Living It’s National Pet Month — Page A6
Sports Good mothering starts with putting dishes in a child’s bed
UCD inks new deal with women’s hoops coach — Page A7
— Page B1
— Page A5
enterprise THE DAVIS
SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021
UCD enrolls adolescents in Novavax trial BY CALEB HAMPTON Enterprise staff writer
The Davis school board and Superintendent John Bowes pose for a groundbreaking photo at North Davis Elementary. DJUSD/COURTESY PHOTO
School district begins MPR work BY EDWARD BOOTH Enterprise staff writer Major construction funded by the Davis Joint Unified School District bond program has kicked off in recent weeks with three groundbreaking ceremonies, and one more to come, to begin the construction of four new elementary school multipurpose rooms. All the MPRs — which are going up at North Davis Elementary, Birch Lane Elementary, Willett Elementary and César Chávez Elementary — will be finished in about a year, and several other bond construction projects will be going on over the next few years. The projects include the Pamela
Mari Tech Hub at Da Vinci Charter Academy; an earlylearning center at Korematsu Elementary; an aquatics center and a STEM building at Davis Senior High School; science labs at Da Vinci and Emerson Junior High School; and a few projects focused on career technical education. Deputy superintendent Matt Best said all the projects will be done by 2024, with the biggest projects likely finished by the summer of 2023. Groundbreaking for the César Chávez Elementary MPR and the Da Vinci Tech Hub is planned to occur this summer, and construction of the science labs and earlylearning center is currently in the process of finishing up.
The school construction projects are funded by $150 million the district gained from Measure M, a bond measure passed by voters in 2018, and an additional $85 million from other sources, such as grants and matching funds. Still, the district’s Facilities Master Plan identified a district-wide need of about halfa-billion dollars, according to David Burke, executive director of capital operations. “Our bond program is just the first bite of that, our bond program is not going to address all of our identified facility needs,” Burke said. Money from school bonds can only be spent on brick and mortar projects, such as construction and renovation of
school facilities. Bonds are essentially a debt voted on and paid for over years, often decades, by taxpayers through an increase to local property taxes. Through selling bond tranches earlier than initially planned, and taking advantage of lowered interest rates at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the district will manage to save taxpayers $79 million in debt that won’t have to be repaid, according to Best. But that also means the district has had to fast track the construction projects, and so many of the projects are occurring simultaneously. The district has
SEE MPR, BACK PAGE
What virus level in wastewater is — and isn’t — telling us BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY Enterprise staff writer Levels of COVID-19 in wastewater collected from West Davis — which had increased during the last two weeks of April — dropped back down to previous levels last week and officials from Healthy Davis Together say they are still working on how to interpret what it all means. Since November, wastewater samples have been collected at multiple locations throughout the city’s sewage system and analyzed in a lab at UC Davis. Because the virus that causes
VOL. 124, NO. 56
COVID-19 can be shed in the stool of infected individuals, monitoring sewage provides an indication of virus levels in different areas of the city, though results are not isolated down to individual households. In announcing the expanded wastewater monitoring system in late March, Healthy Davis Together said the goal was to provide an early warning system that will alert officials to an increase in virus activity among both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals and better direct individual testing efforts. “Davis is one of few cities to
INDEX
“An elevated reading could mean there are asymptomatic infections that haven’t been identified yet, or that virus is being shed by individuals already properly in quarantine and receiving care. Either way, it’s important for residents to be kept informed so they can take appropriate action to stay well.” The city has used the Yolo Alert system to notify residents
WEATHER
Classifieds . . . . A4 Living . . . . . . . . A5 Pet Month . . . . A6 Comics . . . . . . .B6 Obituaries . . . . A6 Sports . . . . . . .B1 Forum . . . . . . . B4 Op-Ed . . . . . . . .B5 The Wary I . . . . A2
JIN-YING SHAW
have a full-scale environmental monitoring program in place,” Heather Bischel, who serves as project lead for wastewater monitoring for Healthy Davis Together, said at the time.
To Today: Sunny. H High 90. Low 63. M More, Page B7
of elevated levels of virus in their neighborhood’s wastewater. For example, sampling done during the last week of March showed virus levels increasing in one particular region of the city, Old East Davis/Wildhorse. Elsewhere, virus levels stayed the same or even decreased. In mid April, an increase was seen in West Davis. In both instances, levels subsequently declined. “We’ve had a lot of meetings and a lot of discussion about
SEE WASTEWATER, BACK PAGE
UC Davis health is enrolling children ages 12 to 17 in a trial of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine, the health system announced Friday. The Stage 3 clinical trial — UC Davis Health began testing the vaccine on adults in January — is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and locally led by Stuart Cohen, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Prevention at UC Davis Health. The pediatric portion of the trial will be led by Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital. There are currently more than 100 different COVID-19 vaccines in different stages of development around the world. During the first two stages of vaccine development, small groups of people receive the trial vaccine. In
SEE TRIAL, PAGE A2
Board names tech hub after Mari BY EDWARD BOOTH Enterprise staff writer The Davis school board on Thursday heard updates on the district’s facilities bond program, COVID-19 conditions, summer school, summer enrichment programs and graduation ceremonies. The board also unanimously voted to name the Da Vinci Charter Academy Tech Hub after Pamela Mari, a longtime district employee who served as the first principal of the school. The new facility, which will begin construction in the summer, will be referred to as the “Pamela Mari Tech Hub.” And the board unanimously voted to appoint Amanda Cattivera and Andrew Cullen to the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee. Deputy Superintendent Matt Best said Mari had also been a teacher in the district, vice principal at Davis Senior High School and the assistant superintendent of student services before she retired after 30 years working in the district. All school board trustees voiced their support for the recommendation.
SUNDAY • $1.50
HOW TO REACH US www.davisenterprise.com Main line: 530-756-0800 Circulation: 530-756-0826
http://facebook.com/ TheDavisEnterpriseNewspaper http://twitter.com/D_Enterprise
Is Your A/C Healthy?
Shop safe. Shop local.
Call Greiner Stat to Schedule Your $69 Precision A/C Tune-Up and Get up to 2 Pounds of Freon FREE!
Medical Professionals get a FREE tune up and FREE Freon!
Voted Best Bank of Yolo County
MARTHA BERNAUER Senior Real Estate Specialist
530.400.5643 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Voted #1
jyshaw8@gmail.com www.jyshawhomes.com Lic.# 01471258/02071505
REALTOR®, CalDRE# 01273735
Wednesdays: 3-6 Saturdays: 8-1
530-304-4208 marthabernauer.com marthabernauer@yahoo.com
530.304.4947
ϭϴ ŽŶƐĞĐƵƟǀĞ zĞĂƌƐ
kimeichorn.com keichorn@golyon.com CA DRE# 01196250
CA #365955
Central Park DavisFarmersMarket.org
thatsmybank.com GoLyon.com
HURRY, OFFER ENDS SOON
Equal Housing Lender | Member FDIC
Davis/Winters: 530.753.1784 Woodland: 530.666.1784
www.iTrustGreiner.com