Clovis Municipal Schools to close 1 elementary school and combine others in 2024-2025
Caden Keenan, KAMR:
A recent plan approved by the Clovis Municipal School District Board on Tuesday will include closing one elementary school and consolidating and repurposing multiple other campuses during the 2024-2025 school year.
According to the 2024-2029 Facilities Master Plan and recommendations that were approved on Tuesday, Clovis Municipal Schools will aim to “right size” its district to maximize students and resources allotted to each campus according to their capacities.
The plan set recommendations for the district including:
- Repurposing and then retiring Cameo Elementary School during 2024-2025;
- Merging the elementary schools’ Dual Language Programs into one centralized at La Casita Elementary School during 2024-2025;
- Repurposing Lockwood Elementary School into a central Early Childhood Center for the district’s Pre-K program and re-zoning students to neighboring campuses in 2024-2025;
- Adding a Clovis High School Freshman Academy facility to Clovis High School in 2025;
- The current CHSFA site will be repurposed to house Student Support Services, iAcademy and ICAN in 2025, and Lincoln-Jackson will be decommissioned;
- Retiring the Cameo Elementary School building during 2025; and
- Liquidating and repurposing current assets, including:
Repurpose:
- Lincoln-Jackson
- Los Niños
Liquidate:
- Existing Student Support Building
- Raintree Complex
- Previous Parkview property
The plan further noted that staff will continue to be employed via internal transfers and priority placements for the 2024-2025 school year. Further, class sizes under the plan are intended to remain the same.
“Each site will have more students eating lunch in the cafeteria and playing on the playgrounds,” noted the plan, “but NOT more students in each individual classroom.”
Through the approved plan, the district noted that it expects $1.5 million in recurring savings in personnel and another $1.5 million in operational cost savings. The district also noted that the plan was a demonstration of “being fiscally responsible with the management of our facilities before asking our taxpayers to support bond issues for capital improvements.”
In addition, the district said that the plan will create opportunities for program expansion and improvement across all campuses and grade levels, including:
- CTE;
- Pre-K;
- Employee Daycare and Early Childhood Certification Center, student internships;
- ‘Magnet’ programs for the fine arts, sciences and project-based learning; and
- The ability to sustain critical personnel added using previous CARES/American Rescue Plan funding.
Further information on the 2024-2029 Facilities Master Plan, including the full plan proposal, can be found online here: PDF Facilities Master Plan
