enterprise THE DAVIS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2022
Steinberg to mediate UC grad-student worker strike By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer
A crowd of nearly 100 mourners gathers for a December 2018 candlelight vigil in Max Benson’s honor following his death. Fred Gladdis/ Enterprise file photo
District, DOE resolve tragedy’s fallout Years after student’s death, policies will change By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer The Davis Joint Unified School District entered into an agreement last week with the U.S. Department of Education regarding its restraint and seclusion policies, the result of an investigation following the 2018 death of a 13-year-old Davis boy. Reached on Dec. 7, the
resolution agreement calls for increased training and monitoring to ensure students with disabilities aren't denied access to a free appropriate public-school education, or FAPE. The education department’s Office for Civil Rights launched its review of more than 20 school districts in the wake of Max Benson’s death. Max, a former Birch Lane Elementary
student who was autistic, died two days after being restrained by staff and losing consciousness at Guiding Hands School, a private school in El Dorado Hills. Three educators from the now-shuttered Guiding Hands now face criminal charges for their alleged roles in the Nov. 28, 2018, incident. “OCR examined whether the district’s use of restraint and
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Courtesy photo
Max Benson, a 13-year-old Davis boy, died in 2018 after being restrained at the private El Dorado Hills school he attended.
UCD prof to serve as science envoy By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer Professor Christine Kreuder Johnson in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine will join six other distinguished scientists and engineers in 2023 as a U.S. Science Envoy, the U.S. Department of State announced last week. These science envoys will work with countries worldwide to build science and technology relationships. A professor of epidemiology and ecosystem health and director of the EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics within the UC Davis One Health Institute, Johnson focuses on environmental impacts on animal and human health and guiding
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policies to mitigate pandemic threats. In October, she was elected to the JOHNSON National UCD vet-med Academy professor and of Mediscience envoy cine for trailblazing approaches that examine emerging diseases between animals and humans and investigate environmental and climate-related drivers for the spillover of viruses. She is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As
globalization
WEATHER Thursday: Frost early, then sunny. High 52. Low 31.
has
impacted animal habitats, the risk for disease transmission between animals and humans has increased. Johnson’s work focuses on diseases that typically come from animals and infect humans. “We’re trying to understand how that happens, why these diseases are increasing in frequency, and why when we have outbreaks, they’re much bigger, at a much larger scale. That has to do with changes in the environment.” Excited about her selection as a 2023 U.S. Science Envoy, Johnson looks forward to understanding the
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See MEDIATE, Page A7
School Board to get update on ethnic-studies program By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer It’s been a couple of weeks since the last school board meeting, but the trustees will be back in session Thursday, Dec. 15. On the docket are the usual approvals and updates including one regarding the district’s Ethnic Studies course. Back on Nov 4, 2021, the board approved an ethnic studies program to be implemented in the 2023-24 school year. The approval was also set to include the identification of where a stand-alone ethnic studies course would be situated and
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Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg will step in to serve as mediator in labor negotiations between the UniverSTEINBERG sity of California and Sacramento the United Auto mayor Workers. The two parties jointly agreed to Steinberg’s selection to overcome recent negotiation gridlock and secure a fair and reasonable contract for the University’s Graduate Student Researchers and Academic Student Employees. In the last year, the University of California has also settled contracts with unions representing its lecturers, nurses, police officers, clerical, and other administrative staff. “UC has approached its negotiations with UAW in the same fashion,” according to a press release from UC. Steinberg negotiated the legal settlements that paved the way for the construction of UC Davis’ Sacramento innovation campus, Aggie Square. He said he was part of numerous critical and complex negotiations at the state; as state
developed for course implementation. The meeting this Thursday is set to include an update on the course proposal for the stand-alone Ethnic Studies course. In the same vein of classwork, the board will review staffrecommended additions or revisions to the district’s secondary program at Davis High and Da Vinci Charter Academy. Although there are no new courses being added, the following courses are set to be revised: Advanced Robotics Engineering (DHS), Advanced
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