Editor's note: A superior court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that challenged West Village. See the related story in this edition.
From elementary to community college students, the university's upcoming West Village will shine the spotlight on education.
The proposed education center in the university's planned new neighborhood will potentially bring several educational programs together to meet the learning needs of the community. It's a new approach in many ways in how the university would partner with the local school district and the community college district.
"The Community Education Center at West Village is founded on a common desire to extend educational opportunities to students within Davis and the region," said Karl Mohr, associate director of campus planning. "Though still early in the planning stages, placing the facility in the heart of the neighborhood presents a number of opportunities for all the involved partners."
West Village would offer housing for about 4,350 students, faculty and staff at affordable prices. The site would be situated on a 224-acre plot west of Highway 113 and south of Russell Boulevard.
With so many households, families and kids will need schools.
Pressing needs
The West Village education center would engage UC Davis and both the Davis school district and the Los Rios Community College District. These partnerships grew out of the campus's Long Range Development Plan process that culminated in the UC Board of Regents approving the plan in November 2003.
UC Davis and the Los Rios Community College District have longstanding educational partnerships. As one example, Los Rios uses UC Davis facilities to offer courses to UC Davis students and members of the Davis community.
Discussions started in fall 2000 when there was a convergence in both the need for Los Rios to expand its Sacramento City College center in Davis and the university's own need to handle swelling growth numbers. So Los Rios and UC Davis officials studied the possibility of co-locating an expanded facility on the UC Davis campus.
"The concept was timely as the campus was about to embark on an update of its LRDP to accommodate additional projected growth in the number of students, faculty and staff," said Mohr, adding that the need for housing was identified as a high priority.
Additional momentum was gained in March 2002 when voters approved a ballot measure "A" with 72.5 percent of the tally. This measure authorized bonds for planning and construction of a new Davis Center for the Los Rios community college district. A month later, Los Rios made the formal request to UC Davis that it set aside land for a future Davis Center. The university obliged, including a "Community Education Center" in its neighborhood plan.
Mohr said Los Rios is currently developing a preliminary facility program for its new Davis Center. One possibility being evaluated is whether the university may use it for UC Davis classes or staff training.
It's also possible, Mohr added, that Los Rios will expand its offering of courses to UC Davis students and that the UC Davis School of Education will expand on its research opportunities within the facility. Details are still being discussed.
Currently, Los Rios offers remedial courses in English composition, chemistry and mathematics to UC Davis students. The Davis students receive "workload units" for this course work. However, the units do not count toward the 180-unit minimum required for graduation.
Los Rios also offers a wide array of college level courses on the UC Davis campus in the evening. UC Davis students may elect to enroll in these if they receive approval for "simultaneous enrollment" from their respective Dean's Office. UC Davis and Los Rios are working in tandem in offering languages such as Farsi, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
Tech-bent high school mulled
When the campus embraced the idea of building a residential neighborhood on campus, it understood that school-aged children would live in that neighborhood, creating a demand for schooling.
Mohr said that based on discussions with the Davis Joint Unified School District, the West Village financial models include the cost of constructing an elementary school in West Village to accommodate the elementary school-aged children living in the neighborhood.
In addition, projections indicate about 150 junior high and high school students will live in West Village. So the university is working with the district -- given Davis' already crowded, single high school -- to create a satellite high school facility for up to 250 students. This would not only serve neighborhood students, but additional Davis school district students.
"As an educational institution, we felt that we needed to go beyond the typical mitigation for schools," said Mohr. "We are trying to create an amenity for the district that addresses our immediate impact and also serves the larger community."
What are some of the more specific possibilities?
UC Davis recently funded a planning study conducted by Davis Joint Unified that evaluated several small high school programs. One idea from that study was a new technology program, which will begin on the Davis high school campus this coming fall. This program could be moved to the satellite high school facility.
Although many questions remain about specifics of the facility and its programs, other educational officials involved in the project display enthusiasm about the possibilities.
"It does make a lot of sense," said Skip Davies, deputy chancellor of Los Rios Community College. "We've been talking for years about how to have a presence on the UC Davis campus, and this is the fulfillment of that vision."