Clovis Unified mourns hit-and-run death of administrator as police search for driver

The Clovis Unified community is mourning the death of Fort Washington Elementary School administrator Gavin Gladding, who died in a hit-and-run incident early Sunday morning.

Gladding was running along Friant Road around 6 a.m. Sunday when he was struck by a pickup truck. The driver fled the scene, and Gladding was pronounced dead at Community Regional Medical Center.

On Monday morning, posters, flowers and balloons lined the fence of his home campus in his memory. More flowers and cards were gathered outside of the school office.

Nidia Payan, the mother of a second-grader at Fort Washington, said she she broke the news to her daughter Sunday night.

“I asked her, ‘Do you remember Mr. Gladding?’ And she said, ‘Yes, of course,’ and I just told her he wouldn’t be with us anymore.” Payan said. “She was definitely crying.”

Payan said she remembers Gladding as a welcoming face at the school, who always greeted kids as they were dropped off in the mornings and enthusiastically participated in spirit days. She said her daughter had written a letter to Gladding’s family that was among the many cards and drawings left outside of the school office’s doors.

District spokeswoman Kelly Avants said the school has staff going classroom to classroom to speak to students, with school psychologists also available for individual sessions.

Former students of Gladding’s have taken to social media to share their memories of the longtime Clovis Unified employee, who worked as a science teacher at Alta Sierra Intermediate and Clovis West High School before joining Fort Washington as a guidance instructional specialist in 2015.

Former Fresno State student body president Blake Zante was a student of Gladding’s at Clovis West. He said Gladding had written him a letter of recommendation for his college applications, and “never hesitated to offer a helping hand.”

“He was an amazing educator and always aimed to inspire his students to make a positive difference in the world. His passion for education and helping others extended well beyond the classroom,” Zante wrote in a Facebook post. “Prayers for the Clovis West family and for Mr. Gladding’s family.”