Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - While most school districts across Western New York are already back in session from the summer break, more than 29,000 children are set to return to the classroom on Friday across the expansive Buffalo Public School District.
Just a day ahead of students and staff returning to schools across the City of Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown and officials from Buffalo Public Schools and the Buffalo Police Department addressed some measures being made to ensure a safer start to the school year.
"We have been able to partner with the Buffalo Public Schools on a number of different safety initiatives, and today we're here to talk about traffic safety, which is a very important issue," said Mayor Brown outside the William J. Gabriarz School along Military Road. "Urging motorists to slow down, particularly when they are driving in school zones to slow down when they see children and families in crosswalks, to stop at the crossbar to make sure that our children and families are safe going to and coming from school."
"When we start [Friday], we will have, starting at 6:30 in the morning, 456 buses picking up students at corners across the city," added Chief Operating Officer of Buffalo Public Schools, David Hills. "We want to make sure from the time they're on the corner to the time they arrive at school, everyone has an eye out for safety."
The city has done work to make sure crosswalk markings are clearly visible outside all of the schools in the City of Buffalo, allowing motorists to utilize caution, especially if children and their families are in the crosswalks.
Buffalo Police Cpt. Marcus Rogowski says traffic safety and keeping students safe truly is a team effort.
"We need cooperation from parents, teachers and drivers at large," said. Cpt. Rogowski on Thursday. "We've already noticed an uptick in the amount of cars and buses on the roads in these first few days of September, and it's important that we all plan ahead. Drivers need to allow themselves extra time. They need to plan for congestion and route accordingly. A stressed driver quickly becomes a distracted driver, and a distracted driver can have dire consequences. Drivers must obey the warning lights and stop signs on all school buses. Vehicles that illegally pass a school bus can lead to dire consequences, and result in fines and summonses being issued."
Cpt. Rogowski also reminds teachers and parents that now is the time to go over the safety basics of traffic and utilizing crosswalks.
"Reinforce crossing at signals, using crosswalks and waiting for the proper signal before entering a roadway. It's also very important that we stress to our young ones, it's imperative they do not enter traffic between parked cars, where visibility can be limited," he said. "If we work together, we can make this school year a very safe one."
Mayor Brown says as school opens on Friday and over the next week or two, there will be an increased presence of law enforcement to make sure motorists are driving safely in school zones, and to make sure students, staff and families are safe.
As an initiative to make motorists and residents aware of school zone safety in the coming days and weeks, the City of Buffalo is also placing green "Be Alert!" around schools across the city.
"[The signs are] to make sure motorists are reminded about the start of school, that they're looking out for our children and families that are going to school, that are in crosswalks, that are walking to school, to ensure the safety of our children going to-and-from school in the City of Buffalo," Mayor Brown said.
A curveball that could make travel around schools in the city a bit difficult to start the school year is the implementation of the new three-bell school system. School Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams told WBEN on Thursday she understands it will be the biggest change this year, but asks parents to be patient.
Mayor Brown says the city has been working very closely with Dr. Williams and the management of the Buffalo Public Schools to support the opening of schools in the City of Buffalo, and feels confident the district has a good plan in place.
"Things can always break down and go wrong. We certainly hope that will not happen, but the planning has been intense, the planning has been thorough. Certainly looking for the cooperation of parents and children to make sure things go smoothly," Mayor Brown said.
As for Hills, he echoes Dr. Williams' plea to parents, that patience is key to start the year.
"The startup of school always has a lot of moving parts, a lot can change over the summer, but we are fully prepared to start off school smoothly," he said. "I do want to stress that our drivers and our bus aides are out there all alone on their buses trying to resolve critical situations sometimes. We just want to make sure that all our citizens of the City of Buffalo thank our bus drivers, wave to them, and certainly don't violate traffic protocols to make sure we can support them as they do these first couple of weeks, picking up students safely."
Another safety aspect for the Buffalo Public School District heading into the 2023-24 school year is the preparedness of school security in place to keep students safe in the hallways and classrooms. Hills is confident the district has done all it needed to do to be ready to welcome students safely back to school.
"We have made dramatic enhancements to school security with our Security Chief, Chief [Barbara] Lark, who is an active presence in not only coordinating our increased complement of security guards, coordinating our weapons detection deployment, and also our new security and school radios across the district. She also is in frequent communication with our School Resource Officers and with the Buffalo Police Department," Hills said. "We are in a much better position to ensure that students are safe."
