It’s time for Clovis Unified to admit the obvious: Students cannot go back to campus

Despite heartfelt hopes, best wishes and even fervent prayers, Clovis Unified school board members will need to reach a point Wednesday night they have tried to avoid all spring during the ongoing COVID-19 disruption: They will need to cancel any thought of students returning to their campuses.

Fresno Unified, the biggest district in the region with 74,000 students, was an early adopter of so-called distance learning. That school board ended any idea of students going back to campuses when trustees voted April 1 to conduct distance learning for the rest of this academic year.

That same evening, however, as Clovis trustees launched distance learning for their 43,500 students, they also expressed their desire to give students a chance to get back on school grounds, so they voted to extend their closure to just May 4. At that point, students would have had about one month left on the academic year.

At their April 22 meeting, however, the Clovis trustees extended the distance-learning period to May 22. At that meeting the tensions of this time were clearly evident. 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.” But fellow Trustee Stephen Fogg said “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.

“Families won’t send their kids back. They just don’t feel safe.”

Distance learning is not “throwing in the towel,” but it is different than seeing teachers, coaches, principals and fellow students on campus.

The fact is that after the Memorial Day weekend Clovis Unified will have only nine days left of the school year. Sending students back to their campuses hardly seems worth the potential risk of infection.

Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell is recommending to the board that it maintain the campus closures through the last day of school, which is June 5. That is the right call.

Last week both Casado and Fogg grasped that reality, telling Bee Education Lab reporter Isabel Sophia Dieppa that it would not be practical or prudent to return students to their campuses.

Graduations different

As a result of the pandemic, the Class of 2020 will forever have the distinction of not having an in-person high school graduation. The rite of passage is being marked this year with online memorials and special events to make graduates feel special.

In Clovis, students will be individually scheduled a time when they get handed their diplomas in a ceremony in their school’s stadium and attended by up to four relatives . Pre-recorded speeches, academic awards, and recitation of the names of graduates will be launched online on the originally scheduled evenings of graduation, and then aired on Valley PBS on June 6 for all of Clovis’ five high schools.

Not alone

Besides Fresno Unified, the Central and Washington districts will use distance learning through the last days of their calendars.

And Fresno State and area community colleges have already said distance learning for their students will go through the end of 2020.

In this respect, Clovis Unified will be wise to join their neighbors and admit what is obvious: The chance for students to go to campus this spring is over.