Summer is officially winding down for students who will be returning to Fresno and Clovis Unified classrooms today, Monday, Aug. 18.

Meanwhile, teachers, construction crews, and school administration have been hard at work prepping for their arrival.

Fresno Unified School District spent the summer renovating school sites — replacing outdated systems, modernizing buildings, repairing parking lots, ensuring ADA compliance, and installing new playgrounds and equipment.

Additionally, district administration has been helping incoming pupils prep for the school year with registration and immunization events. They have offered sports physical clinics as well.

Similarly, Clovis Unified led multiple site renovations and worked to complete Philip V. Sanchez Intermediate School in time to welcome nearly 1,100 incoming seventh, eighth, and ninth graders.

The middle school, boasting a 1,500-student capacity, is at the Terry P. Bradley campus, which will open in phases over three years.

“Busy, busy summer as we’re putting the finishing touches on the academic buildings and the support facilities that are needed to open that school,” said district spokesperson Kelly Avants. “We have staff that’s been out there helping the construction crews finish things up and put the finishing touches on the library and classrooms.”

Parents will get a chance to tour the campus and acquaint themselves with the new space on DATE.

‘Where Everyone Belongs’

The beginning of school is an exciting and nerve-wracking time for students, especially those in transitional grades.

Clovis Unified works to ease student anxiety, familiarizing them with sites and peers through a “Where Everyone Belongs” event.

The informational meeting, which was hosted the week leading up to school, invites seventh and ninth grade students onto campus for a tour and icebreaker events.

They can “learn who else is going to be on the campus with them and try to break down some of those natural barriers that might otherwise happen when kids are coming onto a campus who don’t know each other and don’t have the facility,” Avants said.

Students attending Sanchez Intermediate will participate in this event during the first week of school.

Teachers Prep for School Year

Teachers have been in class themselves, attending professional training and team building events during the past week.

Currently, Clovis Unified is wrapping up “Institute Week,” which is full of team events and training.

“We certainly want people to understand that they are not only a member of an individual school team, but they are part of something bigger,” said Avants. “When our kids are coming on Monday, they’re being welcomed by a team that’s prepared and ready to have a great school year.”

The district has both districtwide professional development that is managed by a professional development team, and individualized development at school sites when a principal sees a particular need of staff or students, Avants said.

Fresno Unified Offers New Resources for Students and Parents

Fresno Unified officials last week launched a media campaign to engage more families in education and help track their students going to and from school.

Those changes include new technology for parents to track their children and get questions answered, said Fresno Unified Superintendent Misty Her at an Aug. 13 news conference at the  Farber Educational Campus.

“We’re going to do this school year with so much clarity, purpose, partnership, and a deep, deep belief in what’s possible for every single one of our students,” Her said. “We have goals, we have guardrails. We have identified metrics that we will monitor on a consistent basis. We are going to be transparent about this process and we are charting a new path for Fresno Unified.”

They include a promise to have 80% of first graders reading by 2030.

A literacy intervention program will help advance third- through eighth-grade students who come in behind grade level.

“Our goal is to make sure that while they are with us, that we improve them at least one grade level for every year that they are with us,” Her said.

A career and college readiness program will make at least 64% of students ready for jobs or higher education by the time they leave high school. Right now, the district only has 43% of students at that level.

The district’s fourth goal looks at more holistic approaches including advancing critical thinking, problem solving, and self-regulation.

For parents, that means being involved and asking questions about their students reading levels.

“For parents, as they’re meeting with their teachers, especially if they’re in first grade, talk about ‘where is my child right now, currently?’ ” Her said. “If the child is not on grade level, like they don’t have all their foundation skills, then — ‘how do I get there?’ Those will be really critical questions for parents to ask.”

Fresno Unified parents can now track children who ride the bus via the district’s new partnership with Zum. The Zum app — available on Google Play and the Apple App Store — lets parents know where buses are in real time and alerts them about route changes, Her said.

Fresno Jo, the district’s chatbot, answers many questions for parents, students, staff, and community members.

Fresno Police Tell Drivers, Pedestrians to Be Alert

Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto wanted both parents and drivers to be safe as students return to school.

“The first week or two of school will undoubtedly be chaotic and busy, but with the help of parents, students, and staff, we can make it safer,” Casto said.

For parents wanting to get that photo opportunity before school, Fresno Unified Roosevelt High-area Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas advised getting there early.

Jonasson Rosas also said the district always needs volunteer crossing guards.

Fresno High Area Trustee Andy Levine said resources are available for parents who have trouble getting their kids to school.

“If there are barriers to being able to get to school on time every day, please let us know,” Levine said.

Fresno police reported no serious collisions causing injuries around schools during the entire 2024-25 school year, Casto said. She wanted to keep that trend, emphasizing 25 mile-per-hour speed limits at schools and to stop for buses displaying stop signs and flashing red lights.

“If we work together this year, we can keep it that way for the 25-26 school year,” Casto said.

Efforts to Reach Pre-Pandemic Scores

School districts nationwide are struggling to return to pre-pandemic scores, a process that is taking longer than expected.

Clovis Unified teachers focus on fundamentals that were possibly missed when addressing this issue, ensuring students are taught by need.

“Our teachers have been doing just great work around identifying those things and then going back and kind of backward mapping,” Avants said.

In the 2023-24 school year 67% of students reached English Language Arts standards and around 52% met math standards. In 2018-19 a little more than 72% and 58%, respectively, met standards.

Fresno Unified is also struggling to improve student outcomes, failing to breach the 50% mark in the last decade.

Almost 35% of students met ELA standards and 25% met math standards in the 2023-24 school year. In 2018-19, 38% reached ELA standards and almost 30% met math standards.

Recently, the district has centralized efforts around four goals, addressing early literacy, intervention, life skills, and college and career readiness.