Clovis Unified Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell said she was disappointed Friday following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus order that shut down all Fresno County schools, including Clovis, which planned to reopen campuses in August.

Newsom announced that counties on the state’s monitoring list must be off the list for 14 consecutive days to have the option of opening campuses. Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Madera counties have remained on the watchlist as coronavirus cases have surged.

The announcement halted Clovis and a few other districts in the Fresno area, including Sanger Unified, that had plans to open campuses in some fashion to students.

“As you can imagine, it’s been a very emotional time for us,” O’Farrell said during a news conference Friday afternoon. “Not just us in Clovis Unified; I know every superintendent in Fresno County is just feeling very emotional about not having our students at school.”

O’Farrell said board members decided to give students and teachers the option of on-campus classes only after much surveying and researching with the health department.

O’Farrell said that county superintendents worked with the Fresno County Department of Public Health, and she made sure to ask pointed questions about reopening her district.

“If we can ensure the six feet apart between students and if we can mandate the masks for students and staff members, will the department of public health report us?” she asked during the research.

The administration concluded that the reopening plan “aligned itself to all public health protocols,” she said.

Clovis Unified Board President Chris Casado said he was extremely disappointed that campuses don’t have the option of opening.

“We wanted to give parents and teachers the option, and that’s why we did what we did,” he said of the board’s decision on Wednesday. “We are very prepared to do what we have to do and follow the mandates.”

Clovis Unified spokesperson Kelly Avants said district officials are hoping for a change by mid-August so children can go back to campus if parents choose. She asked parents to keep their children’s online information updated for the new school year.

Avants said board members are concerned about long-term risks facing students because of prolonged campus closures. She said those risks include “loss of learning and slowed academic progress, food insecurity, increases in social-emotional struggles and hopelessness, inequity in technology access, loss of school-based supports, and struggles facing students with special needs, to name a few.

“We continue to respond to changes from Sacramento while working to save our students from the intrinsic harm they have suffered as they have been kept from our school campuses,” she said.

O’Farrell said the board’s decision Wednesday included the ability to “pivot” to distance learning if needed.

“Are we ready? Yes, we’re a lot more prepared because we’ve just known that this could happen. Although we hoped it wouldn’t.”

Some Clovis teachers happy with Newsom’s decision

O’Farrell said district surveys found that 70% of teachers wanted to return to school, expressing fears about their student’s mental health while being out of school.

But several Clovis teachers who spoke with The Bee on condition of anonymity said they were upset with the school board’s decision and relieved when Newsom stepped in.

Before Newsom’s announcement Friday, one of those teachers said, “I would like to see him (Newsom) drop the hammer. What I am hoping is he’s going to say, ‘I trusted you to be responsible with this. Obviously, you’re not (responsible), no you cannot reopen.”

Another staff member said the Clovis Unified board decision was just an act of defiance.

“I think we have the infrastructure to handle distance learning just fine and it’s going to be a pretty good weight lifted off of us and we don’t have to worry about how some will do distance learning, and some will do in-person learning,” the staff member said.

“I am happy Clovis is being bound to the rest of the county. I like that we are forced to lockstep with the rest of the county, and we can’t go off and try to do our own thing.”

Another staff member expressed excitement.

“We can maybe revolutionize how we teach and be innovative and use our best practices,” the staff member said, “and it’s better that we have a plan because everything is so unsure. If we know now, we can all gather our brains together and really make some positive magic happen this time around.”

Other guidelines coming down from the state Friday include mandatory mask-wearing for teachers and students in third grade and over. Students in lower grades are encouraged to wear masks but not mandated to, Newsom said.

According to the new rules, schools that do open will close if infections are traced to the school. If one student gets sick in a classroom, the class will move to distance learning, he said.

If multiple classrooms have infections or 5% of the school is infected, the whole school will go dark. If 25% of schools in a district have gone home within a 14 day period, the district will have to close, according to guidelines.

Teachers and staff must remain six feet away from students and each other, but the guidelines did not mention social distancing between students.

State contact tracers will make schools a priority, and staff will be tested regularly, he said.

Newsom also said that distance learning in the state would be better than it was in the spring.

“We want daily live interaction with teachers and other students,” he said. “Students connecting peer to peer with other students.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 1:03 PM.