Buffalo schools superintendent seeks parental input on reopening schools

Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash says plans are still in process, and that input from parents, which is vital, is still being solicited.

Cash said that he seeks to give parents a choice of selecting in-person learning at a school building, remote learning via computer at home or a hybrid of the two.

Cash said the district is currently surveying parents on their preferences and concerns so that protocols can be finalized by Aug. 21.

He said principals have begun looking at their buildings to determine what needs to be done to safely reopen them.

"It is priority No. 1, and we're assured that these buildings will be cleaned daily and that areas that have frequent touch will be cleaned multiple times during the day," Cash said.

A survey of teachers in the district by the Buffalo Teachers Federation found teachers overwhelmingly opposed to the district’s reopening plan. According to the union, 85.5% of the 3,155 teachers surveyed do not think the plan provides for a safe reopening, either for students, their parents or school district staff.

Only 13.65% surveyed think it is a good start at developing a reopening plan, according to the teachers union.

The superintendent said he has been engaged with his team in working out specific protocols to ensure safety and efficiency when it comes to reopening school buildings as his been done already at City Hall, where the Board of Education facilities are located, and at other non-academic facilities.

They could serve as an example for how school buildings in the district should be reopened, Cash said.

"I'm impressed with how they have you come into the building and how you get your temperature checked," Cash added.

He said social distancing is rigorously practiced and wearing masks is a requirement.

" We can use that as a model for our schools, and continue to improve it even further, because that's where children and staff will be," Cash said, referring to the district's school buildings.

Cash noted that he has been in contact with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and First Student school bus company, both of which have assured him that their buses have been retrofitted to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, and that their drivers have been trained to socially distance children riding the buses.

"The children will be required to have masks on all the time on the buses," Cash said.

He said some school bus routes will need to be re-routed to make operations more efficient, such as taking into account the needs of different ZIP codes based on common concerns and issues.

"These are ideas that came from principals, staff..." and the bus team at the district's transportation center, Cash said.

Students are being engaged to provide feedback on a proposed reopening, as well, he added.

"The questions and the comments that the young people had were sophisticated," Wright said.

She said students expressed concerns about what their educational life will look like as they head back to school in September, what their online education will look like and who is going to be held accountable for students getting the best education possible, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the pandemic.

It will be the teachers' responsibility, Cash replied.

Chief of Staff Darren Brown-Hall said many adults were also in on the calls, the most recent of which was held Aug. 3.

The hybrid model refers to a plan in which parents have the option to have their children taught remotely from home sometimes and in-person at school other times. The teachers union in its survey referred to it as a two-day/three-day hybrid rotation plan.

According to the union, 71% of its members surveyed did not support the plan.

Brown-Hall said the district will be requiring parents to commit to only one model for the semester.

Meanwhile, Cash said there will also be a requirement that students' temperatures will be taken not only before they enter school buildings, but before they board school buses.