What started out as a routine fourth-grade reading assignment became a lesson in civics and the power of petitions for a group of Clovis Unified youngsters who will reap a sweet reward on Friday — strawberry milk. The district reports that students in Rita Twet's class at Garfield Elementary...
Fresno Unified Proposes Huge Staff Expansion to Aid Students, Families
Fresno Unified officials are recommending a massive increase in school staffing for the 2022-23 school year to expand direct services to students and their families, the School Board learned at Wednesday's meeting. In-between outbursts over a trustee's tweet that eventually derailed the meeting, chief financial officer Santino Danisi and...
COVID-19 Increases Fresno Teachers’ Workload. District Bumps Their Pay.
Some Fresno Unified teachers will get a mid-year pay bump after the district agreed to compensate those who substitute in extra classes or had extra students assigned to their classrooms this year. In some cases where teachers have been out on COVID-19 quarantine and no subs have been available,...
FUSD Trustees Hope to Avert ‘Draconian Cuts’ Over Huge Student Attendance Drop
Huge drops in daily attendance coupled with a potential massive economic recession predicted for the near future could create dire conditions for Fresno Unified School District, officials said Wednesday. But the doom-and-gloom scenario is offset somewhat by the billions of extra dollars for education that Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed...
COVID-19 Test Kits Run Short in Fresno. District Plans to Offer Testing at Each School.
When classes resume Tuesday in Fresno Unified schools after the winter break, it's not clear how many of the students and employees will already be infected with COVID-19. The district's distribution of test kits, which started Friday, ran out early on Monday morning. The 70,000 test kits were distributed...
What Goals Will Trustees Set for Fresno Supt. Bob Nelson?
The start of the new year is a time when many people make resolutions, so it seems somewhat timely that Fresno Unified School District trustees are starting the year with a workshop to set goals for Superintendent Bob Nelson for 2022 and 2023. Several trustees told GV Wire on...
Slatic to Fresno Unified Staffer: Is the Air Cooler in NW Fresno?
Fresno Unified Trustee Terry Slatic's distinctive (some might call it obnoxious) style of eliciting information was on full display at Wednesday's School Board meeting. Karin Temple, the district's chief operations officer, had wrapped up a presentation about which projects the $325 million Measure M bond issue will fund, and which...
Fresno Teachers to File Grievances Over Alleged Contract Violations
The Fresno Teachers Association is alleging that Fresno Unified School District is committing multiple contract violations regarding teacher work assignments. The grievances allege that because the district is understaffed, teachers are losing their class preparation time because they are being assigned to substitute for other classes, are having to juggle...
Unfair Advantage for School Board Candidate? Or Potential Land Mine?
At last week's Fresno Unified School Board meeting, trustees nominated five citizens to a committee that will recommend how the board should go about renaming schools. The committee's creation comes in the wake of controversy over the naming and renaming of district schools. Several were fairly well known: former City...
Fresno Unified School Board Meeting or a ‘Circus’?
Fresno Unified School Board President Valerie Davis might want to think about bringing a whip and chair to control unruly participants at future trustee meetings, if Wednesday night's meeting is any example. The shouting and name-calling from audience members directed at trustees, individual conversations between trustees on the dais and...