enterprise THE DAVIS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2022
County drops plans to buy St. John’s site By Anne Ternus-Bellamy
Ananya Bapat, a student at UC Davis, transferred from De Anza College. A new pilot program aims to make it easier for students like Bapat, starting next fall.
Enterprise staff writer
Provost Michael Brown touted the program as advancing academic equity in the state. He added that personal challenges or a lack of UC-required courses at high schools can prevent students from preparing for admission, at no fault of their own. At the same time, the program aims to address some of the obstacles preventing community college students from transferring. Only 19% of California Community College
The fate of St. John’s Retirement Village in Woodland remains uncertain now that the county has withdrawn its offer to purchase the site, citing pending litigation involving the property. Back in the spring, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to purchase the 13-acre facility in north Woodland for $2.9 million and use it to provide housing for low-income seniors as well as CalWORKs families and other services. The opportunity came about after St. John’s announced in early 2022 that it would be shutting down. For decades, the facility provided an array of services, including senior living, assisted living and memory care, as well as skilled nursing at the Stollwood Convalescent Hospital on the St. John’s campus. But the arrival of COVID-19 in 2020 was devastating. Stollwood was the site of the county’s worst nursing home outbreak early in the pandemic, with 17 lives lost and many staff and residents sickened.
See STUDENTS, Page A4
See ST. JOHN’S, Page A4
Rahul Lal/ CalMatters photo
Community college students get smoother path to UC By Megan Tagami CalMatters For Ananya Bapat, getting to UC Davis was a feat of coordination. In her second year at De Anza College, Bapat spent her fall semester contacting counselors and admissions officers at the community college and the UC, trying to ensure that her hard-earned credits would transfer to a new campus. The conflicting advice they gave her, she said, only added to the confusion of the transfer experience. “The process itself can be
really overwhelming … coupled with (the fact that) you’re a second year in college, you’re transferring on top of classes and everything,” said Bapat, who is currently a fourth-year student at Davis and a peer advisor at the university’s Transfer and Reentry Center. A new pilot program may make it easier for students like Bapat to transfer to the UC starting next fall. Under the dual-admission program, high school seniors rejected from the UC can enroll at a California Community College with a
conditional offer of admission to one of six UC campuses. They’ll have access to the UC campus from the first day of their community college career, and can use UC libraries, attend transfer events and receive advice from special dualadmission counselors. The program specifically targets students who have missed at least one of 15 high school courses required for UC admission, but earned a high school grade point average of a 3.0 or higher. During the UC Board of Regents meeting last week,
Davis man marks ‘priceless’ recovery By Lauren Keene
A security camera that caught Simmons stealing yet again ended up changing his trajectory.
Enterprise staff writer WOODLAND — Keith Simmons’ journey through the criminal justice system spanned at least a decade, a burglary marking his first adult arrest back in 2012. More felony crimes followed — commercial and residential break-ins, identity thefts, drug possession and more — leading to the Davis man’s multiple stints in prison. For years, Simmons justified his unlawful behavior. “Selfish intentions were behind almost every single one of my actions,” Simmons, 29, wrote in a recent essay. “I felt as if the world had dealt me a bad hand,
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Business Focus B6 Forum �������������� A8 Obituaries �������� A4 Classifieds ������ A4 Living ���������������� A9 Sports ��������������B1 Comics ������������B5 Kid Scoop ������B11 The Wary I �������� A2
Courtesy photo
Keith Simmons celebrates his completion of Yolo County’s Addiction Intervention Court. and stealing had become my coping skill to feel like I was evening the playing field. … Getting clean, obtaining gainful employment, and not victimizing people were a repulsive idea to me at this time.”
WEATHER Thursday: Sunny and warming. High 91. Low 58.
That arrest landed Simmons in Yolo County’s Addiction Intervention Court, a specialty program that serves defendants struggling with substanceuse disorders that serve as the root cause of their crimes. The 18-month program — a collaborative effort among the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, Yolo Superior Court, Public Defender’s Office, Probation Department and Health and Human Services Agency — provides
See RECOVERY, Page A3
School Board will go over key expenditures at meeting By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer Thursday’s meeting of the Davis School Board features various updates, including the school district’s strategic plan, and approvals such as the facility and bond program agreements. On top of the to-do list is approving facility and bond program agreement. Included are a series of recommendations made by Capital Operations Staff, such as approving Sixth Dimension for project management of the Harper field renovation project, Phase 1 solar panels and the
district office generator project. There are also recommendations to approve The Callen Group for consultation on district grounds maintenance, PBK Architects for consultation on Title 9 athletic facilities compliance at Davis High, Deductive Change Order No. 1 as well as the notice of completion for roof replacements at Holmes and DaVinci. The update to the DJUSD strategic plan is designed to align communities of interest on a shared vision, common goals and unified direction
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