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â– Clovis Unified issued a new attendance area proposal that shifts fewer students than the first two proposals.
â– While some parents say the new map will keep their kids at their schools, other parents are unhappy that students will be shifted.
â– The final recommendation will be released by March 29, followed by a School Board vote in April.
Clovis Unified School District has released a third school boundary map proposal that has some parents cheering because their kids will stay at the current schools, while other parents whose kids are facing a move say the district’s latest plan needs further revising.
The district has embarked on a school boundary review and proposed attendance area changes in preparation for the opening of the new Terry Bradley Educational Center in southeast Fresno. The campus will eventually include Clovis South High School and as-yet-unnamed elementary and middle schools.
On Friday the district released the latest boundary line proposal, the so-called “Silver Scenario,” which the district says builds on the two original proposals.
The latest proposal, which came after community meetings and online comments, attempts to reduce the number of students being transferred to new schools, does not accommodate future developments at the expense of current students, and keeps neighborhoods intact rather than moving them to two or more different schools.
The district noted that it was still analyzing whether it might be feasible for students living in areas with boundary line shifts to remain at their current schools.
Oraze, Woods Parents Are Happy
For parents of Oraze and Woods elementary schools, the new proposal would leave their neighborhoods intact and their children attending their current schools. Under the old plans, some of the Oraze students in southeast Clovis would have shifted to Miramonte Elementary, while Woods students in northeast Clovis would have moved to Garfield Elementary.
“We are thrilled,” said parent Kristi Olivares, who has three kids now at Woods. “To allow our children to stay at Woods makes us feel that we were seen, that we were heard, and that our input was valued. So we are very pleased with the new map.”
Olivares said Woods parents learned that neither Woods nor Garfield is over-enrolled or slated to be in the near future, so it didn’t make numeric sense to shift Woods students to Garfield. Meanwhile, students like her son, now in the third grade at Woods, would have suffered social-emotional harm from being uprooted from their school community, Olivares said.
Melanie, whose child attends Oraze Elementary and who asked to be identified by her first name only, said she was somewhat surprised when the district issued the third boundary line proposal, because she had heard that happened only rarely. The Silver Scenario leaves the Oraze attendance area intact.
She said she was glad that district officials listened to parents and didn’t see families as “just shaded numbers on a map.”
Riverview Parents Disappointed
But for parents of some children attending Riverview Elementary in northeast Fresno, the Silver Scenario is a disappointment. Under the first two attendance area alternatives, a Riverview neighborhood north of Shepherd and west of Willow would have shifted to either Liberty or Maple Creek elementaries. Under the new scenario, the neighborhood would remain intact but would shift to Maple Creek in the Clovis West area.
“They claim to have listened by proposing to move us all as one unit but considering the concessions other schools received to remain intact, we don’t see this as an adequate response to our concerns,” the Riverview group said Monday in a prepared statement.
They note that their neighborhood is the only one isolated from Clovis South that would be impacted by being moved to a new middle and high school area, as well as a new elementary. Although schools in the Buchanan High area are “severely impacted,” the new scenario does not include a boundary shift for them, the Riverview parents noted.
Clovis Unified will provide more opportunities to discuss the proposed attendance area changes at upcoming school SART/Parent meetings. The district is scheduled to release the final attendance map recommendation by March 29, followed by discussion and action by the School Board at their April meetings.
New boundary lines would not take effect until August 2025, when Clovis South is scheduled to open.
To see the boundary maps or submit online feedback, click here.