Clovis Unified to Alert Parents Within 15 Minutes During Emergencies

Kelly Avants, Clovis Unified School District's chief communications officer, announced that the district is cutting its emergency parent notification window from 30 minutes to 15 for incidents including lockdowns, evacuations, and power outages, halving a standard it had maintained for potential shelter-in-place events.

Avants said the previous 30-minute window gave campus staff time to secure buildings and gather situational details before contacting families. The accelerated timeline carries a trade-off: the first alert will be faster but thinner on specifics. "What we will not be able to do at that point in time is give them a full and complete accounting of everything that's happened on that campus," Avants said. More detailed follow-up information will come after that initial contact.

Speed, Avants explained, is its own form of safety. Part of the rationale for the tighter window is to reach parents with verified facts before social media and word-of-mouth fill the gap with rumors. "You'll get factual information through our school system, and we're going to work as best as possible to get you timely communication as well," she said.

The notification change runs alongside a broader set of security upgrades the district said it has implemented or is rolling out: one-touch locking door systems, district-wide testing of emergency PA systems, updated security cameras, and ongoing training for Clovis Unified officers.

For the 15-minute alert to actually reach a family, parents need to take two specific steps. First, confirm that the school has current contact information on file. Second, check ParentSquare notification settings. Clovis Unified uses ParentSquare as its primary alert platform; parents who previously turned off all notifications from the app will not receive critical alerts, the district warned, even if their contact details are otherwise current.

The most counterintuitive piece of Avants' guidance was her warning about parental instinct: during a lockdown or active safety event, do not drive to the school. "During a safety event, it can be very natural for a parent to say, 'I am going to that school. I am getting on campus. I'm finding my kid.' And what they need to realize is that in that moment, they become the threat to that school," Avants explained. An unannounced adult approaching a campus mid-crisis can redirect security resources, confuse a response, and in worst-case scenarios, be mistaken for a threat by responding officers.

The district's position is that a faster, factual first alert, paired with parents who stay put and wait for follow-up information, keeps students safer than a parking lot full of anxious arrivals.