Clovis Unified’s 43,000 students may return to campus in May, the school board voted late Wednesday.

Board President Chris Casado said trustees were not ready “to throw in the towel” or “write off the whole school year as some districts have done.”

Voting unanimously, trustees extended campus closures until at least May 22. The district’s last day of school is scheduled June 5, just two weeks later. Clovis campuses were shuttered March 13 to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Clovis school leaders said they’re hoping for a return to campus this school year but have acknowledged it might not be possible.

“I don’t think there is anyone on this school board that wants to close the schools for the rest of the year, but the reality is, and statistically, it probably will happen,” Trustee Steven Fogg said. “Families won’t send their kids back. They just don’t feel safe.”

Other board members said they believed campus life could return to normal this year.

“Steve, I really hope you’re wrong. I think you’re wrong,” Trustee Tiffany Stoker Madsen said following the vote. “I really hope we can return to normal life very soon.”

Prom, graduation planning

Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell said while the fate of traditional graduation ceremonies remains unclear, Clovis officials are open to suggestions.

O’Farrell will host a Facebook live discussion with seven high school principals at 5 p.m. Friday to find alternatives for commencement ceremonies and proms.

“It is very unlikely we would be able to host a mass gathering in July or August,” O’Farrell said in an interview earlier this week with The Fresno Bee.

O’Farrell said at least part of the district’s reluctance to shut down campuses formally stemmed from concerns for students and the challenges of an abrupt move to distance learning.

“We knew we were dealing with young minds, young children, in a host of different situations,” O’Farrell said.

While most California schools and universities have shuttered campuses, state officials have been careful to note those decisions are in the hands of local school leaders.

Only the California governor has the authority to order all schools to close, and Gavin Newsom has only recommended schools follow public health guidelines, according to Scott Roark, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education.

Newsom on Wednesday said the coronavirus threat remains high in California. The number of confirmed cases in Fresno County climbed again on Wednesday to 384. A total of seven people have died in Fresno County in connection with COVID-19, according to the health department.

Distance learning challenges

The move to online education last month challenged schools across the nation, forcing educators to move classes and most assignments to the internet. Districts have been scrambling to address what state schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond described as the “digital divide” for students without computers or reliable Internet access.

That divide caused Fresno Unified to end mandatory student assignments and letter grading for the rest of the school year. Officials have said Fresno students would receive the same grades they earned in the third quarter and would also have the option of improving upon those marks.

But Clovis has gone a different route than its neighboring school districts. Clovis teachers have been issuing mandatory homework, and students in the seventh grade and above remain “accountable” for their fourth-quarter grades, O’Farrell said.

Students in the sixth grade and below are earning “effort grades” – “outstanding,” “satisfactory,” or “needs improvement.”

The mantra from many school leaders across the state, including O’Farrell, has been that while campuses are closed, “school is open.”

But while Clovis teachers continue to push students forward, O’Farrell said, leaders also have encouraged teachers to take a student’s challenges into account when assigning grades.

“Our philosophy through this entire journey has been ‘give grace,’” she said. “We’re not going to issue a grade without taking into total consideration the bigger picture.”

O’Farrell said the challenge has been keeping students motivated and engaged.

For students who do not have technology tools, the district has dispersed about 1,300 computer devices and hotspots.

O’Farrell estimated about 98% of students have been connecting regularly with their teachers.

“We have some families who have elected not to engage in online learning,” O’Farrell said. Those families, she said, are learning through work packets and “the old-fashion telephone.”

Grading school work benefits students, especially those with aspirations to attend college, she said.

“If you issue (pass/fail marks), it plays into the overall GPA of the student. When all of this is done, kids are going to want to go on to college,” O’Farrell said. “We want to make sure that we don’t lower that competitive edge they have.”

Catching up later

Despite the efforts to keep education moving forward, O’Farrell also acknowledged students – across the state – likely will fall behind grade-level expectations because distance learning is new, and students and teachers need time to adjust.

But, she said, plans are in the works to address the challenge.

“This is not our ideal. On a regular basis, we assess our kids and monitor our students’ performance,” O’Farrell said. “We fully acknowledge that some of our students will need work during summer school.”

Every August, Clovis schools assess where students stand academically and formulate plans to close any gaps by the end of the school year. Those plans likely will be more involved this time around.

“We will probably have to do more interventions in August than normal,” O’Farrell said. “But what we didn’t want to do was let these 11 weeks go by and have this enormous gap in our education.”

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 April 22, 2020 at 9:48 PM.