School will reflect rural area

Clovis Unified plans for K-6 campus on 16 acres at Armstrong, Dakota

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Development doesn't always mean the loss of agricultural land.

Clovis Unified School District plans to construct a school that pays homage to its location -- 16 acres of almond orchards on Armstrong and Dakota avenues.

The school, to be completed in 2011, will include a silo, small orchard and windmill. The buildings will mimic the color and design of classic barns.

"We designed the school around an agricultural theme," said Scott Griffith, associate principal with HMC Architects, which drew plans for the 32nd Clovis Unified elementary school. "We're looking to pull something out of the history of the Clovis community and its surroundings."

Griffith presented the plans to Governing Board members in late March. They were submitted to the Division of the State Architect in April for approval.

The $14 million school, which is in the city of Fresno, will serve students from future housing developments slated for the area. Without a new school, students from the developments would crowd the schools in the district's southeast such as Freedom, Temperance-Kutner, Reagan and Miramonte elementaries, said Walt Byrd, assistant superintendent of facilities.

"But again, the boundaries have not been drawn," he said.

The date of completion isn't firm either because of the slowdown in the housing market. District officials are tentatively planning to finish the school within four years, but that time may shorten or lengthen depending on the rate of development in the community. A year ago, Clovis Unified planned to open the school in fall 2009.

"With the building slowdown, everything has come to a halt," Byrd said.

The newest elementary school will be more energy efficient than any other Clovis Unified campus. Each classroom wing will be built east/west to take advantage of north/south lighting. Classrooms will have so much natural light, classes can be held with the lights off.

"Unless it's a really cloudy day, we can run the classrooms without even turning the lights on," Byrd said.

The school may even create energy with solar panels and an energy-producing windmill.

"We could create so much energy, we could pay for one teacher's salary or two teachers' salaries," Griffith said.

The windmill fits in nicely with the agricultural-inspired design of the school. A "reading silo" will be adjacent to the school library and a small orchard of nonfruiting trees will be near the administration building.

E-mail Gabriel Alexander at galexander@clovisindependent.com