Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As the Buffalo Common Council's Education Committee meets on Wednesday, there are some curious on if the city wants to have more of a hand in what goes on in the Buffalo Public School District.
One city lawmaker says a drastic change would have to come from the state.
North District Councilman Joe Golombek says the city has no say in what happens inside Buffalo Public Schools, despite allocating more than $70 million.
"We can't dictate where that money would be spent. So in that regard, it's exceptionally frustrating for us, because we get the phone calls from residents when there are school issues and educational issues in the city of Buffalo yet we literally have no jurisdiction over the Buffalo schools, except for our bully pulpit," said Golombek in an interview with WBEN.
Golombek says it would take an act of Albany to make things change, as to the supervision of the district's operations.
However, Golombek notes he's not sure if that will come up on the agenda at Wednesday's meeting. He believes something else will be brought up, though.
"I think that there's going to be some talk about the violence at schools in the City of Buffalo, in particular McKinley and Riverside. You cannot teach when you have children who are frightened when you have teachers who are more concerned with safety," Golombek said.
According to Golombek, young families have been moving out of the city and to suburban schools.
"I have been told by these residents, 'I want my kids in a good school district. I don't have a guarantee that they're going to get into city honors, or one of the better Buffalo Public Schools. So we're going to gamble, and we're gonna go to Grand Island or Kenmore-Tonawanda.' That's a huge problem," Golombek said.
Buffalo school teacher Marc Bruno feels additional oversight would be positive.
"Are they going into schools? Are they meeting with the people who are actually the boots on the ground, the teachers?" asks Bruno in an interview with WBEN.
According to Bruno, that hasn't been happening with school leaders.
"They never meet with the staffs in buildings and ask these three simple but very important questions, what's working, what's not working? What can we do to help your specific school?," Bruno said.
Bruno thinks it's unlikely the Common Council would touch the district now.
"It's kind of a hot mess right now with violence," he said.
Bruno cites a fight this past Friday at East High School, which involved fights on the front lawn. He adds the district has a history of downplaying violence.
"They just did it at McKinley High School when a mother reached out and sent videos to the mayor and all the news agencies and the superintendent That mother said, 'Hey, not only do I have these videos, I have many, many more.' And there's, allegedly, an Instagram page and fight videos from McKinley. What was the Buffalo Public School response? 'This is an isolated incident.' So when I hear things like that, it really infuriates me," Bruno said.
The education committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET.
