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Show A-6 The Park Record Wed/Thurs/Fri, August 8-10, 2018 Leader has big plans for school Opt-outs could equal zeroes, failing grades for district He hopes to teach students to be global citizens Some worry how low school grades could affect town CAROLYN WEBBER ALDER The Park Record The new principal of the Park City High School is coming from the hills of Medellin, Colombia, to the peaks of Park City. Roger Arbabi stepped into his leadership role on Aug. 1 after moving his family from Colombia, where he was serving as the high school principal of the Columbus School in Medellin. Arbabi is originally from Dallas, Texas and spent time living in his father’s home country of Iran for several years before returning to the states when the Iranian revolution began. He studied science and biology in college and, after graduation, served as a volunteer with the Peace Corps in Ecuador. There, he trained people to go into the field and teach environmentally friendly techniques to local farmers. He also helped single mothers start small businesses and taught high schools about global and local environmental issues. That experience changed the trajectory of his life. He loved the experience and wanted to continue to serve communities in need. After leaving Ecuador, he joined the Peace Corps Coverdell Fellows Program, which helps educate returning volunteers and places them into teaching positions in areas around the U.S. with teacher shortages. He was sent to El Paso, Texas, and taught bilingual science classes. While teaching, he got married and followed his wife to South Carolina while she completed her residency as an OB/GYN doctor. He taught physics in a high school in South Carolina until he and his wife returned to Texas, this time to Granbury. He taught advanced placement physics at the high school when he was approached by the principal, who encouraged him to seek an administrative position. Arbabi agreed, got his masters degree CAROLYN WEBBER ALDER The Park Record CAROLYN WEBBER ALDER/PARK RECORD Roger Arbabi is the new principal of Park City High School. He previously served as the principal of a high school in Colombia, where he said that he learned about different teaching skills that he hopes to implement in Park City. in educational leadership and was named assistant principal of the school. He loved expanding his influence beyond his classroom to all the teachers and students in the school. “It was a good fit for me,” he said. “I enjoyed the extra responsibilities and the challenges of the administration, and I continue to love it.” But he was also ready for a change of pace, one that involved traveling to Colombia. “My wife and I got a really wild idea to go overseas,” he said. “We sold everything and I got a job internationally.” He said that he and his wife wanted their kids to be exposed to different ways of life. Spending time living in Iran as a child helped shape him as a person, and he wanted his kids to have a similar experience. He was first hired as the assistant principal of the middle school in Medellin and moved up to the principal position soon after. There, he learned how to better identify and understand cultural differences, which is a skill he hopes to use while working with the mixed demographics within the high school. Arbabi and his wife decided to return to the states after five years in Colombia. They had visited Park City in the past on vacations and thought it would be a good place to live, work and play. As he assumes his role and learns the ropes of the school and district, Arbabi said he is impressed about the quality of the high school. What he hopes to do is continue to improve the programs and methods that have already been implemented at the school. But he also wants to focus on teaching creativity, collaboration, effective communication and critical thinking since he said those skills will help students in the future. “Having had the opportunity to work overseas and see a lot of different schools, I really feel like we as a school need to focus on some of the 21st century learning skills for our students,” he said. Arbabi’s wife plans to volunteer as an OB/GYN at the People’s Health Clinic. They have two children who will be attending Ecker Hill Middle School and Treasure Mountain Junior High. TWO for ONE DINING The Park City School District in 2017 was given its first “F” school grade from the state. Thanks to a new decision from the federal government, more failing grades might not be far behind. The U.S. Department of Education recently approved Utah’s plan to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act but it denied the Utah State Board of Education’s request for a waiver that would have removed the policy’s requirement for schools to have at least 95 percent participation on end-of-year tests. Schools that do not hit the minimum participation levels must now count opt-outs as zeroes in order to make up for the difference. School grades, which are based on statewide testing scores, are likely to drop and have negative consequences on districts with high opt-out rates such as Park City. Under the previous federal policy for schools, No Child Left Behind, schools with less than 95 percent participation in statewide assessments would receive a reduction of one letter grade. Andrew Frink, director of technology and assessment for the Park City School District, said the opt-out rates at Park City High School for the SAGE tests, which have been replaced with new assessments, have been around 50 percent for the last couple of years. “From an accountability standpoint, that will be a significant impact for us,” Frink said. “As to what that will actually mean, I don’t know yet. I know that if it puts us into a ‘needs improvement’ world, there are potential negative implications for us.” Heidi Matthews, president of the Utah Education Association, said schools with consistent failing grades are put into a turnaround program. Generally, the schools are required to hire an outside consultant to assess the needs of the school and hire extra support to “pull them out of their poor performance.” Matthews was a former librarian at Treasure Mountain Junior High as well as president of the Park City Education Association. But the state hopes to not make the mistake of only looking at test scores to determine a school’s performance, said Darin Nielsen, assistant superintendent for student learning in the state. He said the state plans on taking the opt-out rates into In Park City, I think one of the biggest risks is reputation,” Heidi Matthews, Utah Education Association consideration before placing schools in the turnaround program. The test scores and school grades are mainly taken into account when the state determines which Title 1 schools are in the bottom 5 percent and need extra funding. Title 1 schools receive federal funding because they have a certain percentage of students from low-income families. If the state is under the impression that high opt-out rates are to blame for failing test scores, it will redirect the funds to schools that need financial assistance, Nielsen said. The Park City district has two Title 1 schools: McPolin Elementary School and Parley’s Park Elementary School. Optout rates are relatively low in the two elementary schools – 2 percent and 5 percent, respectively – but they have increased in the last two years. For Matthews, the concern about the 95 percent rule is that people could look at the grades to make decisions, such as selecting to live in a certain neighborhood based on the performance of surrounding schools. “In Park City, I think one of the biggest risks is reputation,” she said. “If you have multiple failing schools, that’s not a real selling point.” She said the data being collected is not meaningful because it determines the proficiency of a school based on one test. Instead, she wants to see the state take several factors into account, such as attendance, graduation rates and the number of high-division courses or clubs. Nielsen said the Utah State Board of Education decided it will not award school grades in the fall of this year as it determines a solution to align federal and state accountability systems. Those solutions include a plan amendment, legislative changes or more emphasis on finding the root causes of why students choose not to take the exam. Nielsen said making the tests more meaningful to students could encourage more participation, which is part of the reason the new assessment for the high school is predictive of the ACT test. Nielsen and Frink are hopeful that more high school students will see the value of the new test, ACT Aspire, and choose to take it. Students between grades three and eight will also be given a new standardized exam in the upcoming school year, the RISE test, which both Nielsen and Frink are also hopeful will have better support than the previous SAGE test. Your future Mountain Home is calling Check out the Park Record’s Real Estate Monthly for listings in Park City and the surrounding areas Looking to sell a home, condo, property, or townhome? 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