Back to school is back to 2019, just with fewer buses and more security

At this time last year, school leaders were scrambling with late guidance from New York State on how to handle Covid-19 mandates.

Face masks were mandated, unvaccinated children and adults had to quarantine, parents filled out daily questionnaires and schools offered testing.

But last year’s confusion gave way to the relaxing of requirements, and as students and teachers start their third school year in the pandemic, things are heading toward normal.

“For the most part, think back to 2019. That’s the protocol that we’re following. I need parents’ help. We all need parents' help. If your child is sick with any symptoms of any illness, they should not be coming to school,” Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda Superintendent Sabatino Cimato told parents in a video message.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the easing of Covid-19 guidelines Aug. 22: No more quarantines or testing negative to come back to the classroom, as New York State followed guidance put out by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It’s simple,” said Niagara Falls Superintendent Mark Laurrie. “If you’re sick, you stay home. It’s so much more commonsensical.”

You’re still going to see masks, but for the most part, it's a personal choice. Those returning to school after having Covid-19 should wear a mask for five days. For a school experiencing an outbreak, “masks can be added as a prevention strategy,” according to guidance issued by the state health and education departments.

Not everything will be like it was in 2019. There is increased security and more counselors and social workers. But schools have had difficulty hiring everyone from teachers to bus drivers, and substitutes for every position are in short supply.

Most local districts have grappled with the nationwide shortage of bus drivers, but none more than Buffalo, which has 30,000 students who need to get to and from school. No one wants a repeat of last year, when some students were left waiting at bus stops for buses that never came.

New Superintendent Tonja M. Williams has told parents in the district to expect early pickups and late drop-offs, and that the First View phone application would be useful as a real-time guide for when a student's bus would arrive. A BPS stakeholder committee this summer explored other transportation options, but a program where parents would opt out of busing and be reimbursed for mileage to drive their kids to school was responded to favorably by less than 5% of parents surveyed. A small, pilot program for reimbursing parent drivers may be offered later this fall, Williams said.

Suburban school districts also are anticipating driver shortages, and some asked parents to drive their children to school. Many waited until the end of last week to send the bus routes and schedules to parents. Ken-Ton suggested parents check the student portal for updates, because there could be changes after the letters were sent.

Williamsville Superintendent Darren J. Brown-Hall said at the August School Board meeting the bus tracking app may not be available at various times because the district may have to combine some routes.

“We ask for your flexibility, especially during the first weeks of school, once we get all the bus routes figured out – very similar to last year,” Brown-Hall said.

Security

Schools have been increasing security in recent years, and most either have added or are adding double-doored locked entrances, where visitors must present identification before the door to the main part of the building is unlocked. But after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, administrators took another look at their schools’ vulnerabilities.

Niagara Falls, which encountered some troubling incidents last school year with students fighting, is doubling the number of safety officers at the high school to 16, and will be wiring all 340 doors to alarms and cameras that are activated if they are propped open. The district also is adding weapons detection systems to elementary schools.

“That was a hard decision, because it’s just so counterintuitive to what a school would be,” Laurrie said.

Every high school student in Buffalo Public Schools will be wanded upon entry, said Williams, who shed the interim Buffalo superintendent tag in July. Last year, one out of every four BPS high school students received the security check. The stabbing and shooting at McKinley High School in February has elevated security as a major district priority.

Williams said the district has hired 15 members to its security team, with another 25 to 30 in the hiring process, and has bumped its school resource officers from seven to 10. 

In the longer term, Williams is assembling a new School Safety Department recommended by partner Vista Security Group. She said the district has posted an executive-level job called Chief of Safety and Security, a position that will oversee the new department, report to superintendent and work closely with Buffalo Police Department and NFTA leaders.

At Sweet Home, new security systems were added at the high school and Willow Ridge Elementary as part of a capital project. All the glass at the entryways at all of the district’s buildings will have safety glazing as well.

Police need to be able to respond to school violence faster, as the type of violent situation in schools has changed, said Iroquois Superintendent Douglas Scofield.

“Years ago, you would have a longer time to respond to a situation,” he said. But now, “we need to respond in seconds and the only way to do that is to have an individual at each building.”

The district hired five full-time school resource officers, one for each school. All are retired from law enforcement from different agencies, and they will be armed. Longtime School Resource Officer Joseph DePlato will head the team.

The Town of Hamburg Police Department will send officers to the four elementary schools in the Frontier Central School District, as well as the middle and high schools, for students' arrival and departure each day. New Police Chief Peter Dienes instituted the daily mission partly for safety reasons, but also to build a rapport between his officers and teachers, faculty and students. The officers "won't just be parking in the lot," Dienes said, "but they will get out and interact."

The Niagara County Sheriff's Office added three new school resource officers who will be assigned to Wilson Central and Starpoint Central school districts and Niagara Charter School.  

Students are experiencing more stress and mental health issues, particularly in light of the pandemic. Scofield, Iroquois' superintendent, said the district wanted more staff to help address the social and emotional needs of students.

“By having one in each building, now we have another person to help with the social emotional concerns at each building,” Scofield said.

The cost of adding them is about $300,000 to $350,000, but the superintendent said it’s a good investment of local tax dollars.

Another thing students and staff will notice is an intentional focus on the mental and emotional wellness of students. One recent survey for Daybreak Health, a youth mental health program, found that 91% of parents are worried about their children’s mental health and 98% of educators plan to increase spending on mental health in this school year.

“I think in most districts, they’re going to first of all notice new staff. I think a lot of us hired new counselors, social workers, psychologists,” said Hamburg Superintendent Michael Cornell, who is president of the Erie-Niagara School Superintendents Association.

Hamburg remodeled its Family Support Center so it can serve three families at one time instead of one.

“We know that kids learn better and have much better school experience when they feel valued as a person, valued as a learner, where they see value in the curriculum and see long-term value in the learning that happens in school,” Cornell said.