The final day for students to complete credit recovery and graduate with their cohort is Friday, September 26, 2025 (the Friday before October 1). All coursework must be submitted no later than 8:00 PM on that day in order to count toward the student’s cohort graduation requirements.
Accessing Canvas for Credit Recovery
To ensure students can access Canvas over the summer, counselors must complete the following steps:
In PowerSchool, check the box labeled “Will take CR this summer.”
Submit a Help Desk Ticket with the following details:
Category: Applications
Subcategory: Canvas
Item: Add
Required Information: Student ID number and last name. Also indicate that the box has been checked in PowerSchool.
As we approach the 10-Day Drop window, please review the following guidance carefully. Our goal is to ensure consistency across schools while supporting students and families through clear communication and outreach.
Board Policy S-4 states:
“School administration and/or their designees will attempt at least one home visit before implementing a 10-day withdrawal. The home visit will be logged in PowerSchool.”
Recognizing the unique challenges at the start of the school year, outreach efforts such as phone calls, emails, and text messages may be documented as interventions in lieu of an immediate home visit. When feasible, a home visit should still be made, but it is not required prior to initiating the 10-Day Drop.
Please follow the updated procedures below:
1. General Education Students
Who: Students who registered for this school year but have not attended at all.
Action: Drop the student the day after 10 unexcused absences.
Drop Deadline: September 2
Exit Date to Enter: September 3
Requirements:
At least one documented intervention is required prior to dropping the student.
Acceptable interventions include: phone calls, text messages, emails, or home visits.
Document the outreach in PowerSchool.
2. Special Education Students
Who: Students with an IEP who have 30 consecutive unexcused absences.
Action: May be dropped after 30 consecutive unexcused absences.
Exit Date to Enter: Day after the 30th absence.
Requirements:
Special education teachers must document all attempts to connect with the family.
3. Students Who Rolled Over from Last Year (Not Registered This Year)
Who: Students who appear on your roster but did not complete registration for the current school year.
Action: Drop at date of entry.
Exit Date to Enter: First day of school or the listed entry date.
Note: No intervention is required. However, please carefully verify that the student truly did not register or attend before proceeding.
Key Reminders
Equity and care are central. Our outreach efforts should reflect compassion and the intent to reconnect families to school.
Document everything. Whether by phone, text, email, or home visit, please ensure all interventions are logged in PowerSchool.
Seek support if unsure. When in doubt, reach out to your supervising director for clarification.
Together, these practices ensure we meet compliance requirements while also extending every opportunity for students to engage with school. Thank you for your continued commitment to students and families as we begin this school year.
I'd like to introduce myself as a new face in SLCSD. My name is Julianna Wing and I'm joining the CTE team with the charge to help connect industry partners with our students. One of my initiatives is to ensure that career exploration opportunities, known as Work Based Learning, are shared with all grades, K-12. To best share information, I'm compiling a list of the contact person at each elementary and middle school. Please fill out the best contact person (administrator, counselor, etc.) for future Work Based Learning announcements on the spreadsheet below. There are two tabs at the bottom, one for elementary and one for middle school.
The first event to share with you is the Saturday Academy, hosting by the University of Utah. This is a look into healthcare careers for grades 6-12 on Saturdays, beginning in September. Parents will need to register students on their own and arrange for transportation. See the attached flier to pass along to families.
As more events come up, I'll be sending them directly to the contact shared on the spreadsheet. We're excited about more opportunities coming for students so stay tuned.
Last year we piloted the Sherpa AI absence tracking tool with 11 schools, free of charge. The pilot generated strong interest across the district and many schools are eager to use the tool to support attendance efforts.
However, because the cost of implementing Sherpa AI exceeds $50,000 we must go through a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process. This ensures transparency and gives qualified vendors the opportunity to submit bids for the services we are seeking such as timely and improved communication with families regarding student absences, robust data tracking, and more.
This RFP process typically takes about 10 weeks to complete. During this time, please continue your efforts to connect with families of absent students. If you need support, I would be happy to join you and your attendance team in a meeting to generate ideas to continue to improve attendance efforts at your sites.
In the coming days, I’ll also be showing you how to access your attendance data on PowerSchool Analytics and Insights. This will allow you and your attendance team to begin identifying students who are chronically absent and to start developing targeted interventions. We’ll also begin thinking about systems and supports that can be put in place to better serve the student groups most impacted by chronic absenteeism.
As always, if you have any questions, please reach out any time.
All SLCSD educators must have an ESL endorsement. Depending on their teaching area, they can have a district modified or state endorsement. New employees must complete their endorsement by their fourth year of employment.
The ESL Endorsement is granted by USBE and can be earned by completing six courses or by taking and passing the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Praxis Exam (5362).
Certain categories of educators – including administrators – in the district can earn a modified endorsement with fewer classes. The classes are determined by the educators’ role and are outlined in the district’s ALS Master Plan. The modified endorsement is only recognized by SLCSD. More information about modified endorsements is on the district’s ESL Endorsement page.
Rationale:
State and federal law, policies, and regulations provide parameters regarding the education of students who are Multi-Language Learners (MLL) in the United States. School districts must identify students, assess their abilities to understand, speak, read, and write English, and provide comprehensible and content-based instructional programs.
SLCSD designed the program to begin in the spring to support new teachers by not crowding too much into the first semester of their work with students in the district.
Expectations for Implementation:
Communication
Please share this information with your new teachers.
Please check with your teachers during your ECAP sessions to ensure they have completed or are on track to complete the ESL Endorsement or Modified Endorsement.
Full information about the endorsement and its requirements can be found on the district’s website. ESL Endorsement Information.
Collaboration:
SLCSD provides an ESL endorsement program designed to provide educators with the knowledge and strategies to support English language learners in their classrooms.
ESL Endorsement classes are graduate-level classes offered with university credit, so they will count toward a professional lane change. The complete ESL Endorsement (six classes, earning grade of C or better) is granted by USBE and is recorded on the teaching credential. The modified endorsement is only recorded on your SLCSD record.
Cohorts begin every spring. Registration information is sent through the district email system in February and can be found on Clever in KickUp. Classes are online.
The district funds the instructor and provides materials. The cost per class is $72 for posting fees.
Please contact Dr. Tiffany Hall with questions.
Evaluation
All teachers must have the appropriate endorsement, which is dependent on the content and level they teach.
During the annual Administrator Institute in July 2025, all administrators received an update on legislative changes, including new requirements related to toilet training.
The updated guidance is:
Schools must provide educational services to any student removed from school because of toilet training while they are at home.
Students may return to school for their Special Education minutes during the time they are working on toilet training at home.
During the elementary session, administrators asked the following questions. Responses are summarized below:
What if a student has a documented medical issue on a 504 plan, or toilet training concerns are part of an IEP? The student would not be removed from school. Appropriate accommodations would be made.
Can students have a goal on their IEP for toilet training? Toilet training goals can be written into an IEP if the toileting issue is directly related to the student’s disability and is necessary for their access to education (often as a functional or transition goal).
Can a student qualify for an IEP if they are not toilet trained? No. Toilet training by itself is not a disability. A student cannot have an IEP with a goal that is only toilet training.
If toileting concerns are developmental (a child is simply late in training) but not tied to a qualifying disability or medical condition, then it would not meet the threshold for IEP elibility.
In these cases, general education strategies and family support would be the avenue, not a formal plan.
Rationale:
H.B. 233 — School Curriculum Amendments prohibits local education agencies (i.e., public schools) from using or allowing health-related instruction or materials provided by entities that perform elective abortions. That includes materials created, funded, or donated by those providers, as well as any instruction delivered by their employees or volunteers.
SLCSD had approved several presentations from providers that are no longer permissible. The new Health curriculum will help support teachers in designing their instruction in Health I and Health II.
Expectations for Implementation:
Communication:
Please make sure appropriate teachers and staff are aware.
We have a new list of approved textbooks for 7-12 core social studies/history courses. When ordering textbook materials for social studies/history courses, please select from the approved list for the core classes:
Utah Studies
US History I
World Geography
World History
US History II
US Government & Citizenship.
Expectations for Implementation:
Communication:
The approved list of textbooks and the buy guides are located in the District Document Center under Teaching and Learning >> Social Studies.
When ordering new textbook materials, teachers must select from the approved list.
Depending on the available budget, teachers may choose from physical and/or digital materials.
We recognize not all teachers will purchase materials. Purchasing social studies textbook materials is at the discretion of school administrator and/or teacher.
For teachers using textbook materials as their main source of curriculum, it is important to update their materials within the school budgetary timeline for purchasing social studies materials.
Schools purchase the materials. The T&L Department can help coordinate your order.
We have a new approved textbooks Health I and Health II courses. The district is purchasing the teacher materials and a classroom set of student materials for every district Health teacher. Subsequent replacement will be the responbility of the school.
If schools choose to purchase online student licenses, they may do so from their site funds.
The books are:
Glencoe Teen Health (middle school)
Glencoe Health (high school)
Books are purchased through Mountain State Schoolbook Depository.
Rationale:
H.B. 233 — School Curriculum Amendments prohibits local education agencies (i.e., public schools) from using or allowing health-related instruction or materials provided by entities that perform elective abortions. That includes materials created, funded, or donated by those providers, as well as any instruction delivered by their employees or volunteers.
SLCSD had approved several presentations from providers that are no longer permissible. The new Health curriculum will help support teachers in designing their instruction in Health I and Health II.
Expectations for Implementation:
Communication:
Information about delivery will be forthcoming.
Information about a ½ day training will be forthcoming. Subs will be provided.
Collaboration:
Contact Katie Lowery with questions.
Timeline:
August 2025 through next adoption cycle (potentially 2032)
Keywords: text books, health, curriculum, approved materials, 7-12
As we kick off the new school year, we’d like to highlight a few important IT procedures.
After-Hours and Weekend IT Support
If you experience an IT issue outside regular hours, please submit an IT help ticket (https://helpdesk.slcschools.org). When we receive a report of a network or system outage in the evening, it will be addressed the following morning. If the request comes on the weekend, the problem will be worked on within 24-48 hours, though holiday support times may vary.
If you are having an activity after hours or on weekends relying on the computers or network and would like system support, please schedule that with me at least two weeks in advance. Be prepared to provide an account number for potential technician overtime costs.
Monthly System Maintenance
To ensure the smooth operation of our IT systems, regular maintenance is necessary. We’ve established a maintenance schedule for the 2025-26 school year to minimize disruptions for staff and students.
Maintenance will occur on designated weekends each month, during which intermittent system outages may be expected. We will send out notifications each month detailing the affected systems.
The planned maintenance window is typically from 5 pm on Friday through Saturday. Occasionally, maintenance may continue into Sunday. Critical updates may be applied outside this planned maintenance schedule.
Please review the maintenance dates below and plan accordingly.
August 29-30
September 26-27
October 24-25 (limited due to end of term)
November 14-15
December 19-20
January 23-24
February 27-28
March 27-28
April 17-18
May 15-16
June 26-27
July 17-18
IT Help Tickets
When requesting support, please remember to use the IT help ticket system (https://helpdesk.slcschools.org). Tickets submitted through this system are prioritized over emails or phone calls. Utilizing the help ticket system allows us to better analyze data and improve our service.
We wish you a successful start of the school year.
