Clovis Unified celebrates $4.9 million donation from longtime benefactor, Qualcomm cofounder
After silently donating more than $400,000 to the Foundation of Clovis Schools over the years, 1970 Clovis alumnus Franklin Antonio donated $4.9 million to the foundation through his estate.
Antonio passed away earlier this year.
“His donation helps the Foundation get closer to meeting multi-million dollar fundraising goals set to support student scholarships, new teachers, innovative teaching programs, and leadership development in Clovis Unified,” CUSD spokesperson Kelly Avants said after Thursday’s announcement.
Cofounder of the telecommunications giant Qualcomm, Antonio had been quietly donating to the Foundation since 2013 after meeting with the district’s founding superintendent, Floyd “Doc” Buchanan, about the needs that the Foundation meets, the district said.
CUSD officials say foundation volunteers raise funds to help bridge the “funding gap” between CUSD and other districts so that Clovis Unified can provide scholarships to students and grants to educators.
“Clovis Unified receives the lowest funding dollars per student in Fresno County, and that motivates our board’s efforts to provide support,” said Mike Fennacy, chairperson of the Foundation. “We are dedicated to helping Clovis Unified students and educators pursue innovative learning, and we are very grateful to our business partners, sponsors and alumni who join us in these efforts.”
While Clovis’s size is a factor, the more targeted students a district has, the more funding it gets. Targeted students are those who qualify for free or reduced meals or are English learners, foster youth, or homeless. Districts with 55% or more of those student groups get 65% more of their base funding determined by average daily attendance, the district’s budget detailed. CUSD’s percentage is 48.59%.
Based on the district’s community report, through the foundation, Clovis Unified has provided the following this past school year:
33 classroom, school and emotional wellness grants to help teachers be innovative in their classrooms. The $200,000 helped introduced students learn about coding and new technology, as well as art and art history curriculum, among other areas.
147 new teacher grants to prepare classrooms
16 Students of Promise Scholarships so 16 eleventh graders could pursue their post-secondary education goals
School or classroom project grants. Educators submit project proposals that will enhance learning in a creative and motivational way. Science equipment, bicycle assembly kits and special-needs adapted P.E. equipment are projects completed by recent Foundation awardees.
Anotonio’s donation will do the same.
Antonio recognized the value of education and was a generous philanthropist to the schools that helped shape his life, including the University of California, San Diego, where he attended college, Foundation Treasurer and Fundraising Chair Adam Holt said at the Superintendent’s Breakfast.
Superintendent’s breakfast celebrate highs, recognizes lows
More than 500 business and community leaders attended the annual event, celebrating a “full return” to the school year after the pandemic.
Clovis Unified Superintendent Eimear O’Brien highlighted the district’s achievements from the past year while discussing its work to expand academic success and well-being for its 43,000 students.
For example, Tarpey Elementary was the only elementary school in California to earn a Civic Learning Award of Excellence. And the school district has two National Blue Ribbon award-winning schools — Woods (Harold L.) Elementary and Granite Ridge Intermediate School. The National Blue Ribbon recognizes schools for overall academic excellence.
Even so, students’ overall English and math scores dropped from a modified version of the state’s test in spring 2022 from the last available data from the 2019 state tests.
Although scores didn’t drop as much as other districts across the state, 2022 numbers show that English scores are down by about 6% and math scores fell by about 9%, O’Brien said.
In the 2020-21 school year, half of CUSD students were in virtual instruction. Last school year – when students were given the modified test – most students returned to in-person learning, but schools were “plagued for most of the school year with student and staff absences due to illness and contact tracing,” things that were “frustratingly disruptive to the learning process,” O’Brien said.
But diagnostic tests show growth across all grade levels, she said.
As students grow, the district’s youngest learners are the focus of academic intervention plans. Second graders, who were in kindergarten in March 2020 when COVID-19 began closing schools, are at about 60% proficiency – a 20% drop from 2019. That increased to about 70% proficiency this past spring.
“This points to the fact that when our kids are in school, with our outstanding teachers, and provided the necessary social-emotional and academic supports and intervention, that growth is an outcome of our collective efforts,” she said.
That social-emotional support includes a Comprehensive Wellness Program created in 2017 that has developed over time and continues to expand. The program includes Clovis Support and Intervention, small group therapy sessions with trained facilitators to address grief, anger management, substance abuse, divorce, death and other challenges.
“My hope is that you will go away from this gathering today with an understanding of how we as the district are holding ourselves accountable to our students, to you, our community, and to our elected and dedicated governing board members who represent your voices with every policy decision made for the benefit of our students,” the superintendent said.
This story was originally published October 7, 2022 at 7:30 AM.
