Clovis Unified making preparations for secondary students to return to in-person learning

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- Clovis Unified will welcome back thousands of secondary students to campus next week for the first time in nearly a year.

The district announced in-person learning will return for grades 7 through 12 after recently re-opening elementary schools.

"We're really trying to be responsive to the needs of our community and it's exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing those high school kids and jr. high kids on our campuses," said CUSD spokesperson Kelly Avants.

About 7,500 junior high and high school students will join about 14,000 elementary school students who have already been learning on campus.

Clovis Unified had initially planned to reopen 7th through 12th-grade campuses on January 5 before that date was pushed back.

The district will now open next week following lengthy discussions with both state and county health officials.

Administrators say extra precautions are in place to keep students and staff safe, including increased cleaning and COVID safety checks at the start of each day while students will be spaced out as much as possible.

"At our large high school campuses, we're looking at 500 to 600 students where we typically have 2,500 students on campus because we've spaced out desks and we've turned it into a hybrid schedule," said Avants.

The hybrid schedule will allow for most students to attend campus twice a week.

Freshman Autumn Acton will get her first taste of high school life when she reports to Clovis West next Tuesday following months of online learning.

"Honestly, I think it's going to be very nice to have teachers actually talking to us and actually socializing with us and allowing us to really talk to them and get a full understanding of what we're learning about," said Acton.

Families that prefer to continue with at-home online instruction can still do so -- while the district looks forward to returning to a campus life once again.

"I can't give enough credit to our teachers, to our support employees, our bus drivers, many of whom have been at work and working with kids since last year, it's an exciting day," said Avants.

Monday will be a "Zoom Day" for most with in-person instruction resuming Tuesday.