A benefit eligible employee shall be paid for contract days which the employee would otherwise have been under contract to work during the six-week maternity leave, but shall not be paid for non-contract days occurring during the maternity leave period.
Benefit-eligible employees shall receive two weeks of parent leave (ten contract days), to be taken during the first year of the child’s life, in addition to any other leave for which the employee is already eligible. A parent taking maternity leave is not eligible for parent leave.
Prior to granting maternity/parent leave days, an employee shall agree in writing to repay compensation at his/her daily rate of pay for maternity/parent leave used or granted if he/she terminates employment with the District for other than medical reasons before completion of the current contract year.*
Questions about how this policy applies to an individual family situation should be referred to Human Resources.
* The Board of Education voted on November 28, 2023, to make the effective revision date retroactive to July 1, 2023.
Board Directive
The Board recognizes that unique situations create circumstances where teachers will need to be hired and qualified for positions using Local Educational Agency (LEA)-specific licenses. The Board delegates to the Administration the responsibility for implementing policy for LEA-specific licenses in accordance with Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Rule R277-301.
Administrative Policy
Educator License and Endorsement Requirements
Jordan LEA License Eligibility Criteria
All applicants must:
Complete a bachelor's or higher degree in a related field of study; or
Have exceptional or specialized occupational experience, training, or expertise directly related to the area of assignment; and,
Complete a criminal background check including review of any criminal offenses and clearance in accordance with Rule R277-214; and,
Complete the educator ethics review described in Rule R277-500 within one calendar year prior to the application.
Jordan LEA Endorsement Eligibility
This authorization may be issued for a one to three-year period upon request from a District administrator for a licensed teacher (LEA, Associate, or Professional) who is not endorsed in the area of assignment.
Jordan LEA License or Endorsement Approval
The application must receive approval from the Jordan Board of Education in a public meeting no more than 60 days prior to employment and include:
Rationale for the appointment of a Jordan LEA-specific license or endorsement.
Verification that there is an inadequate supply of highly qualified and suitable licensed applicants in the license and endorsement area as demonstrated by posting the position for a reasonable period of not less than five days (not required for hourly applicants).
Applicants placed on Jordan LEA-specific licenses serve under temporary employment agreements.
A Jordan LEA-specific license area or endorsement is valid for up to three years. After three years, renewal of the license is subject to the approval or denial of the Utah State Board of Education.
A Jordan LEA-specific license expires immediately if the educator's employment with Jordan School District ends and the educator is not rehired by the District as an educator in the next contract year.
The District is not authorized to provide an LEA-specific educator license in the areas of:
Special Education
Preschool Special Education
The Jordan LEA-specific Educator Training, Mentoring, and Support
Within the first year of employment, the educator must complete the following training:
Educator ethics;
Classroom management and instruction;
Basic special education law and instruction; and
Utah Effective Teaching Standards described in R277-530.
The educator must participate in the District’s Mentoring Program.
The District shall provide at least a three-year mentoring program by a trained mentor educator who:
Holds a professional educator license; and
Where possible, performs substantially the same duties as the educator with release time to work as a mentor; or
Is assigned as an instructional coach or equivalent position.
The assigned mentor shall assist the educator to meet the Utah Effective Educator Standards established in Rule R277-530 but may not serve as an evaluator of the educator.
All employees, to include mentors, must promptly report educator misconduct in violation of policy DP378 Employee Code of Conduct.
The Applicant and the District will jointly develop an Associate Licensing Plan to:
Encourage transition from a Jordan LEA License to a Professional License.
Identify applicable educational, skill, and/or content knowledge requirements for enrollment in a qualified educator preparation program.
Identify paths and opportunities to prepare for successful passage of a pedagogical performance assessment.
Develop significant competency and knowledge sufficient to justify an extension request from the Utah State Board of Education for a continued Jordan LEA License if transition to an Associate License is not reasonable or applicable.
For each school that requests LEA-specific licenses, license areas, or endorsements, the following information shall be posted on its website:
Disclosure of the fact that the school employs individuals holding LEA-specific educator licenses, license areas, or endorsements
Percentage of LEA-specific licenses, license areas, or endorsements
Board Directive The Board adopts this policy, in part, because the legislature has conditioned certain governmental immunity protections upon the adoption of an appropriate behavior policy not less stringent than a model policy created by the State Board of Education. The Board is committed to establishing and maintaining appropriate standards of conduct between staff members and students. These standards of conduct are also known as professional boundaries. Staff members shall maintain professional and appropriate demeanor and relationships with students, both during and outside of school hours, as well as both on and off campus, that foster an effective, non-disruptive and safe learning environment. The Board delegates to the Administration the responsibility for establishing guidelines for the Employee Code of Conduct.
Administrative Policy
Definitions
Staff Member: an employee, contractor or volunteer with unsupervised access to students.
Student: a child under the age of 18 or over the age of 18 if still enrolled in a public secondary school.
Boundary Violation: crossing verbal, physical, emotional, or social lines that staff must maintain in order to ensure structure, security, and predictability in an educational environment.
A boundary violation may include the following, depending on the circumstances:
Isolated, one-on-one interactions with a student out of the line of sight of others;
Meeting with a student in rooms with covered or blocked windows;
Telling risqué jokes to, or in the presence of a student;
Employing favoritism to a student;
Giving gifts to individual students;
Staff member initiated frontal hugging or other uninvited touching;
Photographing an individual student for a non-educational purpose or use;
Engaging in inappropriate or unprofessional contact outside of educational program activities;
Exchanging personal email or phone numbers with a student for a non-educational purpose or use;
Interacting privately with a student through social media, computer, or handheld devices; and
Discussing an employee’s personal life or personal issues with a student.
A boundary violation does not include:
Offering praise, encouragement, or acknowledgment;
Offering rewards available to all who achieve;
Asking permission to touch for necessary purposes;
Giving a pat on the back or a shoulder;
Giving a side hug;
Giving a handshake or high five;
Offering warmth and kindness;
Utilizing public social media alerts to groups of students and parents; or
Contact permitted by an IEP or 504 plan.
Grooming: befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a student or a student’s family to lower the student’s inhibitions for emotional, physical, or sexual abuse.
Sexual Conduct: includes any sexual contact or communication between a staff member and a student including but not limited to:
Sexual Abuse: the criminal conduct described in Utah Code Ann. 76-5-404.1(2) and includes, regardless of the gender of any participant:
Touching the anus, buttocks, pubic area, or genitalia of a student;
Touching the breast of a female student; or
Otherwise taking indecent liberties with a student; with the intent to:
cause substantial emotional or bodily pain; or
arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any individual.
Sexual Battery: the criminal conduct described in Utah Code Ann. 76-9-702.1 and includes intentionally touching, whether or not through clothing, the anus, buttocks, or any part of the genitals of a student, or the breast of a female student, and the actor’s conduct is under circumstances the actor knows or should know will likely cause affront or alarm to the student touched; or
A staff member and student sharing any sexually explicit or lewd communication, image, or photograph.
Procedures
Staff members shall act in a way that acknowledges and reflects their inherent positions of authority and influence over students.
Staff members shall recognize and maintain appropriate personal boundaries in teaching, supervising and interacting with students and shall avoid boundary violations including behavior that could reasonably be considered grooming or lead to even an appearance of impropriety. It is not a boundary violation when a student acts or speaks in inappropriately familiar ways with a staff member without having been prompted to do so by the staff member, but such incidents must be promptly documented and reported to the staff member’s supervisor or the building principal and the student should be given guidance on proper student-staff relationships as directed by the supervisor or principal.
A staff member may not subject a student to any form of abuse including, but not limited to:
physical abuse;
verbal abuse;
sexual abuse; or
mental abuse.
A staff member shall not touch a student in a way that makes a reasonably objective student feel uncomfortable.
A staff member shall not engage in any sexual conduct toward or sexual relations with a student including, but not limited to:
viewing with a student, or allowing a student to view, pornography or any other sexually explicit or inappropriate images or content, whether video, audio, print, text or other format;
sexual battery; or
sexual assault.
Staff member communications with students, whether verbal or electronic, shall be professional and avoid boundary violations.
A staff member shall not provide gifts, special favors, or preferential treatment to a student or group of students.
A staff member shall not discriminate against a student on the basis of sex, religion, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited class.
Staff member use of electronic devices and social media to communicate with students must comply with District policy, be professional, pertain to school activities or classes, and comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
A staff member may not use or be under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances during work hours on school property or at school sponsored events while acting as a staff member. Additionally, a staff member may not use any form of tobacco or electronic cigarettes on school property or at school sponsored activities in an employment capacity.
The prohibitions listed above in subsections 1 through 9 apply to staff member interaction with any student presently enrolled in the District and to staff member interaction with any former student who was enrolled at a school where the staff member was assigned during the student’s enrollment at that school for a period of two (2) years after the student ceased enrollment at that school.
A staff member shall cooperate in any investigation concerning allegations of actions, conduct, or communications that if proven, would violate this policy.
The District recognizes that familial relationships or other relationships which are independent of and which do not arise out of the school context between a staff member and a student or former student may provide for exceptions to certain provisions of this policy.
Conduct prohibited by this policy is considered a violation of this policy regardless of whether the student may have consented.
Reporting
A staff member who has reason to believe there has been a violation of this policy shall immediately report such conduct to an appropriate supervisor or school administrator. If a staff member has reason to believe a school administrator has violated this policy, the staff member shall immediately report the conduct to the administrator’s supervisor.
In addition to the obligation to report suspected child abuse or neglect to law enforcement or the Division of Child and Family Services under Utah Code Ann. 62A-4a-403:
a staff member who has reasonable cause to believe that a student may have been physically or sexually abused by a school staff member shall immediately report the belief and all other relevant information to the school administrator, or to District Administration;
a school administrator who has received a report or who otherwise has reasonable cause to believe that a student may have been physically or sexually abused by a school staff member shall immediately inform the District Administration of the reported abuse; and
if the staff member suspected to have abused a student holds a professional educator license issued by the Utah State Board of Education, the District Administration shall immediately report that information to the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission;
a person who makes a report under this subsection in good faith shall be immune from civil or criminal liability that might otherwise arise by reason of that report.
A staff member who has knowledge of suspected incidents of bullying shall immediately notify the student’s building administrator in compliance with Policy AS98-Bulying, Cyberbullying and Hazing.
Failing to report suspected misconduct as required herein is a violation of this policy, the Utah Educator Standards, and in some instances, state law, and may result in disciplinary action.
Training
Within 10 days of beginning employment with the District a staff member shall receive video training regarding this policy and shall electronically acknowledge having received training and understanding the policy.
Staff members employed by the District at the time of initial adoption of this policy shall receive video training regarding this policy prior to the first day of the 2019-20 school year on which students will be in attendance and shall electronically acknowledge having received training and understanding the policy.
All employees will receive video training annually as part of the crucial policy review.
Violations
A staff member found in violation of this policy will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including removal as a volunteer or termination of employment in accordance with orderly termination policy DP316 NEG, DP316A and DP316B NEG.
