New Clovis school to be named for retired superintendent

Multi-school addition in southeast area will be called the Bradley Educational Center.

Published online on Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

As Clovis Unified Superintendent Terry Bradley left the district this week, he was honored as just one other Clovis superintendent, Floyd "Doc" Buchanan, has been recognized before: with the naming of a campus.

A new multi-school educational center in the district's southeast area will bear Bradley's name. The decision was made in a special late June school board meeting about which Bradley was not informed.

With that covert board vote came the end of 33 years with the district, close to 1,000 meetings attended - and a vivid realization on Bradley's part.

"I really now know I am not the superintendent when the board can hold a special board meeting, post it and not have me know about it," he said.

Bradley retired Tuesday and by Wednesday he was in Sacramento training for his new job as a consultant with Schools Innovation and Advocacy. He will work in the firm's Fresno office providing consulting, products and lobbying for school districts, county offices of education and individual campuses.

Bradley's successor is David Cash, who came from the 7,000-student Claremont Unified School District in Los Angeles County.

Bradley deserved to have a campus named for him because his presence in the district will be felt long after his retirement, trustee Ginny Hovsepian said.

"He helped us squeeze everything we could out of every dollar while focusing on students and student achievement," she said.

When Bradley arrived from Wisconsin in 1976 as the district's chief business officer, Clovis West, the district's second high school, had just opened.

But Bradley was more than just a humble bean counter from the Midwest.

"He may have been a numbers guy but he had a very good grasp of how to work with people," said LisaMarie Slater, president of the faculty senate, which represents 1,809 teachers. "Teachers at every single school have told me how much they appreciate him."

Today, there are five high schools and 37,500 students in Clovis Unified. The new Bradley Educational Center at Highland and Clinton avenues will house a sixth high school, along with an elementary and intermediate school.

Growth has not come at the expense of quality, Bradley said.

"The district is better today than I think it was when we had just one high school," he said. "It makes everyone more competitive, and we see competition as a very positive word in our district."

Enrollment is up 10% since Bradley took over as superintendent in 2002 and the district's test scores have improved. At all grade levels, students with scores of at least basic proficiency in English and math have increased, state STAR test records show.

Those test scores rose at a time when the district's demographics took a sharp turn. The number of white students declined by 7.3% as Hispanic enrollment rose 25% and Asian enrollment grew by 19.5%.

Bradley said the district's test scores prove that changing demographics make little difference.

Richard Lake, a Clovis Unified trustee for 16 years before retiring in 2008, said the rising test scores reflect high expectations set by the district.

"I don't think it matters what socioeconomic side you come from; if you are going to be here, this is what we will expect from you," Lake said.