Central Unified extends school closures through the first weekend in May

Central Unified School District announced it will remain closed due to coronavirus concerns through the first weekend in May.

The Board of Trustees voted during a special meeting Thursday night to extend the school closures and not reopen until at least May 4.

The district’s decision comes on the same day Fresno County had its biggest daily increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Central Unified, which is the third-largest school district in the region with 22 schools and approximately 16,000 students, initially was scheduled to reopen its schools on April 20.

The district on March 13 announced it would close its schools to help limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The shutdown might last even longer if Gov. Gavin Newsom’s forecast holds true. Newsom announced last week that schools might remain closed throughout the summer.

Other districts

Madera Unified and Visalia Unified each announced Friday night that they, too, pushed back their tentative reopening date to May 4. Each district will continue with meal distribution plans.

Washington Unified, which serves students from west Fresno south past Easton, and Selma Unified are among other area districts that have pushed to May 4.

College of the Sequoias in Visalia announced Friday morning it will remain closed until the beginning of its summer session May 22.

Fresno, Clovis

Fresno Unified and Clovis Unified, which each closed schools at the same time as Central, are both tentatively scheduled to resume classes April 14 following their originally scheduled spring break that runs April 6-13.

Each district plans to take up the issue of further class cancellations at Board of Trustees meetings on April 1.

“They will decide then if we will extend our school closure, and if so, what our new return-to-school date will be,” Fresno Unified director of communications Nikki Henry said.

In a video released Friday morning, FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson informed families about distance learning and assured those who lack internet access and tablets they are working on ways to get them the tools they need. He also comforted high school seniors saying “they will walk across the stage” even if they “have to do that later” than they normally would expect. District high school graduation ceremonies are scheduled as soon as May 21 (Design Science) with the bulk planned for June 1-3.

At Clovis Unified, “We are currently scheduled to return on April 14 and have made no decision to a date to extend that closure,” director of communications Kelly Avants said. “Recognizing that the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, we will be evaluating the current public health and government guidance by the middle of next week.”

Both meetings can be accessed online.

The Fresno Unified agenda and board meeting webcast are on the district website.

Individuals wishing to submit public comments to the Fresno Unified Board of Trustees meeting may do so by submitting an email to publiccomment@fresnounified.org or leaving a voice message by calling 559-457-6222.

Fresno Unified says those submitting public comments should include their name, agenda item number, or subject matter being addressed, along with a 250-word description of the subject matter being addressed.

All public comments must be submitted by 3:30 p.m. on April 1.

The Clovis Unified agenda is found on the district website and the board meeting will be streamed on CUSD’s YouTube channel.

Anyone wishing to address the CUSD board can fill out a public presentation form. All public comments must be made before the beginning of the meeting, which is set to commence no earlier than 6:45 p.m.

This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 10:47 PM.