BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN)......Kaela Hickey looked around the scene outside of the Renovation Church on Hertel Avenue and smiled.
Hickey, a student at Leonardo DiVinci High School, saw many of her classmates - and their parents - filter into the church hoping their presence may be enough to sway Buffalo Schools interim Superintendent Dr. Ebony Prophet-Bullock to change her mind about the fate of one of the district's top high schools.
"It shows a lot of passion," Hickey said.
At issue is a proposal by Prophet Bullock to bring the DiVinci high school from its obsolete home - School 8 on E. Utica Street - to the East Community High School that neighbors Martin Luther King Jr, Park.
The catch is DiVinci would share the building with the Research Laboratory High School, who would relocate from the Tri-Main Building - an iconic Main Street landmark in the heart of Buffalo's Central Park neighboorhood.
The merger is one of the centerpieces of Prophet-Bullock's proposal as she aims to reduce the district's operational costs by at least $20 million.
Other school closures - like Bi-Lingual School 33 - are proposed as are layng off 73 teachers.
"We are between a rock and a hard place," Prophet0Bullock admits.
School 8 lacks a gym and auditorium - among other items - and has been roundly criticized by anyone connected to DiVinci High School. A plan to move DiVinci to Buffalo State University's campus was scuttled by then-Superintendent Dr. Pascal Mubenga, citing costs that may have approached $60 million.
Prophet-Bullock said East Community would offer DiVinci students "the full high school experience."
""I want them to have a gym," Prophet-Bullock said. "I want them to have a place where they could hold a dance."
Merging Research Laboratory would enhance both programs, the interim superintendent said.
DiVinci students aren't convinced.
"We want a building to ourselves," said Maj Miraz, a junior "It bother us."
All of the proposals are expected to be further reviewed and, maybe, voted on by the nine-member Board of Education on Oct. 21 - although some board members are pushing to delay any vote until November, or later.
Meanwhile Prophet-Bullock said she wants more listening and outreach sessions.
"There are some tough choices to make and not everyone will be happy," Prophet-Bullock said.
School closings and mergers among the cuts being considered
School closings and mergers among the cuts being considered
