Music highlights school-board meeting

By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer

Students from Korematsu Elementary gave Thursday’s school board meeting a musical intro before the trustees got an update on the district’s music program, as well as a budget review.

After some opening announcements, the Korematsu students serenaded the meeting with their school song, “What Can a Little Person Do?” The song provided a natural segue into the musicprogram update.

The update came from he director of secondary education and leadership, Troy Allen, who shared data and feedback gathered from recent public forums regarding the music program including the one from Jan 12.

Data from a five-year overview shows the pandemic’s impact on the overall decline in enrollment in the music program. When delving into music enrollment by site, on the elementary level, Allen said the participation rate from fell from 52% to 38% as fourth-graders moved to an all-inclusive Education Through Music model and delayed enrollment in the band and strings programs until fifth grade.

At the junior-high level, distance learning continued to play a part in decreasing participation. She also mentioned — with the exception of Holmes — sites saw a decrease in enrollment this year as well. On the high-school level, similar trends remained prevalent. The update continued to cover enrollment by race and ethnicity and other student groups including English learners, students with disabilities and students who are socio-economically disadvantaged.

Allen went on to discuss Proposition 28 which will likely yield the DJUSD $1 million. Of those funds, 80 percent will be used for certificated or classified

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That version was sent back with a letter outlining what changes were needed for certification.

Absent state certification of the Housing Element, the city could lose out on funding streams from the state.

City staff and consultants told the council Tuesday that they have been in discussion with HCD for much of the last year to ensure the revised version would meet with approval and are optimistic it will be certified.

Under state law, local jurisdictions must provide a certain amount of housing serving all segments of their populations and the Housing Element lays out the plan for doing so.

The city of Davis, which is required to provide 2,075 additional dwelling units through 2029 under the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, must demonstrate to the state via the Housing Element that sufficient land is zoned to provide that housing and, where there is not enough land, to identify an inventory of potential sites suitable and available for re-zoning.

Among the issues raised by HCD in declining to certify the original Housing Element was the need for more detail on the suitability and viability of those sites for redevelopment. HCD also wanted more evidence that identified locations could accommodate the need for low-income housing and information on how Measure J/R/D might impose constraints on future housing developments, among other things.

See HOUSING, Page A4

Hearing date set for latest Daniel Marsh appeal

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

A panel of appellatecourt justices will hear arguments later this month in a Davis doublehomicide case as Daniel Marsh continues to seek sentencing relief under a 2019 state law.

The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.

Friday, Feb. 24, at the Third District Court of Appeal in downtown Sacramento, with Associate Justices Louis Mauro, Elena Duarte and Jonathan Renner currently slated to preside.

Last summer, the California Supreme Court sent the case back to the appellate court to review its September 2021 ruling — which dismissed Marsh’s appeal — in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in a similar case.

Marsh was 15 years old when he brutally stabbed local attorney Oliver “Chip” Northup, 87; and his wife Claudia Maupin, 76; in their South Davis condominium in April 2013, later telling authorities the carefully planned crime gave him an “exhilarating” feeling.

Tried as an adult, Marsh received a state prison sentence of 52 years to life, although his

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