Fresno students get early release on Tuesdays — and big goals for better test scores

Fresno Unified rolled out new plans for the upcoming school year — which starts next week — including plans to beef up student test schools by at least 30 points on the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC) in two years.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, FUSD Interim Superintendent Misty Her also said all of the district’s about 70,000 students would be released from school early each Tuesday of regular five-day school weeks.

Her shared other details of Fresno Unified’s 100-day plan, which she said has two fundamental goals: “one around positive outcomes… and the second an operational excellence goal, focusing in on customer service.”

“At the heart of the student outcome goal is our students achieving double-digit gains,” said Her. Fresno Unified will reach this by moving 15 points closer to proficiency on the SBAC annually for the next two years, according to Her. Her said that as the months go by, she will go more into how the school district will do this “by student, by need, with specific strategies on how we’re going to do this.” 

In a new move this school year, students will have an early release every Tuesday of regular five-day school weeks.

“When we looked at the calendar, Tuesdays were the most consistent [days],” Her said, referencing how many weekend holidays are given Mondays off, and many schools have events and activities on Fridays. The goal of early release is to provide teachers the opportunity to collaborate and to use the time to speak to parents when necessary.

Her said students would naturally make up the time lost on Tuesday during the remainder of the school week. There will be after-school care beginning immediately after school every day, including Tuesdays, which lasts until 6 p.m., starting Aug. 20.

She also highlighted the district’s online and mobile outlets for students and parents. Her said that school breakfast and lunch menus will be available on the Nutrislice app. Parents will also be able to voice “questions, concerns, [or] compliments” to the district via the new “Let’s Talk” platform found on Fresno Unified School District’s “new and improved” website.

Multilingual options to contact the district are also available. “Families who speak any language other than English can call our Family Connect line at 559-457-3988.” The line connects families with interpreters and is open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fresno Unified also has a “new and improved” website.

“Not only does every day count, every single minute counts as well,” said Her, as she reminded parents and family to make sure that their children are at school on time starting on Monday, Aug. 19.

“This year, every single one of our [elementary] schools has at least one full-time campus safety assistant solely focused on campus safety,” said Her. High schools have more campus safety assistants, and Fresno Unified is collaborating with the Fresno Police Department to have student resource officers on campus “to keep our students safe and build connections with our students.”

Her thanked her team for the intense work that they put in over the summer on Fresno Unified’s 100-day plan– a time many would expect to be more laid back. She did, though, point out that the district still has work to do. “With continued bond funding, we’ll be able to expand those safety measures and more. Our district still has more than $2.5 billion in facility needs,” said Her. 

Her was appointed interim superintendent of Fresno Unified School District, California’s third-largest school district, in May of this year. Her’s appointment followed controversy both in the community and on the Board of Trustees for Fresno Unified School District, as the board voted in April to look outside of the district for candidates — a change of course from the original plan to search for candidates internally. Her is the first woman ever to lead the district, and the highest-ranking Hmong public school official in the nation.