Clovis Unified School District has not given up hope that its 43,000 students may return to on-site learning in May.
In a unanimous vote on April 22, the CUSD board opted to extend campus closures to at least May 22, but the school year ends just two weeks later on June 5.
This is the second time that CUSD has made the decision to extend exclusively off-site instruction.
The decision comes over a month after the board officially shelved on-site learning on March 13, and the closures were extended further to at least May 4 during its meeting on April 1 in an effort to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
Trustees are unwilling to commit as of yet to close in-person instruction for the rest of the year, however, but recognize that is a distinct possibility.
“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.”
But other board members, like trustee Tiffany Stoker Madsen, were hopeful that schools may be able to resume normal instruction this year.
“Steve, I really hope you’re wrong. I think you’re wrong. I really hope we can return to normal life very soon,” Madsen said.
One of the chief concerns of the board is to retain a semblance of a normal graduation for seniors, superintendent Eimear O’Farrell alluded.
“One of the things we want to do is make sure that every student has an opportunity to cross a stage,” O’Farrell said. “For 13 years, students look forward to that moment crossing the stage, and we will have a stage for our students to cross and they will receive a diploma.”
How that will look, O’Farrell said, will depend on what restrictions are in place at the time of graduation.
Madsen said that it is unlikely restrictions will be lifted in time to hold normal graduation ceremonies in May and June, and raised the question of whether or not CUSD would be able to quickly put together a graduation ceremony if they are.
But O’Farrell said that the school district would be able to facilitate one on short notice.
“The Clovis Unified team can kick into high gear very quickly, as we did with distance learning,” she said. “I have every confidence that if things changed that made it a possibility to do that, Member Madsen, we would be very capable.”