From: Katie Lowery, Health and PE Specialist Adam Eskelson, Extended Learning Director Teaching & Learning
Summary:
SLCSD must have parents on the Human Sexuality Committee. This committee reviews all materials used to teach health topics related to maturation, sexuality, relationships, etc. We would like to have 10 parents from throughout the district agree to be on the committee. We need to have names by May 1 so we can have them approved by the Board. A flier is available to share with parents (click here to download).
Rationale:
State administrative code and district AP I-12: Human Sexuality Education indicate that we must have “at least as many parents as school employees” on the committee. We would like to have wide parent representation to review materials that will be used in Health classes.
Expectations for Implementation:
Communication
Ask parent groups for volunteers to participate for the 2026-27 school year.
There are up to 5 meetings a year, scheduled from 4:00 – 5:00PM (If there is not a program to review, the meeting is canceled.)
Meetings are held in person, but parents can participate online.
Collaboration:
Katie Lowery is available to help answer questions and talk with parents, 801-578-8208.
GRADE DESIGNATIONS The NG designation is used when a student has not attended enough of a class to demonstrate achievement of the learning objectives. This may occur due to excessive absences or late entry into the course, as outlined in Administrative Procedure I-8: Student Progress and Academic Achievement. An NG does not carry credit or grade points. The NG communicates that insufficient days of enrollment or excused absence prevents a teacher from making a valid determination of learning.
An “I” is used when a student has participated sufficiently in the course to demonstrate learning but is missing significant work. The teacher expects that the student can still complete the missing work and demonstrate mastery. Typically, the student is given until the end of the following term to submit the required work. Once completed, the I is replaced with a grade and the appropriate credit is awarded. After one term, the I will be replaced automatically with an F. A student can still apply for a grade change, but after a term the “F” will be on the report card and GPA.
Section IV.H. Assigning a ‘No Grade’ (NG)
A NG can replace a letter grade when a student has an excused absence longer than 10 days but cannot be used as a consequence for unexcused absences.
The NG marking may be used as outlined in Section III.A.3.b.
The NG should not be used to avoid assigning an ‘F’ grade.
An NG does not convey credit or affect a student's grade point average.
Section III.A.3.b Students who transfer in after the midterm without a grade will be assigned a ‘no grade’ (NG). If there are extenuating circumstances and the students can demonstrate sufficient mastery of the content, the teacher may use their discretion to determine if a ‘P’ would be an appropriate option. A ‘P’ conveys credit for graduation but does not affect the grade point average.
Rationale:
During the pandemic (2019-20, 2020-21), teachers used the NG when students were not participating in school. This decision reflected concerns from teachers and administrators that many students were not able to access online instruction consistently, and therefore, an “F” was not an appropriate representation of their learning.
Following this period, some teachers continued using the NG for students who were attending class but not achieving academically, substituting it for an “F.” This was not aligned with Administrative Procedure I-8.
In 2024-25, schools were reminded that the NG may not be used in place of an “F.” An email was sent to administrators, counselors, and teachers in October 2024 reinforcing this expectation. Counselor training on the appropriate use of the NG occurred in November 2024. This was to be implemented by the start of the 2025-26 school year.
CREDIT RECOVERY
Knowing that the NG = F from T4 2020 until 2024-25, credit recovery has recognized those NGs as Fs and allowed credit recovery to be assigned. However, NGs earned in 2025-26 and beyond are not considered Fs and eligible for credit recovery. This is because credit recovery is based on the student completing an original credit class and recovery key learning, and the NG means that they were not in the course for sufficient time to evaluate key learning.
The credit recovery system should recognize an NG granted in before this year (2025-26) as an F and grant access to CR courses. IF IT DOES NOT, please use the blue "+credit recovery button" and use "NG from 202X-XX not recognized." That will be checked and assigned if appropriate.
Incompletes can't be recovered until they are changed to an F grade. Again, this happens automatically at the end of the next term for a course taken in this district (we can't change grades that come in from other schools). However, it is always better to have a student complete the course with the teacher.
Expectations for Implementation:
Communication
Principals are responsible to ensure that teachers and counselors are aware of this information.
The purpose of this memo is to provide guidance and direction regarding the upcoming end-of-year training and registration preview for school office staff. This training is intended to support a smooth and organized close to the current school year while also preparing office teams for the upcoming registration process.
Training Overview The training will focus on end-of-year procedures, expectations for closing out the school year, and a preview of the upcoming registration process. The goal is to ensure that all office staff have clear guidance, consistent information, and the opportunity to ask questions in advance of summer preparation and fall registration.
Date The in-person training sessions will take place on the following dates:
Wednesday, April 29
Thursday, April 30
Friday, May 1
Please indicate your preference by the end of the day on April 15th by completing the survey that can be found HERE.
Session Structure: In order to provide flexibility and ensure full participation, two sessions will be offered on the selected date:
One morning session
One afternoon session
Each session will last approximately 2–3 hours and will include time for both training and questions.
Participation Expectations: Principals are asked to ensure that all appropriate office staff members attend one of the scheduled sessions. This includes staff members who are directly involved in student records, enrollment, registration processes, and end-of-year procedures. Schools should plan coverage accordingly so that all staff are able to participate.
Any materials or information staff should review in advance
Thank you for your continued support in ensuring that our schools are well prepared for both the conclusion of this school year and a successful start to the next. This training is an important opportunity to provide clear direction and consistent expectations for all office staff across the district.
SLCSD stakeholders will begin receiving notices about their access to the stakeholder survey. All surveys must be completed by April 24. Please encourage everyone to participate.
In case any questions arise, here is the information you should know:
This survey is OPTIONAL; no one should feel compelled to take it. However, it is incredibly useful feedback, and we strongly encourage all our stakeholders to participate.
This survey is ANONYMOUS, and participants should be encouraged to complete it at a time and location where they feel comfortable giving honest feedback.
Teacher Survey: Survey links will be sent out to teachers via district email. If they do not see the link, they should check junk/spam folders or reach out to patrick.jefferies@slcschools.org. Please set time aside for teachers to complete.
Parent Survey: Survey links will be sent out to parents via ParentSquare. If they do not see the link, they should check junk/spam folders or reach out to patrick.jefferies@slcschools.org.
Student Survey: Students can access the survey through the Student Survey Module in Clever. To increase response rates, we encourage you to work with your teachers to set aside time for students to complete their surveys during school hours.
Parents/Students
A student must have been enrolled for at least 40 days to receive a survey.
Students and parents will be asked to provide feedback on each individual course/teacher they have, as well as the administrators in their building.
They may skip any sections they wish
Parents with multiple children in the district may receive separate survey emails for each child.
Class information is pulled from PowerSchool, so if a student is in an afterschool program or a class that they know by a different name than what is in PowerSchool, please help them determine which class that is (i.e. After School might be Chess Club).
Any questions can be directed to the Assessment Supervisor, Dr. Patrick Jefferies (patrick.jefferies@slcschools.org).
In accordance with HB 182, all surveys intended to be given to students must be opt-in during the registration process at the beginning of the school year, including the ability for parents/guardians to review the actual questions. This legal mandate requires a process for submitting, reviewing, and preparing all surveys in a timely manner for the registration process. Every survey must be resubmitted annually through this process, including new and previously used surveys. Only approved surveys can be administered to students. This process will occur annually.
Process for school year 2026-27
April 24, 2026-Submission Deadline
All surveys must be submitted to the supervisor of Assessment & Evaluation, Dr. Patrick Jefferies (patrick.jefferies@slcschools.org). The submission must include a clear, easy-to-understand purpose statement, actual survey questions, the intended audience, and alignment with the SLCSD Strategic Plan.
Review Process
Submissions will be reviewed for clarity, purpose, and alignment with the SLCSD strategic plan by members of School Leadership & Support and Teaching & Learning. Clarifying questions or revisions might be asked of submitters during the process.
May 15, 2026 Approval
Approved surveys will be sent to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for inclusion in the registration packet, along with the purpose statement and the survey questions. Survey questions will be locked and cannot be changed after submission to the CIO.
Questions or help with the process can be directed to the Assessment Supervisor. Dr. Patrick Jefferies (Patrick.jefferies@slcschools.org)
this year's Utah School Public Relations Association conference — aka the 2026 USPRA Annual Conference — USPRA Live: Turning Up the Volume on School PR — will be held this year at Hawthorne Elementary. I launched this conference last year, with Emma as one of the Co-Charis. This year, Emma is co-chairing again (that's why she's cc'd), and the conference has expanded to TWO days:
Conference Details
Thursday, April 23 • 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Friday, April 24 • 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. Hawthorne Elementary — 1675 S 600 E, Salt Lake City
Another thing that's new this year is a specific track for School Administrators (Administrator Amplifier — NEW Principal/Admin Track). The sessions for the Administrator track will be held on Thursday and focus on practical communication tools, leadership alignment, and strengthening collaboration with school PR professionals.
Best of all, it's FREE for principals to attend!
I realize you have DLC on Thursdays, but would it be possible to invite our school administrators to attend afterwards?
Why Attend
This conference is designed to help school leaders and communication teams:
Elevate communication strategies
Strengthen consistent districtwide messaging
Build trust and engagement with families, staff, and communities
Learn from school PR professionals and leaders across the state
Administrators can register for free using the code UTAPRINCIPAL.
We would love to have as many of our SLCSD administrators join us as we continue to “turn up the volume” on school PR. Please reach out if you have any questions.
As we have had several questions related to appropriate campaign activities on school property and during public school meetings, I have attached updated political activity guidelines for your review. We have multiple contested board member seats in the upcoming election, so please ensure you are following board policy, district administrative procedures, and state law in your treatment of all candidates.
The guidelines are available: here. Thank you for taking the time to ensure that all our stakeholders feel valued and respected as we move forward.
From: Dr. Chelsea Malouf, Literacy Director Adrienne Kumik, Literacy Supervisor Dr. Tiffany Hall, Executive Director Teaching and Learning
Subject: Academic Discussion Data Collection Event 2026!
Summary:
The district’s Strategic Plan for Student Achievement has a goal to increase student academic conversation—the opportunity to talk about thinking or demonstrate learning—to 50% of time in every classroom. This looks different grade to grade and content to content: what is important is that students are personally engaged in actively processing their learning.
Collecting Data
Earlier this year, we collected perspective data about academic discourse from teachers and administrators. We had a great response rate—thank you! It was great to see that academic discourse is being used intentionally throughout the district and valued for the increase seen in student engagement and learning.
We now need to collect data on the observed percentages of academic conversation in the classroom so we can report to the Board. We will be using an observation protocol that will collect information without any teacher identifiers. Information will be reported by elementary, middle, and high school levels.
Friday, March 27, 10:30 – 11:30: Training on the observation tool and protocol. Instructional coaches and district staff will be participating. Any school administrators who would like to participate are invited to join us in the board rooms.
Monday – Wednesday, March 30 – April 1: We will be strategically visiting classrooms across the district for 20-minute sessions. We plan to capture data from different grades, content areas, and times of day. Again, we would love to have site administrators join us for any time you have available to support the process.
Rationale:
This will demonstrate instruction change as we move through the years of our strategic plan.
Expectations for Implementation:
Communication
Teaching & Learning will send information to teachers. Please help us spread the word – and the assurance that this is NON-EVALUATIVE and anonymous data collection.
Collaboration:
Dr. Chelsea Malouf
Adrienne Kumik
Tiffany Hall
Evaluation
Our objective is to capture a broad look at district wide data that we can replicate each year to track our progress on this instructional goal.
Tiffany Hall, Executive Director, Teaching and Learning
Subject: Social Studies Graduation Requirements
Summary:
Social studies graduation requirements will increase from 3.0 to 3.5 for students in grade 10 starting in 2026-2027. This will also reduce required elective credits to 5.0 from 5.5. The significant information as of now follows:
New Social Studies Graduation Requirement
The new requirement will affect students entering grade 10 starting in 2026-2027.
Requirements for graduating students in 2026 and 2027 are unchanged.
Standards are being written for a new 1.0 course called American Constitutional Government and Citizenship to meet the new graduation requirement.
We will create course offerings and codes once the standards are approved.
This guidance is intended to support school leaders in planning safe, efficient, and compliant transportation for extended and overnight school trips. The district remains committed to providing meaningful student experiences while adapting to current transportation capacity constraints.
Key Updates
Due to ongoing limitations in bus availability and driver capacity, the district has implemented the following changes:
District buses will no longer be available for:
Extended school trips
Overnight travel
Charter bus services are now required for all trips that meet these criteria.
Definition of Extended Trips
In general, an “extended school trip” refers to any overnight trip.
If a school is planning a long-distance, same-day trip (e.g., travel to St. George or similar distances without an overnight stay), administrators are asked to:
Consult with the Area Director prior to finalizing transportation plans to determine appropriate next steps.
Financial Considerations
For the remainder of the current school year:
The district will provide support for charter transportation costs, as needed.
Beginning next school year:
Schools should proactively budget for charter transportation when planning extended or overnight trips.
These costs should be incorporated into annual school budgets and activity planning processes.
Planning Expectations for School Leaders
Principals and assistant principals should:
Plan early to secure charter transportation, as availability may vary.
Work with approved vendors and follow district procurement guidelines.
Ensure alignment with school budgets for all extended and overnight travel.
Communicate clearly with staff, students, and families regarding transportation expectations and any changes from past practices.
Prioritize student safety and supervision in all travel planning.
Support and Collaboration
The district is committed to supporting schools through this transition. Administrators are encouraged to:
Reach out with questions related to planning, budgeting, or vendor selection.
Consult on unique or complex travel scenarios, particularly long-distance, non-overnight trips.
Collaborate early to troubleshoot challenges and ensure smooth implementation.
Conclusion
We recognize that this shift represents a change from prior practice and appreciate your leadership and adaptability. These updates are designed to ensure that all student travel remains safe, reliable, and sustainable given current operational realities.
Thank you for your continued commitment to providing enriching opportunities for students while maintaining strong stewardship of district resources.
For additional guidance or support, please contact your Area Director.
