Clovis schools shut down sports, band as COVID-19 surges, but most students returning

As Fresno County falls back into the purple tier this week, Clovis Unified is closing down its extracurricular activity pods but will continue its plan to phase back students who want to return to campus.

Since June, the district has allowed some sports to be practiced in cohorts of 10, as well as performing arts activities, such as band, according to district spokesperson Kelly Avants.

She estimated there were more than 400 pods across 10 schools.

The district is pausing those activities while waiting for further guidance from the health department, including information on personal protective equipment such as face shields that would help protect students.

Clovis students returning to school

During Wednesday’s school board meeting, administrators also presented information about how many students will return to each region of the district. Officials previously said any student who wants to return to school would get a chance to by Jan. 19.

In comparison, neighboring Fresno Unified is choosing not to reopen classrooms beyond at-risk students until the county reaches the orange tier of California’s color-coded coronavirus reopening road map called the Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

The bulk of Clovis students will be back on campus by Nov. 30, officials said. Each school follows a hybrid model of learning, where students attend in cohorts for half-days, then learn the rest of the time at home.

All those on campuses also wear masks, maintain social distance, and follow other hygiene recommendations.

District-wide, 70% of parents participated in a recent survey, and of those, 38.8% wanted their children to return to school under a hybrid model, and 33.3% wanted to remain online. The top reason for staying online was cited as medical/safety concerns, and the top reason for in-person/hybrid was “benefits of instruction.”

For staff, 59.7% wanted to return to class under a hybrid model, and the majority cited not wanting to lose their students as the reason.

In the Buchanan High School area, 2,054 elementary school students, or 91% of those who wanted to return, will be on campus before the end of the year.

At Dry Creek Elementary, 615 students, or 100%, are returning, and 197 are returning at Tarpey Elementary.

Buchanan High School is seeing a 50% return, and Alta Sierra Intermediate School is at 63%.

In the Clovis East High School area, 304 students are returning to Freedom Elementary, and 106 will be back at Miramonte Elementary. Clovis East will welcome 33% of its population back.

In the Clovis North High School area, 1,858 elementary students will return before winter break. At Granite Ridge Intermediate, 30% of students will come back, and at Clovis North, 40% will go back.

In the Clovis High School area, 550 students will have returned to eight elementary schools, and by Nov. 30, 2,265 out of 2,670 who wanted to return will be on campus.

In the Clovis West High School region, 3,759 students will go back to elementary schools, and both Clovis West and Kastner Intermediate will see 55% of their population return.

All students are back at Clovis Community Day School, and 40% will return to Gateway High School, a continuation school.

Administrators said parents and students still have a lot of flexibility with their decision, and schools are accommodating.

“Daily, we’re getting calls from parents,” said Corinne Folmer, associate superintendent of School Leadership. “Their children heard a friend is attending class, and now they want to come. Most recently, with the purple tier, we’re having some call and say now I do not, I’m not comfortable returning.”

Clovis teachers speak out about COVID-19 fears

Two teachers spoke at the meeting and said they were disappointed that teachers did not have more input in the plans to return to school amid the risk of contracting the coronavirus.

Kristin Heimerdinger, a teacher at Buchanan High School, said that the feeling she’s gotten from administrators is that “teachers could do it your way, or take a leave of absence.”

Heimerdinger said the district had not made a blanket statement that teachers have a choice whether to go back, and it’s mostly up to each site to work with teachers. Some teachers don’t feel supported enough to decide to stay home, she said.

Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell said that teachers concerned about their options should talk to the human resources department.

“I think that the reason that we haven’t made that blanket statement is because it’s much more nuanced than that,” she said, “but we also have a really great HR department, and any teacher that does not feel supported by their site administrator, our HR department can be accessed by that teacher.”

Heimerdinger said her position as a high school teacher puts her more at-risk than an elementary school teacher.

“I’m in a classroom with students who are 17 and 18 years old, whose risk is certainly higher than, say, a second-grader, and who write things in their schoolwork where they say things like, ‘I’m so tired of this, I wish I could just get COVID so I could be over it and be done with it.’

“Our students are frustrated, and I understand that,” she continued, “but that means I get to go back into the classroom with those students who openly admit they’re no longer practicing any sort of safety protocols in their own personal lives because they’ve just had enough of it.”

Trustee Steven Fogg said he understood the district hasn’t always gotten things 100% right, but they are trying.

“We’re confused by how we should move forward ... “ he said, “but I think, for my colleagues I talk to, they’re sincere and wanting to do the right thing for teachers and for students. That’s it, that’s all I can tell you.”

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. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.