Salt Lake Tribune Article

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50066394-76/jordan-jea-district-board.html.csp

JEA will provide more information and details on the negotiations situation at the General Membership Meetings, August 9 and 23 at 5:00 p.m. at South Jordan Library.

General Membership Meeting

JEA has scheduled two General Membership Meetings for Mondays, August 9 and 23 at 5:00 p.m. at South Jordan Library. I would encourage you to attend one. Negotiations, mediation, fact finding, and what you can do will be addressed.

We have been unable to provide details of the mediation, but you need to know that JEA and the District did not come to a settlement. Both parties have requested a hearing officer to be appointed by State Superintendent Larry Shumway.

The Salt Lake Tribune is scheduled to run an article about our negotiations on Saturday, August 7.

To learn more about this process, please attend one of the scheduled meetings.

Jordan Education Foundation

I met with Steve Hall, Director of the Jordan Education Foundation (JEF), yesterday afternoon. I was already familiar with JEF and am acquianted with some of the JEF Board members. I will be an ex-officio member of the JEF Board and am excited about that part of my job.

I have been the recipient of Mini Grants through JEF in the past. They also have outstanding teacher awards and scholarships for high school seniors who have overcome great obstacles to achieve in school.

For those of you not familiar with JEF, I invite you to visit their website listed on the side.

Superintendent's Presentation

This morning I was invited to attend Superintendent Newbold's opening remarks at the Administrative Leadership Conference. He spoke about the District motto of Lead, Educate, Inspire and how what is happening in the District falls into those three areas. He also discussed the objectives of President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and how Utah's Promises to Keep are in line with the Federal objectives.

The Federal objectives include:

• College and career ready students
• Great teachers and leaders
• Equity and opportunity
• Raise the bar and reward excellence
• Promote innovation and continuous improvement

Utah State Promises to Keep are:

• Ensure literacy and numeracy
• High-quality instruction
• Curriculum with high standards and relevance
• Effective assessment
  

He stated that the District is expecting approximately 1300 new students this school year. He said the Board of Education's goal is "Improved communication to build trust and confidence."

I found the 5 Common Characteristics of High Performing Schools interesting.

1. Mission driven
2. High expectations for students and staff
3. Professional culture through PLC's
4. Focus on relationships
5. Student opportunities through extracurricular activities

It was a good presentation overall. I was glad to be invited.

Executive Board Retreat

Today the JEA and CEA (Canyons) Executive Boards met together with UniServ Directors Laura Black and Cindy Carroll for training. The information and activities they provided about communication helped us learn how to listen and discuss Association information with members. We also looked at the strengths of each person on the Board and how we can use those strengths within the Association. We learned more about the UEA message of "Speak for Tomorrow Today", how it relates to the NEA TEF/EDX (taxes, economic growth, education funding/educational excellence) campaign, and how the message applies to us in the Jordan UniServ. I will be working to bring that message to every school throughout the year.

After lunch, the two Executive Boards met separately. We discussed expectations for Board members, mediation, and liaison schools, with assignments to think about goals, the budget, and committee assignments for our next meeting in September.

Following the Executive Board meetings, the UniServ Council met. The main item of discussion was the UniServ Budget.

It was a long but very productive day!

Ready for Executive Board retreat

Today I finished all the necessary items for the Executive Board retreat for tomorrow. Your elected association leaders should come away ready to help you!

I continued to work on the information for the General Membership Meetings.

I also worked on organizing committee information, so JEA has appropriate representation on District committees. I will be sending out requests for vacant positions in the next couple of weeks.

FYI: The School Board is having an Emergency Closed Study Session tomorrow morning to discuss negotiations.

Regular work day

The office is finally finished, so I now have a place from which to work.

I finished planning the Executive Board Meeting to be held on Wednesday. I also worked on the information to be presented at the General Membership Meetings to be held Mondays, August 9 and 23. More information will be coming to you about these meetings.