Fresno parent jumps over high school fence, raising safety concerns

Fresno High School teachers, through an online petition, are demanding a long-awaited replacement fence to keep its 2,100-plus-student school safe and secure. On May 30, a parent jumped the fence surrounding the high school, which led to the Change.org petition, The Fresno Bee reported. 

The late May incident was the most recent example of people climbing the fence and coming on the campus, the petition for a “climb-resistant fence” said. And it’s the latest incident that has caused teachers to question Fresno Unified District’s priority on safety and their approach to handling safety concerns — issues impacting other districts in California and nationwide. 

In response to the matter, a district spokesperson told The Bee that the fence is the same height as most fences at other campuses. 

“This one-size-fits-all approach” has “clearly failed,” Peter Beck, a teacher at Fresno High who has been with Fresno Unified for 25 years, told The Bee. 

“It just always seems to be that safety is not a priority until something happens,” Beck said. “This district is more reactive than proactive at times, and to me, that doesn’t sit well.”