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Show VIEWPOINTS A-23 www.parkrecord.com Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, April 15-18, 2017 EDITORIAL Utah Avalanche Forecast Center has made our mountains safer C GUEST EDITORIAL New headmaster is looking forward to next school year IAN CROSSLAND Park City Day School At the heart of most strong communities are its schools and with its outstanding public schools Park City is clearly no exception. Growing up in a small town in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, I formed a strong conviction about these important ties as the life of our community revolved around the school system. As an educator, I have seen how an equally strong community can be developed around and through excellent independent schools. For the past six years my wife, Wendy, our four children, and I have worked and lived in Bogotá, Colombia where I have served as head of one of the nation’s leading schools, Colegio Los Nogales. In the coming months we are thrilled to be moving to Park City, where I will join a tremendous team of educators as the new Head at a very special school in our community -- Park City Day School. PCDS is a small, independent PS-8th grade school now in its sixth year of operation. In those six years The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER Andy Bernhard Editor Nan Chalat Noaker Staff writers Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Bubba Brown Angelique McNaughton Griffin Adams Contributing writers Tom Clyde Jay Meehan Teri Orr Amy Roberts Steve Phillips Tom Kelly Joe Lair Interns Jessica Curley Emily Billow Copy Editor Frances Moody ADVERTISING Classified advertising Jennifer Lynch Office manager Tiffany Rivera Circulation manager Lacy Brundy Accounting manager Jennifer Snow Advertising director Valerie Spung Advertising sales Lori Gull Jodi Hecker Erin Donnelly Lisa Curley Photographer Tanzi Propst Production director April Prosek Production Nadia Dolzhenko Ben Olson Patrick Schulz it has created a reputation as a progressive, experiential-learning-based school equipping students for the 21st Century and beyond. Some of the highlights of the PCDS program include a commitment to the visual and performing arts, STEM science, Spanish language instruction, and a strong outdoor education program. Under the outstanding leadership of our Board of Trustees, and inspired by the early vision of the school’s founders, Park City Day School is poised to take the next step in establishing itself as a world class institution. In a community as diverse, educated, and talented as Park City, there is room for both top-level public schools and independent options. We hope to further enhance our educational offering at PCDS so that it continues to increase its value as a true asset for the community. We say that: Park City Day School prepares and inspires students to live great and giving lives, and, I believe that since its inception, PCDS has been doing just that. However, I know we can do it even better, and in the months ahead I will work with our Board of Trustees to craft a revised strategic plan setting the vision for the next five years. What will that plan include? What can future PCDS parents and students expect? Building upon the foundational aspects of PCDS, melding those with my core educational beliefs and my early conversations with trustees and community members, a preliminary sense of this vision will emphasize the following priorities: • Attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional educators with a common, mission-driven instructional framework; • Advancing a mission-driven curriculum that further leverages the philosophy behind our experiential learning model; • Nurturing a culture of hard work, risk taking, and character development; • Making a firm commitment to develop the leading school-based outdoor education program in America. • Enhancing our commitment to Spanish language instruction and developing our students’ global citizenship through international partnerships. • And creating a comprehensive campus master plan for current and future campus needs. I look forward to joining the Park City community and helping to shape the future of education in our community. If you would like to learn more about PCDS, visit at www.parkcitydayschool.org or call 435.649.2791. For the record all it luck or the result of hard work and dedication. For the first time in more than two decades, the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center reports there were no avalanche-related fatalities in the state this season. That is somewhat of a surprise considering the amount of snow that fell on the northern Wasatch this winter. Some say the unique statistic is due to the overall stability of the snowpack – lots of heavy snow that bonded well and offered backcountry travelers a relatively wide selection of safe terrain. Yes, that may have been part of what led to a season free from even one avalanche fatality. But a quick scan of the detailed avalanche information on the UAC website indicates there were at least 400 avalanches (both natural and humancaused) in Utah’s mountains this winter. At least 40 people (skiers, snowboarders and hikers) were caught in the snow slides, and a handful were buried, requiring rescue efforts. So the snow clearly wasn’t avalanche proof. The difference, then, must be that Utah’s adventurous backcountry travelers are more aware of the dangers and better equipped to surmount them. Armed with UAC’s meticulously collected data, daily avalanche forecasts and proactive awareness efforts, Utah snow lovers today are much safer than their predecessors. Of course, the winter isn’t quite over. Spring snowstorms are to be expected and variable snow conditions can still cause life threatening snow slides. But, as the ski resorts close, and many pack their skis up for the summer, it is a good time to recognize the Utah Avalanche Center’s vital role in Utah’s extraordinary winter season. After countless hours of patrolling our favorite frozen slopes, the staff deserves a warm round of thanks. GUEST EDITORIAL Repealing DACA isn’t worth President Donald Trump’s time and efforts RYAN YONK AND JOSH SMITH Utah State University “The least of my worries right now [is] anyone who falls in the general category of [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)],” Department of Homeland Security Chief John Kelly said recently in a closed-door meeting about immigration policy with House Democrats. Even though Trump originally promised to repeal DACA on day one, he has yet to do so and Homeland Security should focus elsewhere. Conversations about repealing DACA distract from real concerns about the safety of Americans, the benefits of immigration, and ignores fundamental causes of illegal immigration. DACA is an executive order from President Obama which temporarily stayed the deportation of undocumented immigrants brought unwittingly to the United States by their parents as children. Among several other requirements, individuals applying to DACA must be enrolled in school or graduated from high school, or be enlisted in the military, undergo a background check, and go through other extensive screenings to determine if they are a public safety risk to qualify to remain in the United States. As even this list of abbreviated requirements indicates, the DACA screening process works to ensure that individuals who are an unacceptable risk do not qualify to remain in the United States. In fact, DACA goes even further than just mitigating risks, it looks for the most productive people – those who are certainly a net benefit to the United States. Claims are often made about the number of jobs that are being lost to immigrants, but those claims fail to acknowledge the positive secondary effects that immigration can have. More people who are actively working and living in a community means more people shopping at grocery stores and other businesses, which means those enterprises expand as well. The supposed negative effects of immigration on employment and wages are overblown and largely debunked by academic researchers. The fundamental problem with policy solutions like repeal- ing DACA lies in the fact that it’s repeal does nothing to solve the problems that cause illegal immigration. Those from common illegal entry countries are willing to pay large amounts to enter the United States because they expect to benefit from living in the US. In 2012, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) reported immigrants in Central America pay as much as $10,000 to be smuggled across the border. Their willingness to pay this much raises an interesting question, why aren’t people just entering legally if they can afford to pay for smuggling? The answer is the burdensome bureaucracy potential immigrants face. As Rachel Wilson, an immigration attorney, describes her work helping people immigrate, “I went into law school to fight the man, but I’m not fighting the man, I’m fighting a bureaucracy.” She noted complying with the current rules can take over a decade as bureaucrats determine the “degree” of a relationship between family members and other requirements. It seems people would come legally if they could, but with the turmoil from their home countries at their heels, they make the decision to jump over the border however they can, rather than wait for paper-pushers. Instead of pursuing piecemeal changes to immigration policy, President Trump would do well to work with the US Congress to comprehensively reform the immigration process to make it easier for potential immigrants to navigate. The screening process must balance security with simplicity so that immigrants are not deterred from entering legally. If you want to stop illegal immigration, it makes sense to streamline legal immigration. President Trump and policy makers that are interested in dealing with the problems of our immigration system would do well not to focus on DACA and instead devote their energy to meaningful changes that will simplify the immigration process and ensure the United States remains safe. Ryan M. Yonk Ph.D. is assistant research professor at Utah State University. Josh T. Smith is a graduate student in economics at Utah State University and works as a Policy Analyst at Strata. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Crime victim thanks student activists Editor: Last Wednesday I was driving down Kearns Boulevard, fighting back tears of exhaustion and frustration, yet again in route to the Courthouse. Waiting in traffic near the high school, several car horns sounded friendly beeps: Students were on the corner with signs, “Honk to Support Crime Victims!” Ours was the home that was trashed by two juveniles back in October. The same teens had entered our home at night on several prior occasions, while our family slept inside. In the five months since, those crimes have commandeered hundreds of hours in recov- ery work, heavily burdened our finances, required multiple days in court, and robbed our family of sleep, security, and psychological wellbeing. All because two teens randomly chose us as victims. As appears to be the norm in our juvenile justice system, charges were trivialized and there will be little court-ordered restitution. This, despite approximately $230,000 in damages, some $35,000 of that uncovered by insurance and borne by us as victims. The Record reported on Saturday that one the two offenders has been cooperative, while the other has demanded trial, and implied also that, because our family has recently moved back home, everything is somehow back to normal. That is in no way the case. For any victim of crime. Long Asked at Atticus Coffee, Books & Teahouse after the walls are patched and shattered glass swept away, we continue to wrestle with the physical, financial, and psychological impacts of the attack. We continue, in addition, to wallow through a court system that considers this “just” a property crime, an offense against a building rather than the family inside. To our attackers’ peers, the Park City High School students that last Wednesday rallied support for crime victims: I know your signs weren’t meant for me and that you couldn’t have known I would pass in route to Court. But, your encouragement was felt that day. Thank you for advocating positive change in our community. Krista Dana Park City Photos by Tanzi Propst Where’s your favorite post ski-season getaway? Clayton Damron Salt Lake City Jameson Harper Park City Jen Faber Park City Parker Jones Park City Carly Mueller Park City “The desert ... outside to Moab to go fishing on the Green River. Just gettin’ off the grid down south and feeling the sun.” “I would say Moab to climb and mountain bike, mainly.” “I would say the central coast of California. Super mild weather and the people are just as awesome there as they are in Park City.” “The San Rafael Swell to camp, mountain bike and draw.” “I’m going to the Grand Canyon for a multi-day backpacking trip.” See these photos and more by following The Park Record on Facebook.com/parkrecord and instagram.com/parkrecord |