The reopening of the Buffalo Public Schools would be delayed about a month to train teachers, familiarize parents with new school protocols and reassess the academic needs of students before a new year of instruction would begin in early October, under a plan being floated by Superintendent Kriner Cash.
But without that phased-in reopening to deal with the effects of the novel coronavirus, as well as additional dollars to help fund new health and safety requirements, Cash said it “does not feel like a wise decision” to reopen schools for in-person instruction.
“The way this disease is operating right now in this country and in this state and in this region, I feel like it’s been put on the schools, of all places, to now solve a problem that has been unsolvable to date,” Cash told The Buffalo News on Wednesday.
“This disease has not been contained and has not been anywhere near controlled – it is in control,” Cash said. “Yet somehow the schools should be the ones to figure this out? That’s why I’m not comfortable for being an experiment for that.”
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Like districts across the state, Buffalo is waiting for a decision from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is expected to announce later this week whether schools will reopen in-person.
Cash for the first time Wednesday spoke about reopening plans the district submitted last week to the state, which called for a four-phase reopening.
Districts across the state last week were required to post online their reopening plans. While each district’s plan varies, nearly all are looking to open the week after Labor Day using a hybrid model in which students attend school two days a week and receive remote instruction the other three days.
In Buffalo, students in every grade will attend school in person every other day, under its submitted plan. That means that one week, a student would attend in person on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The following week, that student would attend on Tuesday and Thursday.
Buffalo’s plan, though, stands out from all the others in Western New York with a phased-in approach. No other district plans to ask the state for approval to make such drastic changes.
Cash said he took a page from the reopening plans in Massachusetts, where his grandchildren attend school and where he still has a house on Martha’s Vineyard.
“One of the things I liked about the phased part was it seemed to me, as I studied plans across the nation, we weren’t putting enough into preparation and support of our staff,” Cash said. “You need time to do this. This is something we’ve never been through – ever. You can’t just open in one day.”
The plan also calls for teachers to welcome students and parents into the schools, at scheduled times, to help them get acclimated to new protocols and expectations. It also calls for some academic assessment of students to determine how much they may need to catch up after the summer break and a spring of remote learning, Cash said.
“Full-on instruction should be ready to go by the last week in September, beginning of October,” Cash said.
The district plans to ask the state for several waivers for the 2020-21 school year, including an exemption from having to provide the 180 days of instruction that are required by law.
Buffalo also plans to ask that its students be exempt from taking Regents exams and, for students in third through eighth grade, exempt from taking state math and English assessments, given the challenges anticipated this year.
The superintendent anticipates other districts will be making similar requests, but, “I just happened to be the first one to ask for it,” he said.
“I’m trying to delay to give everybody a fair chance to get ready to do what their professional obligation is,” Cash said. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable what I’m proposing.”
Cash also talked about other issues that need to be addressed in order for him to feel comfortable about reopening for in-person instruction. That includes:
- Free testing for every child and every staff member with a 48-hour turnaround time for test results.
- Clear, consistent guidance for what school districts are to do when a student, staffer or family member tests positive.
- More funding. The district estimated it would need nearly $100 million in additional aid to provide adequate personal protective equipment, extra technology for remote learning and more transportation so students can be socially distanced on school buses.
Earlier this week, representatives from two parent groups and the Buffalo Teachers Federation publicly criticized the district for the lack of input they had into the reopening plan.
“You have to first put something together,” Cash said Wednesday. “Let us take charge of it, because that’s what we do every day, and now you can beat it up and give us things that were omitted in your mind. There’s plenty of time now to do that.”
“Parents are still at the table,” Cash said. “We have 20 meetings planned from now until whenever the governor says to open."
