Parents, students faced with switching schools. Clovis approves new attendance boundaries

Parents of affected families now have little to no option to avoid their child changing schools: Clovis attendance boundary changes are officially happening in 2025.

Within one school year, some students across Clovis Unified elementary schools will switch to a different one or an intermediate school in a district area they hadn’t attended before.

Among the families being asked to move, those with more than one child could petition to keep family members together at the schools they’re attending – or plan to attend – now. Depending on an older sibling’s school grade, parents can request a “sibling transfer” so their children stay in the same schools, the district told The Bee earlier this month.

Area 2 representative David DeFrank shared his family’s personal experience at a recent board meeting; four of his five children will have to switch schools.

“There’s a little bit of heartbreak associated with it,” DeFrank said, “but also pride as a board member of just that we are, that we have schools worth being sad to leave.”

DeFrank said that the district’s staff has made this change “as good of a process as it can be.” He said the community can trust that resources are being stewarded as efficiently as possible to manage schools, staff and the district’s capacities.

Though the district notified parents and community members about these changes in past months, the board officially voted to approve and enact these changes in their April 17 meeting.

Board members said this change will help the district accommodate its Clovis South expansion and attempt to even out enrollment from over-enrolled schools to less-attended schools.

Area 5 representative Steven Fogg said the district received more than 700 community comments about the attendance boundary change, “and most of them are negative.”

“The fact that when your child has to move from one school to the next, that is a big deal, that’s emotional,” Fogg said. “There are still families that are very unhappy with this – and I get that – and some said, ‘Why are we doing this for no reason?’ A lot don’t see the big picture.”

Several Clovis Unified schools are overcrowded, Fogg said, “There’s a lot of moving parts that you don’t see when you’re seeing just your kids.”

At the same time, Area 3 representative Tiffany Stoker Madsen said there are under-enrolled elementary schools in need of more students.

“As a parent, you see some elementary schools that are so impacted and overflowing, but you don’t always see the ones that are under-enrolled, and we need to provide them the support that they need as well,” Stocker Madsen said. “We need them to enroll more so that they can provide all of the services that our students deserve.”

A district-conducted study showed schools in the Clovis East and some in the Clovis areas are currently overcrowded, and some of those students likely will become part of the new Clovis South Area. In the Clovis North and Buchanan areas, schools also are above student capacity, yet the Clovis West area has seats available, the district told The Bee in January.

Clovis’s school board voted unanimously on Wednesday, April 17, to approve the proposed attendance boundary changes for the 2025-2026 school year and onward, to incorporate the new Clovis South area and its three new schools.

Clovis Unified School district’s board voted 6-0 – Area 4 representative and board president Hugh Awtrey was absent – to adopt the changes. Before they cast their votes, board members acknowledged community concerns and shared some of their experiences about their own children switching to the new Clovis South schools, too.

Clovis Superintendent Corrine Folmer said the district’s staff is committed to making this transition process “as seamless and smooth as possible,” as the 2025-2026 school year approaches.

“Our work as a district doesn’t end in this vote,” Folmer said, “There is a commitment from all of our teams to embrace and assist our students and our families in any transition that will come.”

Area 7 representative Yolanda Moore – who will be representing parts of Clovis South – said she was part of the boundary steering committee and recognized the district staff’s help and input from the community while advocating for their children.

“A lot of families are happy, and I understand that there are some that are not,” Moore said. “It doesn’t mean that we weren’t listening. It just means that we had a hard job to do.”

This transition is hard for students, Fogg said, because the district makes students proud of their schools and breaking that loyalty is challenging.

“We created that difficulty,” he said. “I’m okay with that because they can build loyalties again. I think it’s a good lesson for kids.”

For parents who are still concerned or unhappy with these changes, Fogg wants them to keep in mind: “A school isn’t a building of bricks. It’s the people that attend.”

The Clovis Unified School Board meets every other Wednesday at the district’s Professional Development Building at 1680 David E Cook Way in Clovis. The public session starts at 6:30 p.m. after the board convenes once they end the closed session portion of their meeting.

Three more board meetings remain this school year – May 8, May 22 and June 12 – before the board reconvenes on July 17 for 2024-2025 school year matters. You can find more information and the board’s meeting schedule online at cusd.com/BoardMeetingsAgendasArchives.aspx.