The first day of school on Aug. 12 will also be Erika Martinez's first day as a full-time Fresno Unified teacher with a room full of first-graders. She's already itching to start decorating her classroom at Wilson Elementary and has even mapped out her ideas on a Pinterest board. First-day...
Planned Madera K-8 School Gets $9 Million Land Gift From King Husein
A vacant 50-acre lot valued at nearly $9 million has been donated to Madera Unified School District for a future K-8 school, the district announced Monday. The donor is King Husein, CEO of SPAN Construction & Engineering Inc., one of the largest steel building construction companies in the U.S. The...
Madera Unified’s Youngest Will Be First to Be Back on Campus Starting Next Week
Madera Unified transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and first-grade students will be the first to return to campuses for in-person instruction according to the plan announced Tuesday by the district. The youngsters will be in classrooms starting the week of March 22 and will be joined by students in grades 2 and...
Madera High Student Tests Positive for COVID-19, School Shutters Athletics
Madera High School has suspended all athletic workouts after a student-athlete tested positive for COVID-19, athletic director John Fernandez said Thursday. The student, who was not identified, was exposed this month to the coronavirus by a person off campus and away from all school facilities and activities. Positive Test Reported...
Madera South Student Under Investigation for ‘Hateful’ Social Media Post
A Madera South High School student is under investigation after a "hateful" post surfaced on social media on the Fourth of July, district spokesman Babatunde Ilori said Monday. "Any kind of discriminatory or hateful speech is completely unacceptable," said Ilori, the district's executive director of accountability and communications. A racist,...
Madera Unified: ‘We’re Not Madera County School Board, and We Don’t Condone Racism’
Madera Unified School District wants everyone to know that it opposes racism and that it's not the same entity as the Madera County Board of Education, whose president posted on Facebook last weekend "I'm proud to be white" overlaid on an image of the Confederate flag. "Madera Unified School District...
Derek Carr to 2020 Grads: Don’t Miss Out on Alternative Ceremonies
COVID-19 has put the kibosh on traditional large-scale graduation ceremonies in May and June for the Class of 2020, but graduates are being celebrated in new and different ways. The celebrations are virtual for now, but districts and colleges are vowing still to have the real deal, either later this...
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...
Madera Unified Chief: Goal Is For 100% Of Kids Online During COVID-19 Closures
Madera Unified School District wants every one of its 20,000 students to have access to high-speed internet — no matter the family's income level — and devices like Chromebooks to connect to it so they can keep learning at home during the COVID-19 outbreak. Superintendent Todd Lile outlined that goal,...
Fresno Unified Chief Still Hopes Schools Will Reopen Before Summer
Despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's belief that California schools will remain closed due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson said Wednesday he's not willing to give up hope yet. Nelson's comment came in a 6-minute video update that the district posted Wednesday afternoon. Because of the truncated...