Clovis Unified to redraw attendance boundaries

Clovis Unified is proposing slight changes to about half of its 32 elementary school attendance zones, meaning some students will transfer to another elementary school in the district next year, depending on where they live.

The district unveiled two nearly identical scenarios for new attendance maps Friday, pointing to growth projections and a need to balance enrollment numbers across schools.

Any changes to existing boundaries would take effect next school year and would only affect students up to sixth grade.

No entire elementary school zones will be changed, but several adjustments are being made within certain attendance zones that will change some students’ future high schools, depending on which street they live on, said Kelly Avants, Clovis Unified School District spokeswoman.

This is the first time the district has redrawn boundaries in 10 years, and the changes are partly due to anticipated enrollment growth and plans to build new schools.

Some students living in the southeast part of the district, near the site of the new elementary school at Temperance and Clinton avenues, will be affected. The attendance area for that school, which opens next year, will be developed during the boundary-redrawing process.

Families living in the northwest part of Clovis could also be affected due to boundary changes being made in preparation for another new elementary school. While the new school is years away from opening, district officials know the location will be north of Woods Elementary, near Riverview Elementary.

Some students attending Maple Creek, Liberty and Woods elementary schools could also be affected under the proposed plans. Currently, not all students who attend those schools wind up at the same high school. Depending on where students live, they are split up between Clovis West, Clovis North and Buchanan high schools.

Under the new proposals, all of Maple Creek Elementary and all of Liberty Elementary would feed into Clovis West, and Woods Elementary students would attend Buchanan High.

The scenarios – which are mostly the same except for minor differences in the Clovis High area – were developed over a months-long process in an attempt to maximize the use of existing schools before building new ones and to keep neighborhoods together, Avants said.

The Clovis Unified board of trustees will finalize the new attendance areas in November, but not before several community meetings are held where parents will have a chance to comment. The first meeting will be Monday at 7 p.m. at Clovis North High.

“We fully anticipate and want our community to be involved in the process and to give us their perspective as residents and neighbors of the communities within our district,” Avants said. “We have very strong, viable scenarios to start the conversation with, but it’s not a done deal. We need to hear from our community now and anticipate modifications.”

Meetings will also be held at Alta Sierra Intermediate on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.; at Clovis West High on Tuesday at 7 p.m.; at Clovis High on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.; and at Clovis East High on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m.

More information, including maps of the proposed new attendance zones, can be found at http://www.cusd.com/boundaries/default.htm.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Clovis Unified to redraw attendance boundaries."