Student mental health, privacy take center stage at DJUSD candidate forum

DJUSD Candidates discuss differing views at League of Women Voters of Yolo County school board forum

By SAVANNAH VELA — city@theaggie.org 

On Oct. 9, The League of Women Voters (LWV) of Yolo County held Candidate Forum 2026: DJUSD Areas 1 & 4 at Davis City Hall. Moderators presented pre-selected and audience-submitted questions about academic achievement, artificial intelligence (AI) in classrooms, student mental health and student privacy. 

DJUSD Trustee Area 4 encompasses south Davis communities, including Mace Ranch, Willowcreek and Rancho Yolo. Candidates for the seat are incumbent DJUSD Trustee Elizabeth Moon and Davis resident Beth Bourne. 

Incumbent Moon is seeking reelection to represent Area 4 of DJUSD. She was first elected to her seat in November 2022. Davis Teachers Association, Congressman Mike Thompson and Davis Mayor Donna Neville have endorsed Moon, according to her campaign website.

At the forum, Moon identified three priorities: addressing resource constraints, supporting student mental health and increasing the number of teachers.

Bourne describes herself as a “pro-child” and “pro-woman” advocate. She has a social media following garnered after a 2025 Federal Trade Commission's Workshop on “the dangers of ‘gender affirming care’ for minors,” where she shared her experience with Kaiser Permanente Davis’ gender-affirming care practices.

Bourne’s campaign emphasizes that assurance of parent-to-student authority, a return to academic basics and honest finance as her top priorities. Additionally, she wants to advocate for an “unseen” voter base in the Davis community that aligns with her values.

“People would probably show up more and listen more if they knew that I had a role in it,” Bourne said.

DJUSD Trustee Area 1 encompasses communities west of Highway 113, including Evergreen, Village Homes and Stonegate. The candidates for this area are Dorte Jensen and Colleen Zern.

Jensen is a longtime Davis resident and proud graduate of DJUSD schools — later attending Yale University. Her top focus is the proposed closure of Patwin and Birch Lane Elementary Schools, wanting to ensure that Davis schools stay open. Additionally, Jensen emphasized focusing on student academic achievement and encouraging parent involvement.

Zern is a West-Davis mom of three boys and is actively involved with Parent Teacher Association (PTA) leadership. Professionally, she is immigration attorney and Continuing Lecturer at UC Davis. Throughout the forum, she emphasized how she would address transparent data-driven decision making if elected to DJUSD. Zern’s top priorities are the current state of DJUSD budget, decision transparency and supporting Davis teachers.

Zern discussed investing in professional development for educators to continue learning best teaching practices regarding AI, in response to a question about the future of educational quality and AI-usage at DJUSD.

“The board needs to stay informed about emerging research, examine best practices from other districts, and remain willing to adapt technology as it evolves,” Zern said.

Moon emphasized direct and open communication with teachers and the district, speaking on the future of academic quality. 

“The board is responsible for providing the direction, resources and professional development for our experts,” Moon said.

Bourne stressed the importance of younger pupils being capable of completing a given task without the use of AI, but believes that older pupils should experiment with the tool.

“[Students] have to have the skills first to do the work without using the assistance of AI,” Bourne said.

Jensen proposed personally attending various classrooms to host grade-appropriate activities with students to gain an understanding of the education quality in Davis schools.

“I would elicit the interaction with [students] so that I could see what [student] comprehension or reading was then based on that, I would have a personal idea of what might be a problem, or what would not be,” Jensen said.

Jensen also expressed strong opposition to the use of AI at any grade level. 

“I would not allow students to use AI at all in K-12, and to not use it on their homework either,” Jensen said. “It just seems as though it will stop them from being able to learn on their own and to have critical thinking.”

Community-written questions on the district’s responsibility on student mental health and privacy became the most contentious topics of the night’s forum.

Zern stated that she would follow measurable data on students well-being ensuring consistent policy throughout the district. 

“Students need to feel safe to learn,” Zern said, “the school board's job is to ensure the culture and support at our school sites is consistent across the district, and that students have avenues for support when they need them before problems get out of hand.”

When asked about the district responsibility of student mental health, Bourne shifted the discussion to DJUSD contract with Communicare Health Centers, which provides school-based mental health support and counseling.

"[Communicare] will help with what it is [that students] need to do a medical transition and it's right there,” Bourne said. “I promise you it's on the school website.”

In regards to student privacy, Bourne also commented on parent concerns about increased surveillance and the presence of social media.

“I would probably start with understanding what makes America a wonderful country and our First Amendment, which is our freedom of speech and freedom of religion,” Bourne said. “And freedom of speech means that you exercise your speech when you’re in a public setting and you might be recorded because that’s how you share speech [...]”

Parents shared reactions following Bourne’s statement, with moderators asking them to refrain from making comments for or against candidates.

“Stop filming our children,” an audience member said. 

The forum gave voters an opportunity to compare the four candidates’ approaches in governing the district and addressing current institutional challenges. Candidates' responses revealed different priorities regarding the future of Davis’ public education. 

Check out LWV Yolo County website to watch the entire forum and information on the upcoming November election.

Written by: Savannah Vela— city@theaggie.org