Buffalo Schools' interim superintendent ready to 'move forward' as a district

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - After a summer of turmoil within the Buffalo Public School District, interim superintendent Dr. Ebony Prophet-Bullock had a consistent message for the opening day of classes on Thursday: "We're moving forward together".

"I have all of my friends from the community, I have local lawmakers, we have students. We're here because we are moving forward together," said Prophet-Bullock while visiting Harriet Ross Tubman School along Stanton Street in Buffalo's East Side neighborhood. "As you can see, School 31 is beautiful, this is the third stop. Our schools are ready, our teachers are ready, our leaders are ready. And you can see our students are ready. There is nothing that we cannot accomplish this school year when we all stand together and we work together."

From what Prophet-Bullock could gather this morning, the day couldn't have gotten off to a better start when getting kids on the bus and ready for the big first day of classes.

"Our buses are on time, so I want to give a big shout out and a big thank you to First Student and NFTA. We know that we had to wrestle with some tough choices around contracts and all of those kinds of things," Prophet-Bullock said. "What I want our community to know is that First Student and the NFTA, they showed up for us today. Our children are in schools, and I want to say thank you to our partners. Our children are in school today."

As adults and leaders of the district, Prophet-Bullock knows they have to be great role models for the students at all grade levels.

"We're also going to be listening, and we're going to learn a little bit more how to deal with adverse situations and build our resiliency. But my talking point on that subject remains the same: My wonderful Board, they have a job; they will do their job. Our job collectively is to make sure kids have the most pristine, wonderful, supportive, welcoming experience possible this school year," she said.

Principal of Public School 31, Daniel Zicari, is among the several leaders at Buffalo Public Schools happy to be back to work.

"This year is going to be great. We're celebrating our 100th anniversary with the building this year, so we have lots of events around that. Our students who came in this morning are super excited, a little nervous, a lot of nervous excited energy. And our teachers were here, ready to welcome them, and they're all doing a fantastic job already. So we're just looking forward to the year, doing great things," said Zicari on Thursday.

Among the Buffalo School Board members also on-hand Thursday to welcome students back to class this year were Adrianna Zulich, Roscoe Henderson and Stephon Wright.

"It's about the kids. That's what we're here for," said Henderson on Thursday.

"It's our first day of school for the '26-'27 school year, it's time to move forward," added Wright. "I'm here to support the superintendent and her endeavors. I'm here to support our students, our community, and just move forward. And I'm just here for the community, I'm here for to support you. And let's have a great school year, everyone."

Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan was pleased to see a number of excitement among students returning to school this morning. He believes the district has done a good job focusing on getting students ready for the opening bell for classes this year, and then focusing on dealing with the turmoil surrounding the district down the road with help from New York State.

"The state's come in and has put resources into the City of Buffalo, and is sort of being an outside eyes. Come in to not be wed to the same old, same old. To actually give suggestions about how to do things differently. So the short-term is being ready for the bell, and then the long-term is working with the people from State Ed, who the commissioner has sent into Buffalo, in anticipation of a formal receiver or a formal monitor being appointed in January after state legislative action," said Ryan on Thursday.