Clovis parents promised a fight over masks in school. How’d the first day of class go?

After weeks of public arguments, protests, and promises of a fight over California’s order requiring masks in all classrooms, a district official said the first day of school in Clovis went off Monday without a hitch.

More than 43,000 Clovis Unified students took their seats in classrooms, many for the first time in the 18 months since the coronavirus pandemic erupted across the world, forcing school campuses and many businesses to close.

CUSD spokesperson Kelly Avants said, for many students and teachers, getting back to school was a relief.

“Teachers were excited to see students, students were excited to be with their classmates, and parents were excited to drop their kids off,” Avants told The Bee’s Education Lab.

Getting kids back in classrooms has been the top priority for schools, but figuring out exactly how to do that sparked heated debates over COVID-19 safety measures, especially concerning masking requirements.

Avants said the city’s schools “were prepared” for the possibility of confrontations, following weeks of protests and comments from angry parents promising to challenge the rule, describing it as a personal freedom issue, even as local coronavirus cases reached a six-month high.

An incident Friday in the Northern California community of Sutter Creek drew the attention of media — and education officials — when an angry parent reportedly attacked a teacher during a heated exchange over the state’s mask requirement.

But no such confrontations materialized on the first day of school in Clovis.

Avants visited seven of the district’s campuses on Monday and said students were happy to be back in school with their friends and classmates. Most students, she said, didn’t seem to have an issue with wearing a mask.

“There were a few conversations, I know, but (Monday) was, by and large, free of conflict,” Avants said. “I was impressed with how the rules were being followed.”

It’s unclear whether at least some of the parents who promised confrontations simply took their children out of school ahead of the new school year.

Enrollment in Clovis’ online charter school is up significantly this year — 766 students as of Monday, Avants said, compared to an average of 400-plus in prior years. But the district’s online school accepts students from all over Fresno County, so the enrollment spike likely isn’t just from Clovis Unified students enrolling online in protest.

Enrollment data for the district’s independent study program wasn’t available Monday.

The idea that parents are more upset than students over the school mask rule gained attention in recent weeks.

Speaking last week during an online Q&A with the Ed Lab, Fresno Unified spokesperson Nikki Henry said Fresno teachers haven’t seen “those levels of egregious-type defiance on masks.”

“Like I said, our kids are used to wearing them,” she said.

Avants agreed.

“There have been the public conversations with adults who are having a hard time with Sacramento,” Avants said,” but most kids just want to be with their classmates.”