anything like this?

Jared:
I haven't. This is a different challenge, different openings for us to look at what we should do and where we should go with that. I have not seen anything like this in the Jordan District or anywhere I've been.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Can you describe for parents and employees who are listening some of the enhanced cleaning and disinfecting that will be happening in the fall?

Jared:
We were one of the fortunate schools to have before this whole thing hit the ground, to have one of those electrostatic guns that we have looked at, that the Board has approved to purchase to help us out. Those electrostatic guns we used to go in daily, a couple times and did some disinfecting. But now that our assault pandemic has hit, we are doing more. We've got our high schools where they are dealing with all the sports and these sporting activities and so the kids  can get back. We're getting ready for their games and activities, and they've enhanced the cleaning in the restrooms to hourly and more frequently, if needed.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Those are sometimes referred to as misters or foggers that distribute the disinfectant in a way that wraps around the surface that is being disinfected.

Jared:
Yes. Yes. They're great.

Superintendent Godfrey:
What are some of the other things that are being done and we'll be done in the fall to help make sure that things are cleaned and disinfected for students, once we get everybody back in the building,

Jared:
We are taking measures to go in the restrooms hourly and disinfect them with the electrostatic. Again, in our restrooms, we have gone and we are starting to look at measures to cut down the traffic by every other urinal and brush toilets in the bathrooms. We are going into classrooms and we will be disinfecting more frequently throughout the day. Keeping teachers stocked with chemicals and towels, chemicals and stuff that they need to have. It's a little bit of everything. It sounds like we might look into keeping lockers disinfected more frequently throughout the day with those MREs, lunch rooms, constantly keeping those clean and walking behind kids and find our problem areas and focusing on those. It's a big responsibility, bigger than ever.

Superintendent Godfrey:
How does it feel to have that responsibility for all of the employees and students in that building?

Jared:
You know, I think a lot of us custodians take a lot of pride in what we do. We enjoy being around the kids and the staff and the patrons, you know, we look to protect them in health and safety and even more so in this day, in this time. It's what we live for and it's why are where we are. I just really enjoy doing what I do and try to protect them as if it were one of our own kids. You know, my kid in Jordan School District and it worries me every day. So, I treat it as if it is my kid I'm taking care of.

And so, it makes me feel good to know that things are being taken care of and cleaned up. And the she'll be safe when she returns to school.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, I sincerely appreciate the efforts that you and custodians throughout the district are making. I have a high level of confidence in your work and just how conscientious you are and how much you care about taking care of everybody in the building. Thank you.

We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, find out what meal service will look like in our schools. This fall,

Steve Hall:
I'm Steven Hall, Director of Jordan Education Foundation. In today's challenging and uncertain times, it is more important than ever before to support one another. Here at the Jordan Education Foundation, we invite you to join us in making sure children are not going hungry. Your $10 donation to the Foundation will help us feed one student for a weekend. When food and meals may be very scarce for some, with food and hygiene supplies and the principal's pantries at Jordan School District being depleted and in higher demand than ever before. Every financial contribution made will help us to keep the pantries filled for students who would otherwise go without. The Jordan Education Foundation exists due to the generosity of people who care about kids. If you would like to donate to help children from going hungry, please visit joraneducationfoundation.org, or contact the Foundation at (801) 567-8125. Thank you. Together, we can make a difference.

Superintendent Godfrey:
With us now on the Supercast is Jana Cruz, the Director of Nutrition Services. Jana, welcome.

Jana:
Thank you.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I know a lot of people are asking questions about what things will look like in the fall. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the changes? I've read over your plan and I know that you've thought through every detail, as usual, about what this will look like and what will need to be done to provide lunch safely and in a way that works for the conditions we'll be working under in the fall.

Jana:
Yes. You know our efforts will, of course, continue to ensure safe and healthy meals that meet the needs of our students. All of our meals, we'll start up this year having all the meals be self contained. So they'll also be grab and go, breakfast in a sack. All the lunches will be in a self contained ,styrofoam container with a closed lid. First and foremost, they'll be grab and go to ensure student safety. All they have to do is pick up a meal, not touch anything else. Secondly, it will also free up some of our teams out in the schools so that those team members can be assisting in other ways, with assuring that students sanitize their hands, as they enter lunch service lines, and as they leave the cafeterias, helping assist with the overall efficiency of the flow of lines, assist with some social distancing that will need to take place.

Superintendent Godfrey:
And that's been a question for some people. How are you going to maintain social distancing and not have the line go a mile down the road?

Jana:
Part of it is that we'll be able to move kids through more rapidly because of the way you've structured a meal distribution. We believe with the grab and go meals, it will be an extremely efficient process. All the students will do is enter the line. The lines will be marked clearly, with signs, social distancing markers on the floor. Then they'll just need to pick up a styrofoam container. When they go by the point of sale, they will just have their student ID card out and it will be scanned quickly by a lunch clerk or a cashier so that there's no contact, no touching key pads. And yes, we believe the lines will flow very efficiently.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Grab your meal, scan your card. Yes. Have a seat. Then head out to the playground or head back to class, whichever. Oh, we forgot. Sanitize your hands one more time before you head back to the classroom or out to the playground.

Superintendent Godfrey:
On your way in and on your way out.

Jana:
Yes. Yes.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Now, what about some of the salad bar options? The self-serve options are the changes being made there.

Jana:
We will open up again with only self-contained meals, no salad bars or no buffet type meal service at all. And then, as soon as we move forward, we kind of had thought in our own department, we will revisit or be prepared for around Thanksgiving time to make decisions that are applicable for what is happening around us.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Right. We're going to have to adjust these plans throughout the year. And I think part of the stress is just anticipating the school year coming. We don't know exactly what it will be like. This is something we've never done before. It's another phase. And so I'm actually very eager to see how things go and then make adjustments as necessary. But I appreciate how thorough and in depth you've been in preparing for this.

Jana:
Thank you. I work with a wonderful team and I agree with you. I think, as always, the greatest stress in all this is the worrying and the planning. It will be nice to move forward and just get the job done in the best way we all know how.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I really have thought of every detail when I read over the plan. We talked about the self serve and the buffet style and salad bars not being in place in the same way they were. You're even going to be handing a milk to a student.  I'm putting it on their containers so they aren't reaching in for their own milk. And what are the milk choices? Just for those listening, who may not know.

Jana:
There's white milk to start out, they'll just be white and chocolate. We'll probably take strawberry off the menu just to kind of streamline things, knowing that it will go back on the menu as soon as we can reasonably do that.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Adjusting to the "grab and go" format like you had to in the spring. Are there any new menu items that, students can expect to see? And are there any old favorites that may have to wait to return to the menu?

Jana:
Well, the menus will look very similar to what we always do. There will be some ala carte type items still, of course, a favorites, chicken nuggets, chicken ring things, fries, but there will, of course be a lot of our totally homemade options that students are used to is lasagna, mashed potatoes and gravy and Turkey. So the only thing that will change due to the efficiency and the speed that these lines need to flow. Secondary schools that normally run anywhere from seven to nine lines. We will cut those lines down to four choices and those choices, at each site will choose from patterns that we offer them to include what they feel are the best four choices each day for their student body. And we're doing that again. So we know that we need to pull some of those staff members that would normally run lines off to do other tasks, to assure students are sanitizing correctly, to assure some social persistency, to keep in stock, you know, with the meal containers. So we believe we can run in the secondaries three to four lines, depending on the size of the school, and do so efficiently.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I love the way you're restructuring things. It makes a lot of sense. Now, let me go back. Are the chicken ring things, the actual technical term?

Jana:
It is, that's actually what's on the purchase order and it's a Tyson product, very popular.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, when I get the chance, I'm going to go out and try some chicken rings because they sound like something. I'm thrilled with the hard work you've put into planning for the fall. I have total confidence in the work that you and your staff are doing. AndI know that students are looking forward to coming back and having those great meals in the cafeteria and seeing their friends and nutrition services.

Jana:
Thank you. Thank you very much.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back, we'll talk about the lengths Jordan School District is going to, to purchase personal protective equipment for employees.

Sandra Reisgraf:
Do you want to know what's going on in Jordan School District, get updates on the latest information that could impact you and your child, or just find an uplifting story about the good things happening in schools throughout the district, check out our website at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter at JordanDistrict. Let's connect.

Superintendent Godfrey:
This segment of the Supercast. We're happy to welcome our Director of Purchasing Kurt Prusse. Thanks for joining us.

Kurt:
My pleasure. Good to be here.

Superintendent Godfrey:
We're buying a lot of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for employees to get ready for the fall and Kurt, as Director of Purchasing, you have been at the center of that. Tell us about some of the things that have been purchased all of this, of course, under Board direction, because of the volume that we're buying.

Kurt:
You know, under the direction of a great Superintendent and the Board, they're very cognizant of Personal Protective Equipment. And so they've allocated those funds for things like cloth masks for the employees, having a couple three to them each. Hand sanitizer is another important item that they've invested in, all sorts of hand sanitizer, anywhere from a gallon to half gallon to 16 ounce containers that can be put up the teacher's desk or people's individual workplaces. Face shields for those that don't want to have a mask, but not to be able to communicate with students or the public. Plexiglass shields, both portable, all have been authorized. We've been looking into those different options and  learning a lot about the difference between a polypropylene plexiglass and other types of plastic materials. So, it's been a learning experience for all of us here in Purchasing for a lot of those items.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I do want to get in a little bit so that people understand the process. We are starting off with a gallon of hand sanitizer in every office, in every classroom. What were some of the specs that you use to determine what hand sanitizer you would purchase?

Kurt:
The CDC has a requirement and I think maybe it's even the FDA, but the Health Departments require a 70% alcohol, an isopropyl alcohol content or a 60% minimum of ethanol alcohol and that's part of the requirements. And so,  we had to meet those minimum requirements, and we also didn't want to have any perfumed or scented hand sanitizer.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Now, how many gallons have we ordered?

Kurt:
The Board authorized us to do 5,000 gallons. That would cover almost every classroom and office space and have a little bit left over.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Okay. So we'll cover every classroom, every office space, and we have some other sizes that will be available. Now, the plexiglass. There are two different types of plexiglass that we are ordering. Tell us about those two different types.

Kurt:
There are 4' x 4' plexiglass sheets that are intended to hang from the ceiling tiles. They are intended for office spaces. For teachers' desks they are given, an option. The teacher has that option of something that is stationary and in place or a three sided and molded, about 30" x 34". And then 8.5 or 6.5 inch six sides that are molded to sit onto a desk that can be moved from place to place pretty easily and gives them a little more flexibility, but offers them enough protection so that they can work with the student one-on-one, if they need to. And these are the type of plexiglass structures that you might see sitting on the counter at a doctor or dentist office or at a retail outlet.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Exactly.

Kurt:
And we gave teachers the choice of having one or the other or both, depending on their classroom setup and their level of comfort. And so we've ordered accordingly to whatever requests came back from the teachers in the schools and what they needed.

So we have quite a few of each and actually, the molded ones were more popular than the sheets, which surprised me, because it gives some flexibility. People can move that around the classroom as needed, and assistants can use them when they're working with students.

The face shields allow for some flexibility, if there's instruction, particularly in the younger grades, but throughout school, when it's important to be able to see a teacher's mouth and see how they're mouthing out words and sounding things out. So the face shield will allow some flexibility there.

Superintendent Godfrey:
That's correct. Well, thanks for the thorough process, getting the best value and the best products out there and in very large quantities. So thanks for all your work Kurt.

Kurt:
You're welcome. Thank you.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Thank you for joining us on the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see out there.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. On this episode, we are really excited to talk to some rock star teachers who are collaborating over the course of three weeks summer to create a K-6 online curriculum with content for the entire upcoming school year. It's a significant effort on the part of several school districts that will give teachers and parents options and help to make sure students don't miss a beat and learning throughout the year.

We're talking about curriculum covering all the core subjects designed to meet individual needs. Our rock star teachers are here to tell us all about day. We are fortunate to have on the Supercast Ross Menlove, who is the Digital Learning Consultant for Jordan School District, Dylan Funk, a teacher at Silver Crest Elementary and Melanie Smith, teacher at Antelope Canyon Elementary, which will open this fall. We're going to start with Ross and talk with Ross a little bit about a project that we have in Jordan School District in partnership with some other districts to create online content in anticipation of schools reopening in the fall. This will allow teachers to teach any grade K-12 online. And this particular group is working on the course six part of that curriculum. Ross, can you describe a little bit about what's going on this summer?

Ross:
Yes, thanks for asking. We have invited a group of teachers to come in. They are maintaining appropriate social distancing as they work together to design curriculum for students who need to be able to take school online this fall. These teachers are working together to design the lesson plans and to look at the year-long curriculum and the standards to ensure that the students are able to learn those standards while participating in an online environment. The way it's designed is, there's a learning target for those students to succeed every day. And there's an assigned teacher. The teacher will meet with those students every day and provide online instruction, whether that's, um, through a, maybe it's over the phone, or maybe it's in a video in a web conference or whatever it might be. There's a teacher every day that provides instruction to those students. And then, they can have some activities that those students can participate in to be able to meet the target of the day and to continue their learning while away from school and be able to do that online.

Superintendent Godfrey:
This will be curriculum that teachers who teaching in-person in the classroom can also drop in and use to meet the needs of students who have perhaps been missing class or had to be absent because of a quarantine or an illness in the fall.

Ross:
That is a hundred percent correct.

Superintendent Godfrey:
What is the student going to be receiving at school?

Ross:
They could get that same online so that the students who are able to can seamlessly transition between being at school with their teacher and also working online and the teacher will have that curriculum and that content already made online to help them and assist them to best meet the needs of the students and to be able to individualize the instruction for those students based on where they're at on the learning progress.

Superintendent Godfrey:
So in other words, a teacher would not have to create online content for a student who was going to be home for two weeks. They would be able to look at the standards that were going to be taught in class during that those two weeks, and just provide links to that student, to the content that's already been created by this group this summer.

Ross:
Yes. We want the teachers to do what they do best, which is to teach. We want to take the curriculum part of the process. We kind of want to help them with that, take that off of their shoulders so they can focus on teaching those students and meeting the individual needs of those students. You know, that's where they're chained in is helping those students learn and progress. And we want to make that as easy as possible so they can focus on what they're good at.

Ross:
And this is also going to be a course that would allow, as you indicated, students to take the entire year online so that if parents want to keep students home, for any number of reasons, they would be able to do so, and the content would be there to provide standards based instruction throughout the year.

Superintendent Godfrey:
The amazing thing is these teachers are providing year long curriculum. So we have a scope and sequence, and teachers are able to see what those students need to meet those standards from the first day of school to the last day of school. Students won't miss a beat and we'll be able to guarantee that those students have been taught all the essential standards, they've been taught all of the curriculum that they need to be successful in their grade level or their subject area.

Superintendent Godfrey:
And the standards focus is really important. For example, what we talked about earlier, if a student is out of school for a couple of weeks, they may not engage in exactly the same activities that they would have, had they been in school, but they will receive instruction and curriculum around the same standards that they would have been learning. So they still learn the same things they needed to learn, just maybe in a different way.

Ross:
That's the joy of online learning and blended learning. We can teach students and the students can respond and they're learning their own individual way. And we  can ensure that they've met those standards and they've shown that proficiency in their learning. For us to have a sheer knowledge that those students are reaching their learning targets and they're able to continue on, and we have that good understanding and we know where the kids are at.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Now, this has clear application for the fall, but there are a lot of long-term uses for this type of curriculum and having this available and created by great teachers here in Jordan District.

Ross:
Yes. You know, the wonderful thing about this is this is teacher created, teacher made, as the teachers go in throughout the curriculum, they stop and they say, you know what? This is an important concept right here. Let's spend two or three days. Let's make sure we have extra activities, make sure we build in some form of assessment to make sure the kids have this learning, it's teacher created. And the awesome thing about this is it provides options. We have options, not only right now with this current pandemic, but we have options going forward in the future. And we can be very creative in those options for students to build, to ensure student learning and be flexible to meet student needs.

Superintendent Godfrey:
That's something we've been focused on as a district for a long time. That's providing a wider range of options for students. And, of course, that's particularly important right now, given the pandemic. But going forward, I just like that. There's going to be an option for students who may need to be out because of health reasons, or just prefer to learn at home and maybe they've chosen homeschool, but this is another option for them. Or they just simply, for whatever reason, even for a short period of time, need to learn from home, as opposed to coming to school. I just love the options this will give teachers and parents and students.

Ross:
Yes. I really appreciate Jordan District and the Board and their vision to be able to provide these options for students and allowing amazing teachers to come in and work on this curriculum. That way we can be flexible and we can keep students here in the Jordan community and keep them connected with their teachers, with the school and the big community at large, without them having to physically be at the building, but still be part of the community and part of the learning process.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I understand that other districts have joined this effort since we put this in place.

Ross:
We've been having teachers  come from Nebo School District that are joining in the fun. They're coming and helping our teachers get a different perspective and we're providing that same for them. We're also collaborating with other districts, to be able to have something ready for students, not only in Jordan but also across the state.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Describe the group that you have there this summer. Tell me about how many teachers you have there from all grades, from a wide range of schools. And, as you said, several districts.

Ross:
We have about 50 teachers that have been coming in and we have about six per grade level. They're focusing on creating a reading course, a writing course and a mathematics course. And then our science specialists at the District Office are creating our science course. We're making sure that in our writing course, we incorporate social studies concepts. So, we're making sure we cover all the different aspects of the Utah Core Curriculum. The teachers we have that are rock star teachers, teachers that I know not only found success during online teaching, but they're also teachers that are really great at curriculum. They're the teachers that understand student learning, and understand activities and learning strategies. Teachers not only need to know, but also students need to participate as they progress through throughout the year. You know, the amazing thing about these teachers is they're creating a year long curriculum and they understand how students learned from October and November, all the way to February and March and even into May. It's wonderful to see how they put that whole thing together for an entire year of curriculum for students.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Is it wrong that this gives me goosebumps? I'm pretty excited about that. And I just think it's wonderful.

We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back more about the online curriculum and how it will give teachers, students, and parents options throughout the day,

Steve Hall:
I'm Steven Hall, Director of Jordan Education fFoundation. In today's challenging and uncertain times, it is more important than ever before to support one another. Here at the Jordan Education Foundation, we invite you to join us in making sure children are not going hungry. Your $10 donation to the Foundation will help us feed one student for a weekend. Food and meals may be very scarce for some, with food and hygiene supplies in the principal's pantries at Jordan School District being depleted and in higher demand than ever before. Every financial contribution made will help us to keep the pantries filled for students who would otherwise go without. The Jordan Education Foundation exists due to the generosity of people who care about kids. If you would like to donate ,to help children from going hungry, please visit jordaneducationfoundation.org, or contact the Foundation at (801) 567-8125. Thank you together. We can make a difference.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Let's start with Dylan Funk. Dylan, thanks for joining us on the Supercast today.

Dylan:
Hey, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Tell us a little bit about yourself. How long have you been teaching? What grades have you taught and then we'll talk a little bit about this project.

Dylan:
Yeah, for sure. So, I'm a newer teacher. I've been over at Silver Crest for the last two years and I'm currently teaching sixth grade.

Superintendent Godfrey:
So you're helping with the upper grade curriculum there. Tell me, what have you liked about this experience? What are you learning from other teachers?

Dylan:
I think one of the best things is really just the ability to really the ability to have a larger learning community. All these different teachers from different districts and different schools are all coming together. And just the ability to talk about what's important about what are the parts that we want to focus on and how can we provide those options for students to really meet the learning targets.

Superintendent Godfrey:
What are some of the advantages of online learning for students in upper grades in elementary?

Dylan:
I think one of the really best things with technology in general is just the ability that we have to individualize teaching. I think how we can really look at students for specific learning needs and adjust things for what they might need some extra assistance with. So as we went through the end of the school year, I found that I was really adjusting and tailoring instruction to what my students need for my learning environment. I was able to adjust things really to meet those standards and learning goals and help them find their academic success.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Well, what you described is exactly what we've been trying to do for a long time, and that is meet individual needs in an individualized way. So it's exciting that there's a project going forward with all of these teachers and districts working together to make that a permanent part of what's available to us. What has it been like working with these other teachers and teachers from other districts?

Dylan:
It's really been a quick project. It's overwhelming. I think at first we all were looking at the whole year as one big picture, which is always a scary thought. But as we started discussing and working together in our own groups and then really even talking with other groups, it's been exciting to see people start making progress and have great ideas and sharing. And really, just the level of collaboration has been exciting to see.

Superintendent Godfrey:
It's probably really fun to be in a group of teachers, even socially distanced, since you haven't had that chance for a long time.

Dylan:
It's definitely exciting to see some other people. I feel like I've been quarantined for a while now.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Melanie, tell me a little bit about your teaching. How long have you taught?  You were at Butterfield Canyon.

Melanie:
Yes. I'll be starting my 20th year teaching and I've taught all kindergarten. And then before I got to Jordan District, I did some pre-school too.

Superintendent Godfrey:
When you think about online learning, I think most people think about older kids. They think about high school, middle school, upper grades. As a Cabinet, we really asked ourselves, what's it like for kindergarten? And when the pandemic was new enough that we were still meeting as a Cabinet, we talked about online curriculum for kindergarten, and we actually watched a couple of videos embedded into Canvas, as if we were a student. And I was really impressed at how engaging online learning can be for young students. Tell me a little bit more about that.

Melanie:
I think a lot of people feel the same way, as you explained. It's scary for younger kids because they don't have the ability to read like other kids do. But, I think it's just kind of a mindset that you have to make. You have to figure out how to make it accessible to kids, which we do all the time in the classroom. And so, it's just a matter of finding things that are engaging, making videos, getting past that uncomfortableness of making videos. We just all hopped on board to make it accessible to our kids. We've had a lot of parents who said how great and easy it was for their kindergartners to follow. So that was good feedback.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Yes. I think you're right. It's more natural than we would think for kids to learn online, even at a very young age. How did it feel for you to begin teaching online in the spring?

Melanie:
Well, I think it's like all new things. It was overwhelming at first, to figure out what would work best for our kids. And I think we talked to a lot of our parents too. We did some surveys to see what's working and what's not so that we can get a clear idea of what to do that was best for our kids. And so, even after the first week, our team was really good and we just kept going and it became something that became a more easy thing.

Superintendent Godfrey:
We've all had to shift our thinking quite a bit over the last few months. How has working with these teachers and being part of this project influenced your teaching?

Melanie:
I always feel like I'm learning, so it's been great to work with people from other districts because they always have a different perspective. It's been good to get that perspective and, hopefully it will help us be better teachers.

Superintendent Godfrey:
I feel like too often, we're just working a lot of parallel tracks and we don't really talk to each other and we don't benefit from each other's knowledge. So I love that you're not only working with other teachers in our district, but particularly working with teachers in other districts. What advice would you give parents of young children to make online learning as effective as possible?

Melanie:
I think for certain needs, really open communication with the teachers and make sure whatever concerns you have that we're addressing them. Just be open to the idea and know that we can help kids in whichever way they need. I think that's one thing that teachers are always going out. They're always adapting. You never have one year that's sustained. You don't have a group of kids that is the same. And so, every year I have to figure out a new way to teach a certain kid. So I think parents just need to know that we could help their kids and to reach out.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Dylan. What advice would you give for parents to help make online learning effective for students in the upper grades?

Dylan:
I think I would probably reflect what Melanie said. Communication is probably going to be the biggest thing. Just realizing that teachers, students, parents, we're all on the same team and we all want the same thing, for kids to succeed. So really talking back and forth and figuring out how we can help each other find that success, I think is really important. And then the other thing I think is for teachers and parents being willing to try new things if a teacher needs to do something to help a student find success. That's awesome. And then, for parents, knowing that teachers are trying these new things and being there and helping us out and trying those new programs and the new activities to help students learn better.

Superintendent Godfrey:
The point you both made about communication is really important. It's when parents and teachers are working in partnership that the most effective learning happens for students. And I think that's become particularly evident with the soft dismissal of school. This last spring, this online course that is being created for every grade level is really going to help provide an added level of flexibility. What has surprised you most, either during the dismissal in the spring or creating courses for the fall? Melanie?

Melanie:
I think the thing that has surprised me is that it really wasn't that hard to create things online, to move things from the classroom to online. It's just being willing to learn some new things.

Superintendent Godfrey:
How about you Dylan?

Dylan:
And I think for me, one of the biggest things was just how many different resources there are out there. I use technology a lot in my classroom and then, when I really started looking into it more, there's just so many things I discovered that would increase the quality of my online content.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Great. Both of you mentioned how daunting it was to switch to online learning in the spring and then, uh, how daunting it was to just think about creating all this online content, but then teachers adapted to both things are going really well. So what do you look forward to in the fall?

Melanie:
Hopefully we get some sense of normalcy where we get to see our kids. I'm excited that we aren't just as thrown into it. I feel like our content will be more effective thought out.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Dylan.

Dylan:
I think for me, in the future, I look forward to how a lot of my lessons have been really improved. I feel like technology and this whole process has really challenged me as a teacher and helped me redesign and look at some of my existing lessons. And I'm excited to see how that continues in the future.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Do you think that your teaching will ever be the same after this experience?

Dylan:
I think for sure this whole experience, it's going to have a long lasting effect on my teaching style, for sure. I see myself using technology in different ways and engagement, for the better. There's been a lot of great, great changes.

Superintendent Godfrey:
How about you Melanie?

Melanie:
Yes, I think none of us will have quite the same perspective on education as we did maybe a year ago. I think that we can take all of these great things we've learned. We'd been trying to have blended learning and this really has pushed us into making sure that we are using blended learning in our classrooms. I think that will really show, for everybody. I think it will be a really positive change.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Yes, we learn a lot from difficulties and from challenges and the soft closure and anticipation of the fall certainly qualify as challenges. But I've just been deeply impressed at how teachers have risen to that challenge, adapted to it, learned from it and stayed focused on the needs of students. And the two of you are a great example of that in action. So, thank you for your great work in the spring and for your hard work on behalf of teachers throughout the District this summer.

Whenever we can on the Supercast, we try to play a little game called Two Truths and a Lie. So I'm going to give you each the chance to do that. I think we'll start with you, Dylan. It's a little harder for me to detect lies over Zoom, but let's give it a shot. Dylan, tell me two truths about yourself and a lie. And let me see if I can figure out which is which.

Dylan:
Okay. My three things will be, I have been to a Disney Park over a hundred times. I have broken my nose or my last one is, I worked as a surgical tech.

Superintendent Godfrey:
You were never a surgical tech. I love the surgical tech. You were okay. But you did go to Disney a hundred times.

Dylan:
That's for sure I did.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Yeah. The lilt in your voice when you said that, maybe it sounded a little wistful because you haven't been able to do that for a while.

Dylan:
I haven't. And it's very sad. Me and my wife are struggling with that very much.

Superintendent Godfrey:
So when did you last go?

Dylan:
Last December would be our last time.

Superintendent Godfrey:
December was your last time? So you really, do you go every few months?

Dylan:
About every other month is when we go.

Superintendent Godfrey
Wow. Props. I admire that. Okay. What's the best food then at Disneyland?

Dylan:
There's a place that has a French Dip, it's my absolute favorite. And I'll go there every single time.

Superintendent Godfrey:
My wife loves French Dip. I never knew that. So three years from now when we can finally back to Disneyland, I'll keep that in mind. Okay. Very good. I know a little bit more about you now, Dylan. Well done. Melanie, Two Truths and a Lie.

Melanie:
I am the worst at this. I can never, let's see. I have three sisters. I have one dog and I have three kids.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Okay. This is a mathematical question here. You only have two sisters.

Melanie:
I have no kids.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Oh, no kids, no kids. What is your dog's name?

Melanie:
Echo.

Superintendent Godfrey:
Echo. Do you have to call his name more than once to get him to come? Alright. Well what kind of dog is echo?

Okay. Well, it's been so nice meeting both of you. I really admire the work that you're doing and I really appreciate it. And I know lots of kids, parents and teachers will appreciate it as well. Thanks to our teachers for their hard work this summer, creating online K-12 courses. We're excited to make this available to parents and students to provide additional learning auctions this fall.

Thanks again for joining us on the Supercast. And remember, education is the most important thing you will do today, wherever you do it.

Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. On this episode of the Supercast, we learned about something our guests call a labor of love. We're talking about helping students in need as part of the McKinney Vento program. It is a federal program that exists to help students succeed in school, despite having no real place to call home, or for those students who may need just a little extra support, let's start by hearing from Hilda Lloyd who oversees the McKinney Vento program, and several amazing women who act as program liaisons for students in need. Thanks for being on the Supercast. Thank you for having us. Can you tell us for those who may not be familiar? What is McKinney Vento? First of all,

Hilda Lloyd:
Bento is a program that is designed to help children that have some type of hardship. My job is to help the schools to get these kids enrolled, immediately able to meet the criteria to graduate. We work with the elementary level middle school and high school level.

Anthony Godfrey:
Can you describe for those listening, how that set up in our district

Hilda Lloyd:
In the elementary level we have when they first come in or identify them as families that are not living in a home or in shelters, or if they're on their own living with grandparents due to circumstances, we have ladies there that provide services for them. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's providing support to help them navigate school, given all of the difficulties that they're experiencing in life outside of school. Correct. How many people do we have helping our homeless students

Hilda Lloyd:
In our high schools? We have one in every school, but the new schools also with the middle schools and we have the elementary with the homeless liaisons there for the reason, if it's mostly title one schools, not everyone has it. We put them in there as the time comes, if the numbers are high so that we can meet the needs of those students.

Anthony Godfrey:
What misconceptions might people have about students who qualify for services under McKinney-Vento

Hilda Lloyd:
Families come in and they may not look a certain way, so they just don't reach out. Or sometimes the families don't realize this program even exist. So that's why it's so important to have the people that work under this program to kind of look and identify them as they come into the office and have women there that ask the right questions so they can explain to them that they could have help with this program that we have in the Jordan school district. And that's pretty much how we find the students that need this help.

Anthony Godfrey:
So asking the right questions as they come in, because it's not always obvious.

Hilda Lloyd:
Yes. And we also do a lot of training during the school year so that we can prepare the secretaries and the main office in which they are wonderful to work with. So they can actually call or notify who is over that program in their schools so that they can get help right away.

Anthony Godfrey:
When students have difficulty in their home life, they may not know where they're going to be staying, or they don't have food security. It makes it pretty tough to learn. Doesn't it? It does. How long have you been working with McKinney Vento?

Hilda Lloyd:
About 15, 16 years.

Anthony Godfrey:
I remember back a long ways and you've always been helping students. So we sure appreciate it. You have a really exciting statistic to share this year. Tell me about that.

Hilda Lloyd:
Well, we've been working on mostly we target a lot of the high population and we've come to some programs that we feel like in that help the kids. And we kind of push that more on the education of graduation. So we try to work mostly with that because we feel like if we can actually get some of these kids to graduate, we will change the whole dynamics of their family. In the past years, we've had between a hundred to 125 students to graduate. And out of those, we have maybe four that don't graduate because they come into our district too late, but we finish them and guide them till the end of the school year, which is in August or else, we help them go through the adult ed to make sure that they do graduate. But this year I was worried because of what was happening and the connection and the kids coming to school. But because of the women is nonstop, just encouraging these kids here, we had 154 students that were going to be graduating from our four high schools, five high schools, excuse me. And with the help of the counselors, the principals and the support and the wonderful work women have done, we believe it or not. All of them graduated

Anthony Godfrey:
And graduated on time on time. That is incredible. When you think about what's going on in their lives and the pandemic on top of that for 100% to graduate on time, must be very rewarding for you and your team.

Hilda Lloyd:
It is because I, like I said, I think we have been a step of ahead of all this, because we have stepped the bar up every year and told these kids, and these women just have been, you know, they've been trained, they know what to expect and what they need to do to help these kids to be successful. And they just knew how to reach out. And what's so great about it is the training that they also get involved with with the other staff in the school and explain to them and help them. And these kids hear from one another, you know, this program exists. You can go get help and you know, they never turn anybody away. Even if they're not McKinney, Vento students, they're there for them. And that's what makes it work is everybody works together because they understand hardship and they made it very clear what hardship is because they, they teach it. They understand it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, let's talk with a couple of the ladies. Who've been helping these students get across the finish line, Laura Faulkner at Herriman. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 4:
Thanks for having me. I'm real excited about this. How long have you been at Harrison? Well, I've been at Herrmann cruel for about two and a half years. In the McKinney Vento, this was my first full year do McKinney Vento.

Anthony Godfrey:
You want to switch over and start helping in the McKinney Vento area.

Speaker 4:
I love helping people. And last year my position was helping students with feeling great. This was a no brainer in my past positions for 21 years, I've been in positions of helping in the scene to people and just wanting to make their lives better or something that can help them move along.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the obstacles that you have helped people overcome?

Speaker 4:
Some of these kids come in and they don't know how to talk to their parents sometimes about things, or they don't know how to talk to a counselor, or they're afraid to go into there and I'm like, I'll go with you. Let's go to that. You know? And so I've been able to walk them into the account or we've been able to sit down and the three of us brainstorm

Anthony Godfrey:
Some of the details of what they're going through is just heartbreaking. Like you said, there so much that we take for granted that students are hoping for and don't have a day to day.

Speaker 4:
They're also scared to ask. That is the one thing I, you know, they're, they're embarrassed. They're they don't know how they're afraid that somebody's going to find out. And that's what we're trying to do is trying to help. I leveling the playing field a little bit, let them know they're going to have the same opportunities as anybody else in that school. And we're going to mix up and if they want to sing, we're going to help them sing.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love that, that you, that you're going to help them. And you're, you're their connection with the broader world because their world is pretty small without you. I would guess

Speaker 4:
Some of them, it is, you know, some just broaden and they go, but some are just, they're scared or they have different social anxieties or, and that's what we're there for. And they can come into my office and say, Hey, can I have a snack? And a lot of time checks come in and ask for that, just to say hi, just to have that personal connection.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's fantastic. And I'm so glad the kids have you, what do you wish people knew about students who need this kind of help?

Speaker 4:
People knew that their all around them and not to judge and not to, you know, think that because this person is dressing this way or that way, that it's a reason to send them or make them feel less because they're not learning on their same plane, burning. Some kids learn differently. And one of the things that taught all my students as a mom of kids, I've always kids, you know, I don't expect perfection. I don't expect straight A's. I want you to do the best you can graduate. And that's what I'm here to help you do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. That's great. That's the goal. Do your best and graduate. If there are folks listening to this who think I'd like to help kids that are in need, that, that don't have that security in their life, what can they do to help? Are there donations that that can help or things they can do?

Speaker 4:
Donations have been amazing at Herrmann with just some of the basics that we take for granted, it could be hands-off, it could be a new water bottle that they can claim there because people like to feel comfortable, whether it be at school or at home.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you. And they can donate that directly to the school or through the foundation. Well thank you for everything you're doing Laura. I know it makes a difference in their lives now and in their lives later because you give them the skills and the confidence to move forward in life and, and, and make their own path away from maybe some of the difficulties they've experienced.

Speaker 4:
Yeah. And just to let them know that we have compassion that we understand, everybody goes through hard times at some time or another.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thank you. Let's talk now with Mary Ellen Helton from Riverton, how are you Mary Ellen, tell me a little bit about some of the students at Riverton that you've been helping and, and what have they been facing and what have you able to do to help them get, get their, get across the finish line?

Speaker 5:
Oh, that was a big battle this year, but some of them have been mainly the stress of going from going to school to having to rush, to get on the computer and try to navigate getting their area assignments, taken care of online and to communicate with their teachers have students that are bilingual. I don't speak Spanish or Portuguese. So I had find my translator from school and, and get some communications going with them so they can actually graduate and be successful.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you help with housing, transportation, food, clothing, really every aspect of survival. Yes. Of all the students you work with. Can you tell us some of the personal struggles they've had to overcome to, to graduate?

Speaker 5:
Oh, I had one student was overwhelmed with stress and his mom, dad had to work night and day just to keep things going because they were not sure if they're going to have a job one day to the next. So he was overwhelmed with that situation and trying to navigate, going to school online. He made it, I mean, we, it took a lot of pushing and a lot of coaching him to say, you can do this. We were I'm behind you 100%. If you need any help, just get ahold of me. And he did. Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
He had been working at Riverton.

Speaker 5:
This is my third year.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what made you want to work with students who qualify for McKinney Vento health?

Speaker 5:
Well, I started out working with special ed Claire back in 95 with transportation being the school bus aide. Yeah. And just a love of working with children until I had my own. And then I work with jams, the Jordan alternative middle school, helping them to break the barrier of learning, how to study and to find a potential. And then I can't see it, a child going hungry or without need. And so when this job opened up, I just, I just had to go for it.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I love that, that you're there. I love that all of you are there in the positions where you are from your stories earlier. It sounds as if Mary Ellen, you end up speaking with kids at various times of the day and night. Is that right?

Speaker 5:
I do not now, but during the school year I do. And making sure they're okay.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's good. They have a lifeline. And as was mentioned earlier, I suspect you need to reach out to them sometimes because it's difficult to ask for help. Tell me a bit about how you overcome that barrier. When kids don't want to ask for help, adults don't want to ask for help. A lot of times, even in much less dire circumstances than these kids are in. So how do you help connect them to resources when they may be reluctant?

Speaker 5:
I, I walked the halls during the lunch times and I watched the students. I watched my, the ones that I know are on my list. And I, I can see if they are kind of closed off or just kind of keeping to themselves. And I go over to them and say, you need to come talk to me and they'll come talk to me or I'll see them check in late. And I go, okay, what's going on? Did you get up late? Or, you know, just checking in and see are all calmed down. If I see their grades start slipping and say what's going on and just, Oh, I always check in on my students. All 52 of them, the share.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's very moving just to hear the idea that kids need a refuge and you're there for them.

Speaker 5:
You know, it's overwhelming sometimes to see the students go through what they have to do at a young age. They shouldn't, I mean, they're not adults yet. And they're facing adult situations.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm sure it means the world to them to have somebody to lean on and the place to go, to collect themselves and to go out and face the stress that they have to deal with. Again, every time I think about it, I just am amazed that the compassion you show and just what a lifeline, you all are to kids that need need you the very most. So thank you. Thank you. And stay with us. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, what parents should know about this program designed to help students through trying times

Speaker 6:
I'm Steven Hall, director of Jordan education foundation in today's challenging and uncertain times, it is more important than ever before to support one another here at the Jordan education foundation, we invite you to join us in making sure children are not going hungry. Your $10 donation to the foundation will help us feed one student for a weekend. When food and meals may be very scarce for some, with food and hygiene supplies in the principal's pantries at Jordan school districts being depleted and in higher demand than ever before. Every financial contribution made will help us to keep the pantries filled for students who would otherwise go without the Jordan education foundation exists due to the generosity of people who care about kids. If you would like to donate to help children from going hungry, please visit Jordan education, foundation.org, or contact the foundation at (801) 567-8125. Thank you together. We can make a difference.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're back now

Speaker 7:
Talking about the incredible work being done in the districts, McKinney Vento program. I really, really appreciate that you would take the time to talk with me and I really appreciate what you guys do. I can't even express it. It's awesome.

Speaker 8:
Well, thank you. It's a very wonderful thing to be part of. I love it.

Speaker 7:
How long have you, how long have you been at West Jordan?

Speaker 8:
Just one year. I started here in August last year. Yeah.

Speaker 7:
And what have you learned about students who qualify for services under McKinney-Vento in that time?

Speaker 8:
Oh my goodness. So many things. A lot of the federal program is for homeless students, but most of the time I work with kids who have a home in one form or another, but they're disadvantaged and needing food and clothes and validation and support, but we work with, you know, whoever needs our, whoever needs us to provide some support.

Speaker 7:
What are some of the things that you're able to do for students?

Speaker 8:
They have a lot of resources. If they come to me, I have all kinds of food and snacks. And I have clothing, coats, socks, shoes, high chain products, and school supplies endless amounts of things I can do to help if I can just find those who need it. That's part of my challenges, finding students who are willing and able and needy to come in and talk to me.

Speaker 7:
What are some of the things that have surprised you about the situations students find themselves in?

Speaker 8:
I think, you know, one of the biggest surprises at first may not be specifically as a student, but when I first started, I had people say, Hey, I have donations. I'd love to give. And many, many people give so much. And I'm so grateful for that. But as I went through, I found that students of any kind would like to fit in and they just to say, Oh, students homeless. They wouldn't mind having these clothes or those shoes, but they do, of course they're high school kids and all of us would. And so I learned that they would like to fit in and I can't just offer anything. And we try to get donations of new or gently used things that students can feel like they have dignity too.

Speaker 7:
In other words, if you're making a donation, it's nice to donate something that isn't nearly used out or long out of style, something that can be used to allow kids to blend. And when you say that, that really resonates. If we all think back, we can really think about the time when we were in middle school or in high school. And we just didn't want to draw undue attention, especially if we fell awkward about a particular aspect of our lives. And, and if, if you're eating a place to stay or you don't have food security, the last thing you want to do probably is stain that animal.

Speaker 8:
That is absolutely true. I think all of us can relate. Like you say, who didn't have a time when they felt that way. And surely as I went through and talked to students, I bring him in to let them look through what we have and just immediately off the bat, I started to see that, that they care as much as any of us care and maybe they do already feel like they stand out, you know, in their heart. They feel that way. And now we can help them to at least feel like they fit in. So I started being very particular about what I, you know, would have, as far as donations, I did have to take some things to DEI and I had to go through and be really particular. But now when people ask what they can give, I I'm very specific so that we know we have what the students can really use.

Speaker 7:
And do you find that you help students throughout the year, do you have some students just need help on a short-term basis and some on a long-term basis?

Speaker 8:
Yes, absolutely. There are students that come in and have stories and I, and you know, they are struggling in family situations or being alone and I help them all along the year, but I've had students come in who just need a little here and there. In fact during the Corona virus issues at the school, I recall and check on students on my list. And I had some parents who say, Oh, we ran out of a job, but we're doing fine now. Everything's good. And then others who just are really struggling through whatever their challenges might be. And I have helped them all along the way.

Speaker 7:
Are there times when you think students need a connection with someone that they can rely on at the school as much as anything?

Speaker 8:
Yeah. I think that's one of the most important things is that getting to their level of, I need blah, I need help. I need validation. I need people who I can trust and who I can come to without feeling. Like I'm not as good as others. And that's part of what the joy I find in my job is helping them feel like they're, they're okay, there's good as those around them. And I help them learn to love themselves,

Speaker 7:
Helping them learn to love themselves. That makes a lot of sense. That's, that's a hard thing as we're going through the hard times. Yes. Your dads are there, is there a particular story some experience that you've had that would help those who may not understand the magnitude of the problems that some students face, maybe we'll understand that.

Speaker 8:
I, yes, I do have stories that are heartwarming and heartbreaking. One of the ones that stands out to me as I had a girl come in and I had given, been given her name, she was on my list and I was just getting to know her called her in. And I said, so how you doing? And what's going on? And she told me a little about her circumstances and she really had a hard life of what she came from. And I said, well, can I help you? I have food here. I have this and that. She said, Oh no, I'm sure other people need it more than I do. I'm fine. And so I went through some more and finally she said, well, I do need a coat. And I said, Oh, I've got a coat. I said, come with me. So we went down to my room and walked in and she still was just very reluctant.

Speaker 8:
And so I just coaxed her along, Oh, look, we have, we have some socks here. And look, we have shirts, some cute shirts and I have a jacket and coat and we just went through shampoo and all, and she ended up with a big, huge bag of things. And I just had to really reassure her along the way that this was okay. And it's all right, that she needed it. And at the very end, she picked up her sack. And then she said, can I give you a hug? And I said, sure. And I gave her a hug and she started to cry and said, you've been more like a mom to me than anybody has been in a very long time. And it was just the sweetest thing to see, you know, she didn't need any help. She was okay. But really she did need so much help. And she finally was able to allow me to help her. And it just was a joyous thing for both of us.

Speaker 7:
I'm so glad she had you.

Speaker 8:
I'd glad to have that experience. You can imagine what that meant to me.

Speaker 7:
Well, I'm sure that there are stories every day, how you've touched lives and set kids on the trajectory for success, where they can escape some of the difficulties in their lives and overcome their circumstances to create a life for themselves that is productive and happy. And I'm just so grateful. They have you.

Speaker 8:
Oh, thank you. I feel, I just feel so happy to be able to help.

Speaker 7:
What advice would you give students or parents? If they need help or know someone who needs help?

Speaker 8:
One of the first things they need to do is to be able to trust enough to come in. And sometimes a friend can say, Oh, you can go in and they can help you. Or if I have their name and call them down. But the, the first step is to feel like, okay, I can do this. And sometimes it's true. Parents have different attitudes. I actually had a young lady come in and she, you would never know she needed help. He got, she was very intelligent and outgoing and son. And one day she came in and said, you know, it's not always what it seems like on the outside. And she was hungry and needed help. And, and we were able to do it very discreetly and help her. And she was so grateful, but I would have never known. And I think your family was like, Oh no, no, no, we, we don't need help. We're fine. But she, wasn't fine. And so having her come in and find out what's good. And when other families say, you know what, we have this temporary setback and we would really appreciate some help. Cause it's hard to ask. We would all rather give than receive.

Speaker 7:
I like the advice that if you know of a friend who needs help, you can, you can connect them to those services because sometimes that's difficult. But also sometimes we just don't even realize that people are going to my help.

Speaker 8:
That is absolutely true. Actually that's the biggest part of my job is to find those who are reluctant to come in, who really do need help. I think word spreads. And sometimes I had a student who brought in another student and I had been with him for a while and helped him. And he brought in a girl and said, see, she's okay. You can talk to her. It's it's trying to get help. And that's exactly what brings them man sometimes is, is finding a friend that they can trust to bring them in talk.

Speaker 7:
I have no doubt. They deeply appreciate your friendship and compassion and your help. Thank you for spending the time on the super cast Robin, Luke from West Jordan high school. Thank you. Thanks for listening to this episode of the super cast. And remember education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you out there. [inaudible].

<hr />

<h2>Audio Transcription</h2>

Superintendent:
Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Superintendent. They are Jordans school district's mail delivery dynamic duo. We're talking about Matt Gardner and Jeremy Velarde who have been on the job for a total of 46 years. They have a reputation for delivering a lot of laughter and Goodwill as they travel the entire district every day, making sure a massive amount of mail arrives to its intended destination. On time today, we find out what really drives men and Jeremy, and we uncover some of their relatively well kept secrets. We call this episode, the Matt and Jeremy show. Now Matt, in addition to being one of the most positive people I know is one of the employees at the auxiliary services building who helps deliver the mail throughout the district. What's your official title, Matt,

Matt Gardner:
On my name badge. It says drivers driver. All right. Pretty efficient

Superintendent:
Would go with driver because I know that's what you love to do actually. Isn't it, Matt?

Matt Gardner:
Yes. Yes. What drives you? Mad? people. I love people.

Superintendent:
Yes. Yes you do. Do you ever not smile? Let me ask you that first off.

Matt Gardner:
No, it was kind of a bad habit. So when I should be in trouble,

Superintendent:
There's a, there's a reason we have used map for so many of our customer service presentations and videos over the years, Matt, like I said is one of the most positive people you'll meet. Matt. How long have you worked for the district?

Matt Gardner:
23 years. April 1st? Yeah. I don't know if that was an omen for me or you guys that I got hired on April fool's day, but what

Superintendent:
Was your first job with Jordan school? District

Matt Gardner:
Driver driver worked in the warehouse for the first 10 years. Yeah.

Superintendent:
And as you're, as you're driving around now as a warehouse driver, you were delivering and now you deliver mail and small packages is that right?

Matt Gardner:
Whatever they put on my van, I deliver. So it's yeah. Packages or envelopes, whatever, whatever they need for the day. So, yeah.

Superintendent:
And you share routes with Jeremy Velarde. Is that correct? That is correct. Yes. And Jeremy's been at it for a while as well, has he not?

Matt Gardner:
Yeah. I think he's been in with the district for 20 or 21 years, so, and we've worked pretty much hand in hand together for all that time. So yeah.

Superintendent:
Now do you, do you each go describe, describe your route. Describe a typical day for Matt Gardner.

Matt Gardner:
I get up at five 15 in the morning, comb my hair.

Superintendent:
If you knew Matt you'll know that combing the hair does not take very long. Yeah,

Matt Gardner:
No, not very long. We get to work about six o'clock in the morning, a little before six, we load our vehicles with the schools that we have. There's two routes for the school district. One pretty much encompasses daybreak and all of West Jordan and the other one takes over the rest of South Jordan Herrmann bluff Del Riverton area. And then we just kind of divide and conquer and go out there and try to make everybody happy and spread a little bit of sunshine while we're delivering our, you know, all the mail.

Superintendent:
How long does it take you to visit every school? Is it over a couple of days you ended up visiting every building or a couple of times a week.

Matt Gardner:
We go to every school every single day and delivered to the district office twice a day. So we're seeing and making contact with every school every day.

Superintendent:
I'm very envious of that actually, because I would love to be able to visit schools a lot more than I'm able to, especially more than I've been able to lately. What do you find when you visit schools? What do you see? I'll bet you learn a lot about a school even from dropping in for a moment. Just what their day is like and how things are going.

Matt Gardner:
Well, you get to know the personality of the office staff. You sometimes get to know the person out personality of the school and just, I mean, you can tell from the principals down how something's ran, just the enthusiasm or the way that they go about things and each individual school, because they are individual things, as far as it goes, every one of them is a little bit different and you can kind of tell. And as, as the school district boost principals from place to place, sometimes that same culture or the, the way that the school is changes with the principal. So you can see that it is kind of a top-down

Superintendent:
Situation sometimes that's fascinating. So even the, the short amount of time that you spend in a school, you can tell, Oh, this principal's here now. And now this school feels like their previous school. Yes.

Matt Gardner:
Yeah. It happens quite a bit.

Superintendent:
What do you learn from visiting schools about how to treat people? Well, I guess

Matt Gardner:
That I've, I've learned that being enthusiastic and positive and treating everybody with the utmost respect. And that includes every kid that walks in the doors is a friend, everybody that I come in contact with, whether it's a custodial staff, office, staff, teachers, administrators you know the, the lunch managers have lunch workers. Everybody, you know, is somebody that needs to, I think, I guess be inspired a little bit. That is kind of how I look at it. I look at as delivering the mail is the simple part of the job. The part that takes the effort, the part that has to have the thought put into it is how I treat people and how kind, you know, you are to others and, and, and some aspects. I know it sounds maybe a little bit corny, but showing them love

Superintendent:
It doesn't sound corny at all. I've seen you do it. I've seen you do it many times. And sometimes it's in the form of just listening. I have walked by and seen you just listening to people and it's, you're, you're becoming a really important part of their day.

Matt Gardner:
Yeah. And, and that's kind of by design. I think I was taught, I guess with my family. I came from a family of eight kids, so we all had to learn to listen. We all also had to learn to be loud and talk a lot also if you wanted to be her, but she did learn from an early age that you could make an impact on others just by your daily actions.

Superintendent:
Well, you're certainly the epitome of that. You I really cannot overstate how positive and friendly you are. And, you know, sometimes when you see someone you kind of calculate was I, you know, or I do, was I supposed to call that person? Or what do we need to talk about? And when I see Matt, it's just, I get to see Mac and it's, you know, it's going to be positive every time.

Matt Gardner:
Well then I guess I'm doing my job well,

Superintendent:
And you are, you are doing your job. What I think is remarkable is that you drive all day and you deal with traffic and where people can be at their worst. And yet you maintain that positivity.

Matt Gardner:
Yeah. Well, I've gotten used to people trying to run me off the roads, so,

Superintendent:
Okay. So I have to ask you then, because you're driving around all day, what are some tips that you've learned along the way as well?

Matt Gardner:
Our time schedule, how I do my route is based upon when parents are showing up to schools, what time schools are getting in. If it's an elementary school, the middle school, everything that I do is totally calculated upon start and start, stop times for schools so that I'm not there when they get there so that it doesn't clog anything up or make it more difficult for them or me. So I can usually tell you where I'm out within two to three minutes of any school that is on my route.

Superintendent:
That makes sense. So you, you know, your environment, you know, what else is going to be going on? And you adapt.

Matt Gardner:
We add a new school into the school district. I usually go out and I say, okay, it's going to be between this school and that school. And then I'll calculate how long it takes me to get from one destination to the next, and then try it from different areas to see if it's going to be more efficient

Superintendent:
When you're out and about. And you're visiting every school every day. And you're driving throughout the Valley. You must run into some interesting things going on or some surprising things that I don't see as I'm in my office or in schools, Cal tell us about some of the things you run into. Well, we have

Matt Gardner:
A lot of things that happen, probably the strangest thing. Actually, I got quite a kick out of it. I was actually at a stoplight and I looked over and there was a lady parked next to me and I see underneath their shirt, all these things start moving around and all of a sudden out popped out the top of her collar of a shirt, a ferret, a ferry, a ferret, and then another one popped out. And another one, by the time it was all said and done, there was three of them sitting there popped out of the collar, this lady shirts.

Superintendent:
And this is, this is all during the time you're sitting at a stoplight.

Matt Gardner:
Yes, yes. Yeah. So that was probably the strangest thing that made my day. That's been 10 years ago. And it's still a wonderful story.

Superintendent:
Have you ever had the chance to help anybody in distress along the way?

Matt Gardner:
Well, I, well, there's this? Yes. the one time there was a kid that was stuck in the mud on Valentine's day, years back. And I had,

Superintendent:
I think stuck in the mud on Valentine's day is my biography and the Godfrey stuck into my on Valentine's day.

Matt Gardner:
Yeah. The, this little kid was stuck out there. So I pulled over off to the side of the road and just started walking out into the mud and gathered him up and pulled him out. And he had his little sack of Valentines that he was just trying to get to a school. And it was my discrete was the school. And he'd been out there for quite a while and he was upset and crying. So we got into the school and you know, got him safe as far as things go. So

Superintendent:
Then he was stuck in the mud.

Matt Gardner:
Yeah. He was stuck up to his knees in the mud, standing out in the middle of a field cause he had missed a school bus. And so we started

Superintendent:
It's cool because it's Valentine's day and you've got to exchange Valentine.

Matt Gardner:
Yes, exactly. And how,

Superintendent:
Okay, so you rescued him out of the mud. How deep did you get down into the mud?

Matt Gardner:
Tell about to my knees also. So I spent the rest of the day cleaning the vehicle afterwards.

Superintendent:
Wow. This is, this is some Scooby doo level quicksand that you guys climbed into because normally, normally I don't think mud is that powerful, but that's that

Matt Gardner:
They were fairly nasty. So it was really just graded a field. So

Superintendent:
Did, did the Valentines suffer any damage?

Matt Gardner:
I don't think so. They were wrapped up in a Smith sack, so it was good to go. He had, again, the grocery sack wrapped around mud caked on the bottom of them. So hopefully the kids got them at school.

Superintendent:
Wow. Well, that's, that's a different kind of Valentine's day story. What are some of your hobbies when you're not driving for Jordan district? What are some of the things that you like to do? Man?

Matt Gardner:
I like to do photography. I like to cook and I love to do yard work.

Superintendent:
I've heard that. And this is a little bit ironic that as someone who travels for a living, you also love to travel. Is that right? Yes. I do love to travel.

Matt Gardner:
They're going across the country multiple times. And I've visited probably all four corners of the country. I've gone to Scotland. I've been to Rome and I've been to a little town in Belgium called Bruce. I love Bruce, Bruce just phenomenal.

Superintendent:
So you're a photographer as well. That's a good combo, traveling photography. Do you, what, what do you photograph landscapes? How do you w what, what do you like to do?

Matt Gardner:
When I'm traveling, I like to actually do documentary style photography. So some of it is just everyday people doing everyday events, weather over there, just to it's of like, kind of like a street photography. But then I also do the basic pictures of landscapes or the structures of the buildings are architect. Why I'm over there. But I like to try to bring back to me, a picture is better with somebody in it. If it creates what the scene actually is versus trying to make it so pretty that it just looks like, you know, I bought it off of a postcard.

Superintendent:
Why did you take pictures with people in it does not surprise me coming from you because you care so much about people. And that really is your literal focus. Let's play two truths and a lie. You tell me two truths about you. One lie in any order, and I'll try to figure out which is the line. Now we've learned a lot about you, but let's see what else we can learn.

Matt Gardner:
Hmm.

Superintendent:
We're doing this because we're socially distanced. I don't have the benefit of reading body language on the lie. So let's see how I do remotely.

Matt Gardner:
Oh, Holy cow. I'm trying to think of a lie. I'm not good at it.

Superintendent:
Everything about you is true, man.

Matt Gardner:
Well, it's not an outright. Just let's see. I've gone through the police Academy. Okay. I was a dancer in high school and I suck at this.

Superintendent:
No, that's the third truth.

Matt Gardner:
I don't know.

Superintendent:
The third one's the lie.

Matt Gardner:
I dislike my job.

Superintendent:
You know what? I like that. You're not a good liar, man. And I actually remembered one of the times I was talking with you. We talked about your dancing. You were not only a dancer in high school, but a break dancer. If I'm not mistake,

Matt Gardner:
Did a little break dancing, jazz and ballet. Yes. That is impressive.

Superintendent:
That is impressive. Did you lay down the cardboard so you could spin? Well, we, no, I wasn't that level of stuff. That was, that was somebody else that we work with that did that type of stuff, so. Okay. All right. We'll talk more about that, Matt. Like always it is a delight. It's a bright spot in the day to get a chance to talk with you. I appreciate you. Thank you, Dr. Carl Godrey. Thank you. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, the other half of our mail delivery dynamic duo, Jeremy Velarde joins us.

Steven Hall:
I'm Steven Hall, director of Jordan education foundation in today's challenging and uncertain times. It is more important than ever before to support one another here at the Jordan education foundation, we invite you to join us in making sure children are not going hungry. Your $10 donation to the foundation will help us feed one student for a weekend. When food and meals may be very scarce for some, with food and hygiene supplies in the principal's pantries at Jordan school districts being depleted and in higher demand than ever before. Every financial contribution made will help us to keep the pantries filled for students who would otherwise go without the Jordan education foundation exists due to the generosity of people who care about kids. If you would like to donate to help children from going hungry, please visit Jordan education, foundation.org, or contact the foundation at (801) 567-8125. Thank you. Together. We can make a difference.

Superintendent:
We are here with Jeremy Velarde and I have been friends with Jeremy for how long is it now? Since the 19 hundreds? Jeremy?

Jeramie Velarde:
Yeah. 30 something years, right?

Superintendent:
Yeah, that's about right. That's about right. So how long have you worked for Jordan school district?

Jeramie Velarde:
I believe I'm on my 22nd year.

Superintendent:
And how did you start?

Jeramie Velarde:
I started in the warehouse. My, my dad was custodian with you, right. And then West Hills. And he told me to apply and I applied, I got hired on at the warehouse. We moved over to the mail room and that's where I've stayed. Ever since

Superintendent:
Your dad is awesome. We worked together at being a middle school and that the building has now been torn down, but I was there late at night working a lot because I was a first year teacher and that place was pretty scary. I remember talking to him once and I said, how do you possibly work here by yourself? Didn't he work graveyard? He did. Yeah. I asked him, how can you possibly work in this? I loved the building, but after everyone was gone, it was creepy. He worked here all night. He said, I just put my headphones on. So I don't hear all the noises. Don't you started as a driver for the warehouse. And did you and Matt started about the same time?

Jeramie Velarde:
I think he was one or two. I think he was two years. He started it two years before I did.

Superintendent:
Yeah. His name tax driver. What is your name tag say? It says other driver as you travel around schools. Honestly, it is one of the best things I love that I still get to run into you 30 years later. What, what is it like traveling to every school every day?

Jeramie Velarde:
It's great. I love the interactions with the staff and, you know, getting to know people on a, on a long-term basis, you know, and I obviously love it cause I haven't gone anywhere else in a couple decades. You know,

Superintendent:
What differences do you observe as you go from school to school? Does it have its own kind of personality and feel?

Jeramie Velarde:
Oh, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. There's some offices with a little more personality or some offices you could joke around a little bit more. Yeah, there's, there's definitely different fields of different places in schools, but for the most part they're all

Superintendent:
Now, do you have a very specific way that you get to each of the schools? Do you have just a set pattern or do you mix it up? I I'm terrible with directions. I think I would be awful. I, it would take me twice as long as you guys to get this done because I always think there's another way to get there.

Jeramie Velarde:
For the most part, we stick to the same, but it's, it's autopilot, this, this blame we've been doing it for so long, but, but with, you know, different schools popping up and stuff Matt really likes to figure out like the quickest way to do things and the most effective. So, so he's really good at like figuring out the best way to do it. But yeah, we pretty much stick to the same. Right.

Superintendent:
But there are some pretty weird things. People have asked you to deliver domain names.

Jeramie Velarde:
I won't name names, but yes, years ago before the split, there was a, there was this dead fish that was going back and forth in the, in the mail. And some people got, I'll tell you off air.

Superintendent:
Okay. You tell me later who it was, how many people were involved.

Jeramie Velarde:
Oh, there was a, let's see, I think four principals at the time and then just staff. So yeah, I've had people steal my van I've I've had people put honey all over my steering wheel. Do you ever find the culprit? I did Sherry Beckstead. She used to work at Jordan Hills elementary.

Superintendent:
Did she want everything that was supposed to be delivered to her to be lost for the next 10 years?

Jeramie Velarde:
I got her back. I put a frozen burrito in her plan. This was early two thousands. So this was a while back. I think the dead fish is what put a stop to all those pranks, but there for awhile there, it got a little crazy.

Superintendent:
The dead fish become a problem. Was there an official decree about dead fish and other pranks?

Jeramie Velarde:
There was, yes. I think there was a dead fish memo floating her there at some point,

Superintendent:
Jeremy, Jeremy, you have even more stories than I thought. So we are going to lunch. As soon as the Corona virus breaks. I gotta get, I gotta get some more details on this. And now your van was stolen. You said, who stole your van?

Jeramie Velarde:
They've moved. It it's happened a couple times. You know, it's in the parking lot and you know, somebody just gets in there and moves it out of the way. So I come out and my vans

Superintendent:
I've, I've had I've had some interesting things delivered. You've dropped off some prank gifts for me. Nothing like it, dead fish. And then some anonymous things, you know, people have been very crafty about using it, a new envelope and you know, so I've gotten some I've, I've received some nice things over the years, but

Jeramie Velarde:
That's the thing I don't even know I'm delivering pranks most of the time, you know? So it's always a surprise to me to know

Superintendent:
The dead fish was probably pretty obvious. You guys are a big part of what makes Jordan such a great place to work because it just feels good to see you. And it's nice to have the routine and you just connect everybody. And it's obvious that you care about the people that you're, that you're visiting. And I see a lot of times I said this to Matt too. I see a lot of times where people are engaged in a pretty big conversation with you because you're a great listening area, you know, just, they know they're going to see you there. Now they're going to be able to catch up with you.

Jeramie Velarde:
Yeah. Yep. But that's been the nice thing too is, you know, when I, since, since I've worked there, you know, I've had a lot of trials in my life as well. And you know, if I didn't have positive coworkers like that, I don't know what I would've done. And it's been, it's been a blessing for me as well to just have, you know, so, so many positive people in my life and, you know,

Superintendent:
Talk about your hobbies. Okay. You have a ton going on in your life. Tell us tell us about some of the things I know, but the listeners don't know.

Jeramie Velarde:
Well I'm a dad, so that's, that's that keeps me busy. I'm a student I'm working on my bachelor's in education. I'm a painter. Oh, by the way. And I, I play music and I try to stay active with exercise and things like that too. So

Superintendent:
What so you play the guitar,

Jeramie Velarde:
Huh? Guitar, ukulele, and sing.

Superintendent:
And are you a member of a band currently?

Jeramie Velarde:
Not

Superintendent:
Some of the bands. What are some of the bands you've been part of over the years?

Jeramie Velarde:
I was in a punk band called the underachievers. I was in a metal band, a rap metal band called blindfold eight Oh one. And I was in a folk band called has-been and another fault band called Copperton Park.

Superintendent:
I remember Copperton Park and blindfold data one. Yeah. Blindfold data. One was in the era when I, when I first knew you, it wasn't, it wasn't that kind of mid nineties.

Jeramie Velarde:
Yes. Yes.

Superintendent:
And what was the other one? The has-beens

Jeramie Velarde:
[Inaudible] okay.

Superintendent:
You, you kind of, don't have to say that has bins was a folk band. You kind of know if their name that has fans are kind of going to be a folk band, but you, you have very eclectic taste to tell it, tell us about some of the things that you listened to. I love to see your posts. There was one post where you asked me where you kind of posted to a group of people. What are your five year? I think it was your five favorite Beatles songs. And I probably spent like four hours thinking about which songs to post.

Jeramie Velarde:
Oh, I did too. So I've got a new, I w I've got a new one for you, and I'm still thinking about it, but it's to to create your own white album, but only using Beatles solo stuff. So if it's a John song on the white album, you have to pick a John song from the solo album. Does that make sense? Yes. Yes. So I, I'm trying to figure out my perfect solo solo white album. Wow. I'll have to post mine and then tag you in it or something.

Superintendent:
Yeah. Tag me when you post that, that's a delicious quandary. You get to know some of the kids because they're an aide in the office during a certain hour and you tend to be there at the same time.

Jeramie Velarde:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see a lot of the same, same kids and stuff. And you know, sometimes it's the naughty ones, but you know, I have a soft spot for them.

Superintendent:
Oh, Hey, you're in the office again. All right.

Jeramie Velarde:
Like, Hey, I was that way too. So I don't know anything that really sticks out. I mean, probably the thing most is beaten. My wife, I met Stacy when she was working in HR and we formed a friendship and eventually she asked me on a day and I eventually said yes. And it just worked out from then on. And now we're now we blended the four kids together and it's been, it's been awesome and the best, but flipping canoes over or

Superintendent:
Jeremy, it's been great talking to you. You're awesome. You're a great friend. You're a great person. And I'm so glad to still be in touch and still know you after all these decades. So take care out there and we'll talk to you soon.

Jeramie Velarde:
All right. Thank you so much.

Superintendent:
A big thank you to Matt and Jeremy for being on the show today and for everything they do for Jordan school district, it was great. Having a chance to talk with them, whether you're driving around the district or just listening at home. Remember education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see. [inaudible].