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Ramadan is a special time of spiritual reflection, fasting from dawn to sunset, and increased devotion for Muslims. As a school community, it’s important to foster a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for Muslim staff and students during this period. Here are some helpful guidelines to ensure everyone feels supported:

  1. Understand Ramadan and Its Practices
    • Fasting: Muslims refrain from eating, drinking (including water), and sometimes taking medications from dawn (Fajr) until sunset (Maghrib). The fast is typically broken with a meal called Iftar.
    • Prayer: In addition to the five daily prayers, many Muslims also participate in extra prayers called Taraweeh during the evening. This may lead to less sleep, so it’s important to be mindful of its potential impact on energy levels.
    • Eid al-Fitr: Ramadan concludes with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, marked by prayers, family gatherings, and festivities. Muslim staff and students may request time off for this important holiday.
  2. Foster a Flexible and Understanding Environment
    • Prayer Accommodations: Provide a quiet and private space for Muslim staff and students to pray during the day. Keep in mind that prayer times vary slightly based on the position of the sun.
    • Flexible Scheduling: Consider offering flexible schedules for fasting staff and students. Whenever possible, avoid scheduling exams, presentations, or physically demanding activities late in the day when energy levels may be lower.
    • Classroom Sensitivity: When planning classroom activities, such as parties or food-related events, be mindful of students who are fasting and create an environment where they feel comfortable.
  3. Offer Alternatives for Physical Activities
    • PE Classes: For students who are fasting and may feel tired, allow them to opt-out of physically strenuous activities or participate in modified exercises.
    • Recess: Younger students who are fasting may prefer to engage in quieter activities during recess. Offer an indoor space where they can rest if needed.
  4. Consider Lunch and Eating Spaces
    • Respectful Lunchtime Environment: For students who are fasting, offer a quiet space, such as a library or designated room, where they can spend lunchtime if they prefer to avoid the cafeteria.
    • Staff Breaks: For fasting staff members, ensure they have access to private spaces where they can rest or pray during lunch breaks.
  5. Promote Inclusivity and Awareness
    • Community Education: Consider offering brief educational sessions or sharing resources about Ramadan to foster understanding and empathy within the school community.
    • Avoid Assumptions: Not all Muslims observe Ramadan in the same way. Some may not fast due to medical reasons or personal circumstances. Always respect individual choices and allow staff and students to participate as they see fit.
  6. Accommodate for Eid al-Fitr
    • Time Off for Eid: Make sure Muslim staff and students can take time off to celebrate Eid al-Fitr. Encourage them to communicate their needs in advance to plan accordingly.
    • Schoolwide Acknowledgement: Consider recognizing Eid al-Fitr through announcements or newsletters, promoting inclusivity and respect for religious diversity within the school.
  7. Communicate and Offer Support
    • Open Dialogue: Encourage Muslim staff and students to share any specific needs or accommodations they may require during Ramadan. Ensure that everyone feels comfortable discussing their needs with teachers and administrators.
    • Supportive Tone: Lead with a positive and welcoming tone, making it clear that the school is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for all religious observances.

By following these steps, the school can create a respectful, supportive, and inclusive atmosphere during Ramadan, showing genuine care for religious diversity and the well-being of all members of the school community.

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Dear Team, 

I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to highlight our district’s strong commitment to afterschool programming, which is pivotal in supporting the academic, social, and emotional development of our students. 

Afterschool programs offer students the chance to explore interests outside the classroom, engage in enrichment activities, and receive academic support in a safe, structured environment. These programs are vital in creating a sense of belonging, improving academic outcomes, and developing life skills that benefit students well beyond the school day. 

In our district, school administrators play a key role in supervising afterschool programs. Their involvement helps create a secure and nurturing environment for students, strengthening their connections with staff outside of regular school hours. This approach elevates the quality of our afterschool programs and promotes stronger collaboration between classroom learning and extended opportunities for growth. 

At the Salt Lake City School District, we are fully committed to ensuring our afterschool programs: 

  • Remain accessible to all students, regardless of background or circumstances. 
  • Have ample space across all sites. 
  • Offer a variety of activities that meet the diverse interests and needs of our students. 
  • Provide academic support and enrichment that aligns with our instructional goals. 
  • Inspire student engagement, creativity, and personal growth. 

We encourage all staff to actively support and promote these programs, whether through direct involvement, communicating with families, or helping students access these valuable opportunities. Your contributions are critical in ensuring the ongoing success and positive impact of afterschool programming throughout our district. 

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or suggestions on how we can further enhance our afterschool initiatives. 

Thank you for your continued dedication to our students and for helping ensure the success of the Salt Lake City School District. 

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Dear Principals,

We have enjoyed observing the progress you are making in your schools around PLCs. Many of you are establishing mission and vision statements, focusing on priority standards, or developing PLC leadership teams. We feel the conversations around the Learning by Doing readings have been productive and informative, and we have seen regular referrals to our district's tight PLC expectations.

As we are midway through the school year, our area director PLC would like to examine, calibrate, and discuss evidence of PLC implementation at all of our schools. Here is the assignment:

We've created a PLC Implementation folder embedded in your SIP folder (to reduce the number of folders). The link is below. Please upload the following artifacts to this folder:

  • One artifact from a PLC that is high functioning (you determine what high functioning means).
  • One artifact from a PLC that is on track at a basic but sufficient level (per our district's PLC phase timeline).
  • One artifact from a PLC that is struggling with an explanation (comment on doc or even separate Word doc) of how you are supporting this group and/or holding them accountable.

Artifacts may include agendas, minutes, placemats, common formative assessments, etc. 
 
Please upload all three documents to your PLC Implementation folder by 5pm on February 12, 2025. Thank you! We look forward to seeing samples of your teachers' work.

Please put PLC artifacts in the "PLC Implementation" folder:

School Folder to submit PLC Implementation artifacts

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Summary: The following information was provided to social studies teachers on 1.14.2025 to help them navigate topics that are, in Utah, deemed as “sensitive.” Our goal is to help teachers be able to navigate these topics in

classrooms if they are raised by students or encountered in classroom discussions.

Email

As social studies teachers, we know everything has a history. In learning social studies, part of our instructional practices call for teaching students to formulate and respond to compelling questions, conduct research, apply analytical thinking, and discern between valid and invalid sources as they seek to draw conclusions and formulate arguments about various current or historical topics. We know these are critical skills for an educated and civic ready citizenry, which is essential to sustaining our democracy.

We also recognize that today our students are savvy and care deeply about justice, and in response we provide students with valuable opportunities to explore topics compelling to them in an effort to help them better understand themselves and their communities. With

that said, as public school teachers, we are bound to follow Utah law. Our Board Policies are designed to capture the essence of the laws and inform what we must do to abide by Utah law.

This email is generated as a result of two laws: Utah Code Section 53G-10-402 and Utah Code Section 53G-10-403. I know you are not teaching health, sex ed, biology or the like, but since everything has a history, you may find that students choose to investigate a topic for a

history fair or civic action project that may be considered sensitive or unlawful according to Utah law.

What does this mean for you as social studies teachers? It means that if any instruction or information pertains to any of the sensitive topics listed in the law, I strongly encourage you to do the following:

  • Review our Board Policy I-7 regarding Curriculum and Instructional Materials

and Board Policy I-12 Human Sexuality Education to empower you with appropriate information.

$30/hour PD rate and receive 1 relicensure point for completing the course.

  • Confer with your school administrator letting them know what you are doing and

what, if any, topics might be deemed sensitive. Together, determine the parameters of the project so it stays within the boundaries of the law.

  • Keep parents informed and get appropriate parent permission prior to proceeding or allowing students to proceed with any topic deemed to be sensitive.
  • Plan accordingly. If student projects include any materials deemed sensitive under Utah law/Board policy, students are not allowed to share their projects with any other students. Students are not allowed to receive peer feedback or present their projects in any school or district venue. In these cases, what are your plans for student alternatives?
  • Please Note: Utah History Day (UHD) is aware of Utah Code and working to determine how that may affect student presentations during UHD contests.

Please be assured that this email is not meant to alarm you or stifle student learning or your instruction. It is merely meant to equip you with important information. If you have further questions, please refer to your administrator.

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Requirement:

“Aligning to Board Rule R277-700-4(6), a Local Education Agency (LEA) shall assess students for proficiency in keyboarding by grade 5 and report school-level results to the superintendent.

Each LEA will complete the Keyboarding Proficiency Report by June 1 each year.”

Action Items:

  • Coordinate with grade 5 teachers to ensure there is a planned time to administer the assessment.
  • Ensure grade 5 teachers have a plan to access keyboards for this assessment.
  • Confirm all grade 5 teachers have had the keyboard assessment training and understand the scoring procedure and how to submit their information.
  • Watch for an email from Sallie Warnecke by May 5 with the log-in information to submit your scores to the USBE.

Resources:

  • For the 2024-2025 school year, the district has purchased a premium license for all students in grades 2-6 from Typing.com. To access the premium license, students and teachers log in through Clever.
  • A Proper Technique Checklist (https://slcsd-my.sharepoint.com/personal/sallie_warnecke_slcschools_org/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fsallie_warnecke_slcschools_org%2FDocuments%2FKeyboarding%2FKeyboarding%20Technique%20Poster%2Epdf&parent=%2Fpersonal%2Fsallie_warnecke_slcschools_org%2FDocuments%2FKeyboarding&ga=1 ) has been created to post in schools.
  • Please note: There is only one required report per school, not teacher, to be submitted to the state on or before June 1, 2025. The window to submit opens on May 1, 2025.
  • Sallie Warnecke will provide professional learning opportunities throughout the spring via Teams and, upon request, will be available to provide in-person learning opportunities.
    • The first online PD will be held Monday, January 27 from 3:00-3:30 via Teams. Each fifth grade teacher will receive a Teams invitation to attend. 

Questions? Sallie Warnecke, Digital Learning Supervisor Keywords: Keyboarding, grade 5, assessment

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Summary: 

SLCSD educators are required to have an ESL Endorsement if they were hired after 2001-02. New employees must complete their endorsement by the end of their fourth year of employment. Registration for the next cohort opened on Monday, January 13 and closes on April 1. The registration is in KickUp, which is found in Clever. Click on the "Learning" tab and browse for "ESL Endorsement Cohort 8." The first class will begin on April 7. 

Information about the ESL Endorsement and schedule is available on the ESL Endorsement Information page on the SLCSD website. Teachers have received this information through district email. 

Endorsement Information 

SLCSD offers an ESL Endorsement program to our educators. The courses are 3-unit graduate-level offered through SUU. Each term is 12 weeks long. Courses are facilitated in the SLCSD Canvas and are asynchronous. The district pays for the instructor and has built the materials into the course, so the only cost for the employee is the credit posting fee of $72. SLCSD has two different endorsement options: FULL and SLCSD Modified.

  • The full endorsement is six (6) courses, 18 units. This endorsement is placed on the Utah Teaching License and will stay current as long as the license is current.
  • The modified endorsement is only available to educators with specific teaching positions. This endorsement is only valid in SLCSD and does not attach to the state teaching license. 

Who needs which endorsement?
 

  • Full Utah ESL Endorsement: Elementary teachers, core content secondary teachers (science, mathematics, ELA, Social Studies), and academic coaches in core areas are required to have the full ESL Endorsement.
  • SLCSD Modified Endorsement: Secondary elective teachers, administrators, and other educators can complete the entire endorsement or an SLCSD Modified Endorsement (1-3 classes, depending on position).
  • All educators are welcome to complete the entire credential.
  • Educators may also complete the endorsement by earning a passing score on the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Praxis Exam (5362). A passing score on this assessment will complete the endorsement. An ESL endorsement application must be submitted to USBE with the score report.  If employees have already taken one of the courses listed in the endorsement within the last 10 years with a grade of C or better, they do not need to take that course again. If there is a question about whether or not a course can be used, USBE must make that determination as they are the granting agency.  Questions?  Contact Dr. Tiffany Hall (Tiffany.Hall@slcschools.org)

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Due to the change of USBE’s competency-based systems and at the direction of USBE leadership, the Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Fine Arts teams were tasked with identifying natural alignments between CTE arts-based courses and the Fine Arts courses, endorsements, and core standards.

A multi-month alignment review identified significant overlap between the CTE arts-based standards and the Fine Art state core standards. Based on these findings, the following CTE courses may now grant Fine Arts Credit on a case-by-case basis, depending on student needs:

  • Commercial Art 1/2/3
  • Commercial Photo 1/2/3
  • Digital Illustration, Digital Media 1/2/Advanced
  • Digital Media Capstone
  • Graphic Print Design 1/2/3

CTE educator requirements: to grant this credit, CTE educators must have a secondary license and one of the following CTE endorsements:

CTE endorsements will be updated on July 1, 2025. CTE will offer different options to fulfill the requirements for the Associate Level of each endorsement. Fine arts teachers cannot be scheduled to teach these courses until they have the appropriate endorsements.

Resulting changes for students: this change provides our students with greater flexibility in fulfilling their

graduation requirements and allows them to explore their interests in both Fine Arts and Career and Technical Education – for these courses, credit can be granted depending on the student’s needs.

No other CTE courses are eligible for Fine Arts graduation credit. 

Questions? Laura deShazo, CTE Director

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