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Please take a minute to review the following information pertaining to accepting donations.

Letting your donors know how much you appreciate their gift is not enough. We need to comply with IRS regulations regarding tax deductible donations. The Salt Lake Education Foundation and Development Office will send thank-you letters/receipts for each donation that your school receives.

Pursuant to Utah Code §51-4-2(2)(a), all public funds shall be deposited within three banking days after receipt. This rule applies to ALL funds, including funds received from fundraisers (note that cash above $50 must be deposited same day).

Monetary Donations:

  1. Checks payable to the school or district: Deposit them at Chase Bank as you normally would. Forward copies of the checks, the summary of cash received for that day’s deposit, and a Development Deposit Form to Jeanette.Hartley@slcschools.org.  In the description of the deposit form, please list the fund 21 account number. A thank-you letter/receipt on district letterhead will be mailed to each donor.
  2. Checks payable to the Salt Lake Education Foundation: Deposit them at Zions Bank in the foundation’s account. Please contact Jeanette.Hartley@slcschools.org for the account number. The only difference in the process is you will deposit them at Zions Bank, and you will email a Foundation Deposit Form (instead of a Development Deposit Form) along with copies of the checks and bank receipt to Jeanette.Hartley@slcschools.org. In the description of the deposit form, please list the fund 21 account number of where you want the funds to be transferred. A thank-you letter/receipt on foundation letterhead will be mailed to each donor. The foundation will transfer the funds to your school’s fund 21 account in the month following the date of deposit.
  3. Cash: You may deposit cash at either bank. Please follow the same instructions as when you deposit checks, using the appropriate deposit form, and list the donor’s address on the deposit form as it will not be listed on a check. Use a Development Deposit Form (when the deposit was at Chase Bank) or a Foundation Deposit Form (when the deposit was at Zions Bank). If a donor’s address is listed on the form, a thank-you letter/receipt will be mailed to the donor.

Please be aware that not all funds collected from fundraising efforts are donations. For more information, see Is It a Donation? If there are goods or services given in exchange for a contribution, the amount should be listed in the “Other Revenue” column found in the “Split Gift” section of the Development and Foundation Deposit Forms.

Gifts In-Kind:

The Gift-in-Kind Donation Form should be given to donors who give non-cash items (such as school supplies or auction items). It is the responsibility of the donor to list the value of their donation on the form. After the form is received by the foundation, a thank-you letter/receipt will be mailed to the donor that may be used for tax deduction purposes.

The forms may be found on the foundation’s website at https://www.saltlakeeducationfoundation.org/.  For assistance, please contact:

Jeanette Hartley

Jeanette.Hartley@slcschools.org

Phone: 801-578-8270

Elizabeth Moran

Elizabeth.Moran@slcschools.org

Phone: 801-578-8258

As a reminder, Board Policy F-1 details our deposit procedures and Board Policy C-6 details our donation procedures.

Process After Funds Have Been Deposited:

It is essential that any gift received by the foundation is used for its intended purpose to ensure compliance with donor intent. Funds deposited in the foundation’s account at Zions Bank are tracked in Blackbaud software, which is designed for nonprofits, in categories that correspond with the purposes of the donations.

  1. Elementary and Middle Schools: Funds for elementary and middle schools are transferred to applicable school accounts held in fund 21 following the foundation’s month-end reconciliation. Funds for classrooms are placed in grade-level accounts, not in accounts for individual teachers. Elementary and middle school administrators and secretaries may see their balances and account activity in BusinessPlus.
  2. High Schools: Funds donated to the foundation for high schools are held in the foundation’s account and are transferred to high schools upon request. A check is sent to the school.
  3. Grants: If the funds received by the foundation were a result of a grant in which the foundation’s 501(c)(3) number was used and require oversight and/or reporting, then those funds remain in the foundation’s account, maintained by the Development Office.

Thank you for your support in ensuring that we comply with the acceptance of donations procedures.

James E. Yapias

This communication is to update you about the school, school leadership, and district grant-seeking support system, which must be used by your faculty and staff or anyone who is seeking grant funding. This procedure went into effect on April 18, 2018. This procedure aims to increase site and department support, collaboration of resources, and student achievement through a streamlined process. The link to the Grant Pre-Application Approval Worksheet is https://apex.slcschools.org/apex/r/slcsd/grant-application.

Thank you for your collaboration efforts on grant submissions. Using the Grant Pre-Application Approval Worksheet helps the district and foundation have a clear, shared plan based on school improvement and community needs. Most importantly, it allows us to communicate effectively and efficiently with stakeholders.

Process:

School administrators will be notified before a grant is submitted and will be able to have questions answered and pre-approve the grant application. The foundation will also be notified to ensure compliance with our C-6 Fundraising Policy and 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.

The pre-submission approval process:

  • Approval by impacted schools/departments (15 business days before the grant application is due)
  • Approval by the foundation director (10 business days before the grant application is due) All local, state, business/corporate, and foundation grants less than $100,000
  • Approval by the superintendent (10 business days before the grant application is due) All federal grants
  • All local, state, business/corporate, and foundation grants $100,000 or greater
  • Approval by additional district personnel as required by the foundation director.

If you have questions about the Grant Pre-Application Approval Worksheet, contact me at James.Yapias@slcschools.org or 801.578.8561.

Sincerely,

James E. Yapias

GRANT PRE-APPLICATION APPROVAL INSTRUCTIONS

Requester:Automatically populated with the employee logged in making the grant request.
Requester Department:Automatically populated based on the employee logged in making the grant request.
Name of Grant Opportunity:What is the name of the grant?
Funding Type:Select (Local, State, Federal, Business/Corporate, Foundation)
Program Focus:Special Event, Enhancement, Afterschool, or Other.
Program Title:What is the title of the program?
Amount Requesting:What is the dollar amount that you are requesting?
Matching Funds:What is the commitment from the school or department as it relates todollar amount?
Will this grant require us to provide student data?If yes, you will need to complete a student request form on the information technology website. https://apex.slcschools.org/apex/r/slcsd/data-external-research-requests
Date Grant Application is Due:Please enter the date the grant application is due.
Proposed Implementation:When do you plan to implement the program?
Which Departments will you need support from?Please check all applicable boxes. This will help the foundation director get approvals when support is required.
Required Support:Type of support you will need to ensure that the program is successful.
Program Summary:Write a brief summary of the scope of the program/project.
Contact Information of Funder:Name, address, phone/fax number, and email.

We want to ensure that you are aware of the expectations for the chilly time of the school year.   Please reach out to your community and communicate to parents that students should be dressed and prepared for the cold weather with the following items: warm coats, sweaters/ hoodies, boots, hats, scarves, mittens/gloves, etc. Please ensure that these items are marked in case they are misplaced or lost. Students should come prepared to go outside, get some fresh air, and exercise outdoors daily.  The exceptions to going out daily are listed below:

Morning:

  • Inside morning in the gym, IF there is significant rainfall or snowfall. (IF students will be getting wet outside.)
  • Inside morning in the gym, IF the temperature is below 20 degrees.
  • Students sitting on their pockets, not running around, playing sports, etc.
  • Inside mornings are from (List the time for your school)________ to ensure our outside-duty teachers are in the gym to help supervise.

Recess:

  • Teacher/Grade Level Discretion
  • Inside recess IF the temperature is below 20 degrees. Recess time is held inside the classroom.

Lunch Recess:

  • Admin/Office Discretion
  • Inside lunch recess, IF there is significant rainfall or snowfall (If students will be getting wet outside), recess time is held inside the classroom.
  • Inside lunch recess, IF the temperature is below 20 degrees, recess time is held inside the classroom.

Please reach out if you have any questions or need further information.  Thank you for all that you do for the children of our district.

Good morning, School Improvement Leaders or Designees,

This email is only going out to LEA leaders on our School Improvement Listserv. Please feel free to share this information with your schools.

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) School Improvement Team, in partnership with WestEd, is excited to invite school leaders and their LEA supervisor to apply for personalized, customized change leadership coaching. LEA's and principals are encouraged to include assistant principals, interns, instructional coaches and anyone else they deem interested to attend. The program is optional and will provide individual coaching for leaders that will enhance your leadership as well as impact the growth, proficiency and achievement of students.

The program is from March 2025 to December 2025 and will include a mutually agreed upon on site, virtual, and on demand instruction, modeling, mentoring, feedback, and support to assist the school (principal and LEA supervisor are required and may also include assistant principals, instructional coach, intern) with change leadership.

Priority will be given to Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) Low Performing Student Group schools followed by CSI-Low Graduation Rate and CSI-Low Performance schools and then by schools with ATSI and TSI designation. The only schools not eligible for this program are Elevate schools.

The objectives of the program are to build leadership capacity to lead change to improve student outcomes through one or more of the following areas of leadership:

  • Data-Informed Teaching
  • Collaborative Teams with a Focus on Efficacy
  • High Leverage Strategies for Instruction
  • Fearless Assessment: Meaningful Assessments as the Heart of Feedback and Instruction
  • Fearless Classrooms
  • Effective Use of Time and Schedules
  • Culturally Responsive, yes! But Whose Culture are We Responding To
  • High Quality Student Data and Effective Analysis

The selected participants will collaboratively build and plan a personalized coaching plan with a WestEd coach.

If interested or you would like to find out more information about this opportunity, please register to attend a virtual informational kickoff meeting on January 27th (3:45 - 5:30 PM) and January 28th (9:30-11:30 AM) that will be facilitated by WestED. 

Participants will need to register to attend and should plan to attend both sessions. To register, please click on this link.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Dr. Gregory Firn (gregory.firn@schools.utah.gov) if you have any questions.

Krista Hotelling

School Improvement Specialist

Utah State Board of Education

801-538-7932

krista.hotelling@schools.utah.gov

Dear Administrators,

I hope this finds you well. I’d like to kindly remind you of Board Policy G-10, which applies to all district facilities, and ask that this be communicated regularly to your staff to avoid any confusion or issues going forward.

Key Points of Board Policy G-10:

  1. Facilities Staff are the only district personnel authorized to perform maintenance, repairs, or alterations in and around school buildings.
  2. Teachers, staff, and administrators are explicitly prohibited from making any alterations, changes, or maintenance to rooms, spaces, or district facilities.
  3. Unauthorized Changes Will Be Restored:
    • If alterations or changes are discovered, the Facilities team will restore the affected area to its prior condition.
    • Costs for restoration (including materials, paint, and labor) will be charged back to the school.

It’s important to understand that repeated issues or further unauthorized alterations may result in additional costs to the school and responsible staff.

To avoid disruptions, please ensure all staff are aware of this policy and remind them that requests for any changes or maintenance must go through the proper channels by contacting the Facilities Department within Auxiliary Services. We appreciate your cooperation and support as we work together to maintain safe, efficient, and consistent learning environments across the district. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

What: The Utah Code Annotated 53G-9-606 requires the state board to create a model policy on bullying, cyber-bullying, hazing, abusive conduct, and retaliation. Due to legislative and rule changes (H.B. 84 (2024) and R277-613) the current model policy requires updating. We are asking for volunteers to participate in a workgroup to provide feedback on the updated model policy. We are looking for a sample of 10 members throughout the state of Utah to represent LEAs. You can volunteer using this form. Volunteers will be notified whether or not they are selected to join this workgroup.

Who: Ideal candidates include superintendents, charter school directors, building administrators, and policy analysts.

When: Starting in January 2025

  • 2-3 virtual meetings (90 minutes each)
  • Exact dates will be determined based on participant availability

      

Action: Please complete the Model Policy Workgroup Volunteer Form if you would like to volunteer.

Information: For more information, please contact Becca Rae

Thank you, 

Ryan Bartlett, Ph.D.

Director of Strategic Communications

Utah State Board of Education

ryan.bartlett@schools.utah.gov

605.201.7950

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