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Show Viewpoints The A-9 Park Record. Wed/Thurs/Fri, March 4-6, 2020 editorial Heed expert advice as prospect of virus outbreak in Utah looms guest editorial Bill proposing mental health grants for schools is misguided KIRSTEN SANDEFUR Park City Utah has a bill on the docket (H.B. 323) proposing to offer mental health screenings for kids in school to help counteract suicide rates in kids. What is not being said here is what is even scarier. Our children do not need another tool to label them as problematic. Why this is being introduced in a place of learning is very scary to me as a parent and should be for you as well. Let’s look at the fundamentals of this bill. This bill creates a grant program to award grants to participating schools to administer mental health screening programs for students and amends provisions related to the distribution and use of funds for school-based mental health support. A grant program? Clearly, the schools are going to want the grant money, so even the loudest opposing parent has no way to control this program being introduced into their district. This bill permits the state board to use funds appropriated for schoolbased mental health support to pay an employee to administer the program and oversee mental health personnel in LEAs. Furthermore, this bill doesn’t clarify who regulates the program’s recommendations. Clearly, any parent can see the problems that could arise. When we take a one-size-fits-all state screening and remove the professionals designed to administer such tests and hand it over to our educators, there are an unlimited amount of problems that can and will arise. Who mandates the recommendations of such a screening and ensures the results are not commingled with other potentially private data? This is a very slippery slope and opens the school system up to such a large array of lawsuits that this whole bill moves beyond helpful into the realm of hurtful mandates on our kids. Students have so many pressures they worry about on a day-to-day basis, now they need to worry about labels being slapped on them at the place where they are supposed to flourish and spread their wings? A child being labeled as depressed or anxious now needs to worry one bad day at school could cause a lifetimes worth of clinical diagnosis. No one is disputing the fact that suicide is a problem for our children. It most certainly is. Creating an environment where the student can actually feel safe speaking to someone about their mental health concerns is paramount. Spending more money on our teachers and educators training and resources is a far better use of resources. Providing a safe environment where students are not being bullied or labeled is a better solution, not providing more mental health impositions or labels they will spend a lifetime trying to get rid of. As kids, their brains are inherently neuroplastic and their brain chemistry is still moldable and changing. Creating another ability for Big Pharma to step in and change their fundamental brain chemistry permanently is not a solution we should be inviting in. This bill has far too many implications that could be detrimental to be taken at face value. I don’t think we as parents are ready to hand over all of our parenting choices and leave it in the hands of the pharmaceutical industry to correct for us. I myself still have hope that, together, parents can work together to build a firmer footing for our youth. One that supports and teaches love and tolerance of one another despite our differences. Maybe it’s idealistic but I’m not ready to condemn our youth and remove their rights to grow up in a world unmedicated. letters to the editor Clear snow from sidewalks Living in Redstone strongly appeals to me due to how easy it is to get around to complete shopping, entertainment, access to our incredible free bus system and various errands. My father and his father before him were deemed unfit to drive in their later years and I suspect I will be in the same boat at some point in the future. Now in my 68th year, still healthy and have a very deep interest in green building and energy conservation. I’ve made a serious attempt in The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Alexander Cramer Ryan Kostecka Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy Editor ............................ James Hoyt Engagement Editor............. Jeff Dempsey Photographer .........................Tanzi Propst Circulation Manager ............. Lacy Brundy Distribution........................... Henry Knight Accounting Manager ......... Jennifer Snow ADVERTISING Advertising Director ........... Valerie Spung Advertising Sales ................... Jodi Hecker Lindsay Lane Sharon Bush Emma Fedorowich Director of Digital Marketing .. Tina Wismer Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production ......................... Louise Mohorn my daily life to be one less vehicle on the road and went three months a few winters ago without driving at all, using the bus system when having to travel beyond walking distance. For a few years now I’ve been communicating with the Summit County Council and any staffers I could gain the ear of in an effort to enforce what would be standard sidewalk snow clearance in any other city I can imagine. I even attended council public meetings with regards to the Blue Ribbon Committee for plans to better direct “future” development in the Kimball Junction area. At the last BRC meeting I raised the issue of clearing sidewalks in the Redstone/ Newpark area and at first was told it was private property. A council member requested of a staffer whether the county could enforce sidewalk clearing on private property and was told that they do in fact have the authority. There are sidewalks used as snow storage areas, a sidewalk at the back corner of the Smith’s store, dumpster doors left open that impede sidewalks, sidewalks and crosswalks that disappear in the winter, and the situation has not changed no matter who I attempt to contact. With a pedestrian fatality in Park City this year and a huge increase in pedestrian fatalities nationwide, I’m begging for something to be done. The snowbanks have created extremely narrowing roads virtually in every neighborhood. With no sidewalks available, pedestrians are forced to walk in these roadways, encountering many drivers not paying a whole lot of attention. How many deaths and major injuries will it take before the authorities decide to take contractors to task for dangerous and shoddy work? Bob Berube Redstone The prospect of a coronavirus outbreak in Utah — and the rest of the country — is alarming. The first U.S. fatalities from the new virus, officially known as COVID-19, were confirmed in Washington state recently, and the total number of cases in the country surpassed 100 early in the week. Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the coronavirus is likely to become a pandemic, which is particularly concerning given lingering questions about the Trump administration’s ability to respond to a large-scale public health crisis. Far from pressing the alarm button, however, the Summit County Health Department and Utah Department of Health are striking a measured tone. Both agencies have expressed confidence in their ability to respond to a possible outbreak and note that, while significant efforts are underway to prepare for the coronavirus, the seasonal flu, which kills tens of thousands of people in the U.S. each year, remains a larger public health concern at this point. Residents, in turn, should follow their lead and remain calm. It seems likely the coronavirus will spread in Utah — state officials indicated Monday that it’s a matter of when rather than if — and it’s impossible to predict how the situation will play out or how well equipped we are for a worst- case scenario. But instead of panicking, the best thing people in Summit County can do to brace for the threat is heed the experts’ advice. According to the Utah Department of Health, that includes taking simple health precautions like frequently washing one’s hands, avoiding people who are sick and avoiding touching one’s mouth, eyes and nose. State officials also recommend that businesses and families plan for the possibility of an outbreak by preparing to take steps such as allowing employees to telecommute, stocking up on vital items like medications and making child care preparations in the event schools are affected. Residents can also do their part to counter one insidious factor that seems likely to make preparations more difficult: the amount of misinformation about the coronavirus spreading through social media. Relying only on credible sources, like the county Health Department or the CDC, for information is paramount and will only become more critical in the event of an outbreak in the state. So think twice before hitting the share button. The coronavirus is coming. That’s concerning, no doubt — but we can weather a possible crisis by following expert advice and acting responsibly. guest editorial Delaying high school start times is a must WENDY TROXEL Jeremy Ranch On Feb. 18, I had the opportunity to provide expert testimony before the Utah Senate as it considered, and ultimately, unanimously approved state Rep. Suzanne Harrison’s resolution, which urged school districts and charter schools to consider the possible benefits and consequences of a later start to the school day for high schools. I’d like to take this as an opportunity to share a shortened version of my Senate testimony. Sleep deprivation among American teens is a major public health problem. Only about one in 10 gets the optimal 9.25 hours of sleep per night recommended by sleep scientists and pediatricians. There are many factors contributing to this problem, including technology, busy social lives and academic pressures. But at the policy level, there is one factor that is directly contributing to how much, or in actuality, how little sleep our teens are getting — early school start times. Around the time of puberty, adolescents experience a delay in their biological clock which determines when teens feel most awake and when they feel sleepy. This is driven in part by a shift in the release of the hormone melatonin. This means teenagers are biologically programmed to stay awake later and sleep in later. For most teens, if they are required to get to class by 7:35 a.m., they simply cannot get enough sleep that their developing brains and bodies need to function optimally. Studies have shown that teens with insufficient sleep show impairments in learning and memory, and many will even show behavioral signs that mimic attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But the consequences go well beyond the classroom, contributing to many of the mental health problems, such as depression, substance use and suicide, that skyrocket in adolescents. The scientific evidence supporting later school start times for adolescents is unequivocal. Teens in school districts with later start times get more sleep. Many people believe that if schools start later, teens will just stay up later, but that’s simply not what the research shows. Their bedtimes stay the same, but their wake-up times get extended, resulting in more sleep. Teens are more likely to show up for school, and they do better academically. One study showed that standardized test scores in math and reading go up by 2 to 3 percentage points, with even stronger benefits for the most disadvantaged students — this has real implications for reducing the achievement gap. Teens’ mental and physical health improves. Even their communities are safer, because car crash rates go down — a 70 percent reduction in one school district. Changing school start times presents many logistical challenges, including concerns about the potential costs associated with delaying start times, which often stem from changes in transportation or busing issues. And while potential costs need to be considered at the district level, our published RAND work has shown that a delay in school start times could result in significant economic gains to the broader U.S. economy by improving teens’ academic performance and lifetime earnings and reducing drowsy driving crashes. Other logistical challenges, such as the impact on child care and extracurricular activities, also need to be addressed by school districts that are considering a start time change. Research from schools that have delayed their start times may be a helpful resource in this discussion. In summary, the evidence clearly shows that delaying schools’ start times is not only in the best interest of teenagers’ health and academic performance, but it also can make good economic sense. Wendy Troxel is a senior behavioral and social scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified behavioral sleep medicine specialist, as well as an adjunct faculty member in psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. The Park record Pulse Here’s a sampling of the conversation readers are having on our Facebook page. To visit the page, go to Facebook.com/parkrecord/. We’ve had the honor of watching these amazing creatures all winter from our window and we’re saddened by this act of selfishness that someone would kill what we felt was an awesome blessing from God! It’s been incredible to have the elk, deer, and eagles right here in our backyard and are very saddened by this act of violence towards our wildlife that thought they were in a safe place.” Only when it comes to government is something considered successful based upon how much is spent on it. In real life we consider quality results from low relative expense a good thing. Greater education spending is fine but let’s look at relevant metrics such as student proficiency and success rates rather than bureaucratic inefficiency.” Tory Welch, on “Record editorial: Dead last in education funding is not good enough” Carol Cameron Flippin, on “A half-dozen elk have been poached near the Bitner Fire Station in apparently related cases, officials say” Making the bus stops ‘hospitable’ environments would be helpful. I contacted the transit department and city engineer a few times about what it would take to get a little shade at the stop near our complex. Not necessarily a shelter, maybe even just a tree so you’re not standing in the blazing sun. Never could get anywhere with them.” Steve Hancock, on “Summit County is weighing solutions for what it says is an inaccessible transit system” Bloomberg is practical and pragmatic I have done my homework, and from what I have learned and seen Mike Bloomberg is the only candidate with an unmatched record of accomplishment in business, in government and in philanthropy that can get things done. From my days campaigning in Utah’s first congressional district, I Can we start by simply painting the lines or tagging them with reflectors so they can be seen in bad weather? That would help tremendously.” Laini Montlack, on “PC-SLC commute could change as transportation officials consider overhauling mouth of Parleys Canyon.” The Park Record attained permission to publish these comments. Some comments may have been lightly edited for clarity. know that Mike is talking about issues Utahns care about. He has a proven record of: implementing actions to improve air quality and taking on climate crisis head on; strengthening education and improving graduation rates; creating jobs through economic diversification; financing affordable housing while state and federal housing budgets were cut; and managing and balancing complex budgets. We do not need more politicians on the ideological extremes with no practical experience. I am not looking for a brilliant debater, an inspirational leader or a reality TV figure, I am looking for a leader with practical and pragmatic experience who can bring us together and get the job done. Mike’s record speaks for itself, and that is why I support him. Donna Matturro McAleer Park City resident and former Democratic nominee for Utah’s 1st Congressional District |