Valentine gift ideas for your sweetie — Page A4
Housing Day kicks off your hunt for a new home — Inside
Bolivar is the Athlete of the Week — Page B1 at the UC Davis ARC Pavi llion Thursday, Februa 10 am – 3 ry 6th pm
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enterprise THE DAVIS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020
Measure G: What are the stakes? BY JEFF HUDSON Enterprise staff writer Vote-by-mail ballots for the March 3 election are being delivered to tens of thousands of Davis-area residents this week, and the ballot includes MeaBudget on the sure G, a local agenda school parcel tax that is Page A2 designed to increase local salaries for teachers and staff up to the average salary level being offered by other school districts in Yolo County and the Sacramento region.
SAT study guides line the shelves at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Emeryville. The UC system is considering scrapping SAT requirements for admission.
School board
ANNE WERNIKOFF/ CALMATTERS PHOTO
UC task force recommends keeping SAT Research finds UC takes sufficient measures to offset testing biases BY CALEB HAMPTON Enterprise staff writer After more than year of research and analysis, the University of California’s standardized testing task force released a report Monday recommending the university continue to use the SAT and ACT as an admissions requirement. The UC Academic Senate released the report amid public and internal pressure to drop the tests, which critics say disadvantage underserved applicants. “This report is the culmination of more than a year’s research, analysis and thoughtful deliberation from task force members across a wide range of disciplines on UC campuses
and will be instrumental in shaping the University’s continued evaluation of current testing practices,” the UC Office of the President said in a statement Monday. After soliciting system-wide faculty input on the task force report between now and April, the Academic Senate will make a final recommendation to UC President Janet Napolitano. The UC Board of Regents are expected to make a final decision in May. While several top UC officials have recently spoken out against the SAT and ACT, it is the Academic Senate that is charged with determining UC’s admissions requirements. A decision by the regents in May
that goes against the senate’s recommendation would likely be seen as an overstep and could spark a political crisis within the university. At a college admissions forum in November, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol T. Christ, UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia K. Larive and UC Provost Michael Brown said they were convinced by research showing performance on the SAT and ACT is heavily influenced by race, family income and parents’ education. “They really contribute to the inequities of our system,” said Christ, who eliminated the SAT requirement at Smith College while serving as the school’s president in 2002. “The initial information that I’ve seen shows that the highest predictive value of an SAT isn’t in how well a student will do in school, but how well they were
able to avail themselves of prep material,” Chairman John A. Pérez recently told the Los Angeles Times. “And access to that prep material is still disproportionately tied to family income.” According to the task force’s research, the UC admissions process has sufficient measures in place to compensate for standardized testing biases against disadvantaged students. For example, applicants’ test scores are compared not only on a statewide scale but also in a localized context. By viewing scores in the context of an applicant’s high school, admissions officers identify students who stand out in their own town or neighborhood. Because of this approach, the research found, Latino students were more likely to be admitted to a UC
If Measure G is approved — and for approval, it needs a two-thirds majority of participating local voters in the March 3 election — Measure G would assess local property owners a flat rate assessment of $198 per parcel annually. And pursuant to California court rulings that parcel taxes must be assessed as a flat fee, that $198 is the same for single family homes (regardless of the property’s size or assessed value), and is also the same for a duplex or triplex (on a single parcel of land), or an apartment complex with multiple units (on a single parcel of land). Funding under Measure G would go toward bringing the salaries for teachers and rank and school district support staff up to a level that is competitive with the salaries being paid by other school districts in the region. (Currently, the Davis school district’s salaries are a bit lower, on average, than those offered by school districts in Woodland, Dixon, West Sacramento and elsewhere.) Funds from Measure G would not
SEE SAT, PAGE A6
SEE MEASURE G, PAGE A6
County: Flu is a bigger City seeks nominations for threat than coronavirus Huynh memorial awards BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY Enterprise staff writer Coronavirus may be dominating the headlines but influenza remains the bigger threat to Yolo County residents. Flu activity has increased throughout the state over the past several weeks, the state Department of Public Health reported last week, with clinic visits for flu at higher than expected levels. “Flu remains the highest risk for respiratory illness in our community,” Yolo County’s deputy health officer, Dr. Mary Ann Limbos, said Friday. The flu vaccine can help prevent the flu or drastically reduce the length and severity of the illness, the Yolo County health department noted. Other preventative steps: frequent hand
VOL. 123 NO. 16
washing with soap; avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth; and avoiding close contact with sick people. Those who are sick are urged to stay home. The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by the influenza viruses and can vary from mild to severe illness. Symptoms generally include a high fever, headache, chills, body aches, sore throat and cough. Some individuals, such as older people, young children and people with certain chronic health conditions, are at higher risk for serious flu complications. This year’s flu season has recently been complicated by the emergence of a novel
Special to The Enterprise The city of Davis Human Relations Commission is seeking nominations for this year’s Thong Hy Huynh Memorial Awards. The awards were established to acknowledge the racially motivated stabbing death of high school student Thong Hy Huynh on the Davis High School campus in 1983. “The Thong Hy Huynh Award honors individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions in addressing or improving civil and human rights issues in the community,” said Mayor Brett Lee. “The City Council, along with the Human Relations Commission, looks forward to recognizing those influencing positive changes in the areas of human rights, social justice and civil rights.” The Commission encourages groups and individuals to submit award nominations prior to Friday, March 13, at 5 p.m. Nominations may be submitted in any of the following five categories:
Lifetime Achievement Awarded for significant civil rights efforts over a long period of time while improving the quality of
SEE HUYNH, BACK PAGE
SEE FLU, BACK PAGE
INDEX
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WEATHER Th Thursday: Sunny. Hig High 64. Low 39. Mo More, Page B8
What if it passes?
Woodland shooting injures woman, child BY LAUREN KEENE Enterprise staff writer Shots rang out again in Woodland on Sunday night, injuring a woman and child at a Walnut Street residence. Sgt. Dallas Hyde said the shooting was reported at 9:52 p.m. in the 100 block of Walnut Street, where arriving officers “located an adult female and juvenile male victim who had apparent gunshot wounds.” Both victims were transported to the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where they remained in stable condition Tuesday, according to Hyde. Police later received a second report of shots fired in the 200 block of
Schuerle Street — roughly a mile west of the first shooting incident — but it was unclear whether the two were related. No suspects have been identified in the Walnut Street shooting, the motive for which also remains under investigation, Hyde said. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the Woodland Police Department at 530666-2411, or the agency’s investigations 24-hour crime tip line at 530-6617851. Sunday’s shooting continues a streak of gun-related violence that has plagued Woodland since last fall, resulting in three deaths and multiple injuries. Police have
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SEE SHOOTING, BACK PAGE
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