Fresno Unified wasn’t able to hold its annual State of the District luncheon that also serves as a major fundraiser for student scholarships because of the coronavirus, but the district’s Plan B — a virtual run/walk fundraiser — gets an A for achievement.

Nancy Price

School Zone

Corporate, community, and individual sponsors contributed $50,125 that will be awarded in student scholarships next spring, the district announced Tuesday.

The top corporate sponsors were: Fresno Housing Authority, SIM-PBK Architects, CalViva Health, Educational Employees Credit Union, Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo law firm, Darden Architects, and HAW-Fifty-Six Group (Gold Level, $5,000); Fresno County County Superintendent of Schools, Blair, Church & Flynn consulting engineers, and Fresno State (Silver Level, $2,500); John D. Welty Center for Educational Policy and Leadership, MeTEOR Education, and the Fresno chapter of the Association of California School Administrators (Bronze Level, $1,500).

Superintendent Bob Nelson, noting that the donations surpassed last year’s contributions, expressed his gratitude in a video message.

I Pledge Thank You from Fresno Unified on Vimeo.

Central Unified Board To Superintendent: Good Job

Central Unified Superintendent Andy Alvarado got a $5,000 pay raise along with a contract extension from the School Board earlier this month.

Alvarado, who has been superintendent since June 2018, now has an annual salary of $215,373 and will get 2.5% pay boosts — about the same as the step pay increases for teachers — on July 1 each year for the next four years if he continues to receive positive job evaluations.

The contract amendment extends Alvarado’s contract term through June 20, 2024.

In Memoriam

Sunnyside High School’s beloved principal, Tim Liles, will be remembered and known for generations of students to come after the Fresno City Council agreed to name a portion of Lane Avenue in front of the southeast Fresno school as Tim Liles Way.

Liles, who was 55 and a longtime Fresno Unified employee, died in September after battling brain cancer. His death came as a shock to many who were unaware of his illness after the school closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The southeast Fresno native was honored by Councilmember Luis Chavez as District 5 “Man of the Year” in 2019 for his many years of service and commitment to educating students.

Congratulations to You

School Zone closes out with some random and well-deserved kudos.

• Clovis Community College has been recognized for the third year in a row by the Campaign for College Opportunity as a Champion of Higher Education for the number of associate degrees for transfer awarded relative to the number of students enrolled. Clovis leads the state in that category. President Lori Bennett and the college will be recognized at a campaign-sponsored event Thursday.
• It’s still a few months before the official groundbreaking, but Reedley College’s McClarty Center for Fine & Performing Arts is already getting noticed — and receiving statewide recognition. Darden Architects, which designed the state-of-the-art project, received the “Award of Honor” for design from the Community College Facility Coalition on Nov. 12. This award recognizes excellence in community college project design.