What's at stake:
Valley Crescent School remains in limbo with no set date for a decision on its expansion proposal, after neighbors raised concerns about traffic and noise tied to the school.
Monica Candal Rahim was thrilled last year when her two children were accepted into Valley Crescent School in Clovis.
As the only private Islamic school in the central San Joaquin Valley, enrollment at Valley Crescent is competitive and the waiting list is long.
Rahim and her family moved to Fresno the same day classes started last year, with part of their decision to relocate from Orange County driven by the availability of an Islamic school in the area.
Rahim, with children in first and fourth grade, has faced challenges because of the school’s limited space. The multipurpose room, where students typically pray, is also used for school events and is divided by a black tarp. For instance, one side was used for a school book fair, while the other served as an adult conference room.
The small school lacks dedicated computer and science labs, as well as an indoor cafeteria. Due to the lack of available rooms, staff meetings are often held in the kitchen outside regular hours.
“It’s like a big game of Tetris, trying to fit kids, events, and activities into the limited space of the school,” said Rahim. “Our current enrollment is also bursting at the seams.”
In December 2023, the school applied for a conditional use permit to expand into a 12,500 sq. ft. two-story classroom building, add dedicated science and computer labs, extend the school day by two hours, and increase enrollment from 167 to 414 students over the next seven years.
Physical expansions also include a relocation of a 4,200 sq. ft. basketball court on the 2.42-acre private school campus, which currently has a 5,205 sq. ft. classroom building, play areas, two modular buildings, and a 31-stall parking lot.
Shortly after filing, the school hired an acoustical consultant to measure sound levels and a traffic consultant to assess traffic impact, all in accordance with Clovis city planning guidelines.
Throughout the process, the school worked with the city’s planning and development department, which approved the CUP on Jan. 23. On Feb. 5, the school met with community members to gather feedback on the expansion. However, on Feb. 12, some neighbors filed an appeal with the department, citing concerns about traffic, noise levels, and privacy.
These concerns were raised again at the Clovis council meeting on March 17 during a public hearing on the project. The City Council voted 4-1 to table the discussion, with only Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua as the sole opponent of the delay. The decision was driven by community concerns over traffic, noise levels and the scale of the Valley Crescent School’s proposed expansion. Mouanoutoua argued that the school had complied with all the requirements in the code to apply for its permit.
Now, more than two weeks since the council punted the decision, the school’s students, parents and advocates remain in limbo, uncertain when the city might bring the issue back for discussion.
In an email statement to Fresnoland, Chad McCollum, Clovis’ economic development, housing, and communications director, said, “There is no scheduled date for this item to return to Clovis City Council for a vote.”
“The VCS expansion is important for the current student body, as well as for the growing Muslim community in the Fresno and Clovis area,” said Rahim. “If the city denies the school’s permit, it speaks to a larger issue about Clovis’ development. What message does this send to future organizations, businesses, or institutions? That growth is only allowed up to a certain point before they are forced to relocate?”
Sound, Traffic and development concerns
Dr. Mohammad Ashraf, Valley Crescent School board president, said that during the Feb. 5 community meeting, many neighbors expressed skepticism about the school’s commissioned sound and traffic studies, urging the school to conduct assessments at different locations and times.
“We understand that some of our neighbors are concerned about the impacts that our planned expansion could have on traffic, noise, and privacy, though the noise and traffic analyses do not show significant impacts,” said Ashraf. “We believe that the addition of a school building could actually mitigate some of the noise because we would have more space for students to have lunch and hold other events indoors.”
In response to community feedback, Valley Crescent School commissioned additional noise and traffic measurements at its own expense, but the findings remained unchanged. The acoustical consultant, MD Acoustics, found that even with the expansion the sound levels would remain within 55 decibels, consistent with the Clovis City sound ordinance.
At the city council meeting, some community members voiced concerns about the level of noise and the studies conducted.
Todd Valeri, a community member, read a statement on behalf of Reed Van Wagenen, a neighbor of the school whose appeal sent the project to the city council.
“It’s already intolerable, that’s the experience by neighbors,” Valeri said on behalf of Van Wagenen. “The traffic study overlooked the existing congestion and safety risk in a location and hours most affected. It failed to assess the impact on Nees and Sylmar intersections that’s a known bottleneck during school hours.”
At the meeting, Joel Demir, acoustical consultant for MD Acoustics, explained that the 55 decibels, measured near the basketball court behind a 7-foot wall, would be at the property line in a nearby yard, assuming all the kids play in one concentrated area.
When council members asked if Demir was sure the noise would not exceed 55 decibels, Demir confirmed the sound levels would stay the same, especially with the school’s new mitigation measures.
Ashraf said the school took several proactive steps to address community concerns even before the City Council meeting. Those measures included directing parents to use the traffic light at Peach Avenue for U-turns instead of making U-turns at Sylmar Avenue, discouraging parents from stopping or parking on Sylmar, and staggering recess and lunch times to reduce the number of students outside at once.
If the proposed expansion moves forward, Ashraf said the school plans to take additional steps to keep the noise down, including planting up to 80 trees to buffer noise and enhance privacy, frosting or glazing second-story windows to prevent visibility into neighboring properties while maintaining natural light, and installing a chain-link fence with vinyl slats around the basketball court to reduce sound.
The school also intends to use cloth nets and metal rims on the court to minimize noise, expand bus services with an extra drop-off and pick-up, and extend pick-up and drop-off windows by 15 minutes to alleviate traffic congestion.
Rahim said she believes that the expansion should be approved because Valley Crescent School conducted “the appropriate sound and traffic analysis consistent with the city’s standards.”
Rahim said that while development needs to be carefully planned, the situation reflects a “growing tension within the community as it continues to expand.” She questioned how growth can be managed responsibly and fairly while ensuring all perspectives are considered.
For Rahim, this also raises broader questions about the relationship between schools—both public and private—and residential areas in Clovis, as well as how organizations seeking to expand are accommodated.
At the meeting, Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck, who voted to delay the decision, expressed concerns about the expansion timeline, stating, “I think what’s going to happen is that we won’t be able to open this by fall.”
She emphasized the importance of allowing neighbors to discuss the project and how the city can accommodate the scale of expansion, including both the physical space and student population.
Ashbeck also highlighted the long-standing traffic problems along Ness Street, such as issues with left and right turns, which have persisted for the past 25 years.
“It’s not the school’s fault; it’s how the area has been developed,” she added. She suggested more time is needed to rethink the engineering along Ness in order to solve the traffic problems contributing to the community’s concerns.
“Love the school and passion,” Ashbeck said. “We have an obligation to protect the character of the residential neighborhood and the character of your school. We’re trying to make these go together.”
What happens next?
Ashraf said that the Muslim community in the Fresno area has been growing in recent years, with the city now home to at least half a dozen mosques and additional mosques in the surrounding suburbs.
“Having a strong Islamic school in the area ensures members of these congregations can provide their children with a good education that shares their values and where their children can develop a strong Muslim American identity,” said Ashraf.
School supporters who spoke with Fresnoland said they don’t believe the delay is tied to any anti-Muslim sentiment or discriminatory NIMBYism, despite growing incidents of Islamaphobia nationally and Clovis’ own spotty history of inclusion in schools.
“Our faith teaches us not to assume others’ intentions, so we take everyone at their word, understanding that concerns about noise and traffic can be subjective,” said Ashraf.
Ashraf said the school has met all city requirements in its application and expects the permit to be approved. Regardless of the outcome, the school plans to stay at its current location.
The goal, Ashraf said, is to begin construction as soon as the CUP is approved and a site plan review is completed with the city. The process, including construction, is expected to take 18-24 months, with the aim of opening the new building by the 2026-2027 school year.
“If expansion is approved, VCS will continue to keep community members apprised of the site plan review process with the city, as well as during construction,” said Ashraf. “We will strive to improve our communications with the neighbors—If there is something we reasonably can do to address their concerns, we will do our best to do so.”
