BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Less than a week before the start of the new school year and Buffalo Public Schools are dealing with some big challenges.
Buffalo School Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash warned two weeks ago that there is a shortage of 150 bus drivers in the district. "That means the normal 667 bus routes are being reduced to about 510 routes," said Cash.
Buffalo School Board member Larry Scott told us the district is working around that, by having some drivers double-up on runs. "We are confident that arrival to school will go relatively smoothly. But there will probably be a few bumps getting kids home in the afternoon. Kids may be getting home later than expected." He said parents should expect a little inconvenience, especially to start the year,
Most students in the district rely on bus transportation. In addition, Buffalo Public Schools provide transportation for all private, Catholic and charter schools.
Buffalo is beginning the year without its after-school programs. Scott said they want to work out the transportation challenges before they can introduce that program.
The Buffalo School Board learned Wednesday night that 7-thousand laptops and iPads were not returned by students at the end of the last school year. "We're urging parents to return these devices to the IT center on South Park Avenue so they can be sanitized, be re-imaged and distributed to students," said Scott. "The old devices have to go through a process. It's not like they get handed in, and then handed back out."
Also, 14-thousand new devices are on back-order and may not arrive until October. The district faced a similar delay last year in waiting for new devices.
"We're hopeful that by October we'll have the old devices returned, along with the new devices." Speaking as a parent, Scott said kids have spent plenty of time on devices. "Anytime they're not with a device this year, in my opinion, is not anything that I'm very concerned about. They need that in-person interaction and a little delay with a device is not a huge issue."
The first day of school for Buffalo students is Wednesday, September 8, 2021.
