Fresno Unified trustee Claudia Cazares says teachers who have been doing the "bare minimum" as negotiated in the distance learning contract amendment need to do more teaching for their students. "Students are not being taught. They're being given a list of homework scheduled for the week, and then there is...
Audit Faults Fresno Unified Produce Buys, DA Is Investigating
Fresno Unified School District paid a produce vendor nearly $4.9 million over three years for fruits and vegetables that either cost more than the original bid prices or weren't even on the bid list, according to an audit by the Clovis accounting firm Price Paige & Company. The audit report,...
Fresno Unified Trustees Reject Slatic’s Nominee for Bond Committee
Four members of the Fresno Unified School Board took the rare step last week of rejecting a School Bond Oversight Committee member nomination made by one of their fellow trustees and recommended for approval by Superintendent Bob Nelson. What's not clear is whether the "no" votes signified the quartet's continuing...
Fresno Unified Parents: Haven’t Heard from Teachers? Here’s What to Do.
If your children are enrolled in Fresno Unified School District and you haven't yet heard from their teachers since schools closed due to COVID-19, you might want to call or email your trustee. Frustrated parents normally would contact their child's school principal, but it was made clear at Wednesday night's...
Trustees to Vote on High-Performing Dailey Elementary’s Charter Renewal
Morris E. Dailey Elementary Charter School, one of the academically higher-performing elementary charters in California, is up for charter renewal at Wednesday's Fresno Unified School District board meeting. In a report to the school board, district staff said the school is meeting expectations about student performance and recommended that the...
Need to Boost Your Grades? In Fresno Unified, There’s Still Time.
Fresno Unified students are guaranteed to receive grades no lower than what they had already earned in the second semester, Superintendent Bob Nelson announced Thursday evening. Classes and testing were abruptly halted with the closure of schools after March 13 because of the COVID-19 epidemic and the need to keep...
Special Report: Fresno Unified Parents Want More Learning Amid COVID-19
When schools across the Valley abruptly closed after March 13 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators scrambled to pull together lesson plans to keep students learning as they sheltered at home. Some teachers banded together to get classes posted onto YouTube channels, while others quickly set up teleconference classes and...
Local Coalition Ensures Special-Needs Students Aren't Forgotten During Closures
Providing distance learning for most students is challenging, as teachers and parents are finding out while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the challenges are multiplied for special-needs students whose specialized instruction and therapies have been interrupted by the need for as many people as possible to...
Central Unified Trustees Consider School Closures Through May 1
Central Unified School District trustees will consider extending the closure of schools through May 1 because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The board will hold a special meeting Thursday by teleconference, with the open session starting at 7 p.m. Board members will appear in a Zoom video teleconference broadcast on the district's...
School Meal Updates for Fresno And Madera Unifieds During COVID-19 Closures
Fresno Unified is adding Birney Elementary School in central Fresno to the school sites where the community can pick up breakfasts and lunches, district spokeswoman Amy Idsvoog said Tuesday. Birney will be the district's 19th school site for school meals starting Wednesday, she said. Fresno and other school districts in...