Clovis East, Rayburn Intermediate lift lockdown. District says hoax call to blame
Students at Clovis East High School and Rayburn Intermediate School had their dismissal delayed by 45 minutes on Monday afternoon due to the shelter-in-place lockdown, which lifted shortly after 4 p.m.
At 4:06 p.m., the Clovis Police Department lifted the shelter-in-place lockdown, which was triggered by a hoax call, according to Clovis Unified School District.
Clovis East students typically end their school day at 3:20 p.m., according to the school’s bell schedule.
After school activities will continue as regularly scheduled, the district said.
Reagan Educational Center, which includes Clovis East, Rayburn Intermediate, and Reagan Elementary schools have implemented shelter-in-place lockdowns since 1:25 p.m. following a threatening call came into Clovis East during lunch, according to the school district.
The district reached out to Clovis Police Department at around 12:45 p.m. requesting for assistance, said Ty Wood, the police’s spokesperson.
Students were moved to classrooms then to the gyms under adult supervision, the district said at around 2:20 p.m.
“Though this call had hallmarks of a hoax, we take any possible safety concern seriously and are exhausting every measure to confirm no threat exists to students,” the district said in a statement.
The incident occurred on the day of Clovis Unified’s annual Latino Success Conference. High school attendees across the district’s high schools, including the alternative education school, who gathered at Clovis East were kept at the site until the lockdown was lifted.
Reagan Elementary, the neighboring school of Clovis East, was cleared before 3:00 p.m. and the elementary kids were released on time, the district said.
Clovis Police said in a statement that the investigation showed that an unknown person called and reported a bomb threat to the campus directly. The department will continue to investigate the circumstances.
In an earlier interview with The Fresno Bee, Wood said agencies nationwide, including Clovis’s institutions, have seen an uptick in the swatting-type calls from the last several years.
Clovis Police is getting more and more efficient at this type of call because of the increased frequency the calls occurred, Wood said.
Last October, Clovis High School was placed under a two-hour lockdown after an anonymous out-of-state caller threatened a possible shooting on campus. Earlier in the same month, Clovis North High School, which is located in the City of Fresno, was put under a shelter-in-place order as well due to another threatening call.
This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 4:50 PM.
