Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - After months of debate and back-and-forth discussions in an attempt to better address transportation issues with the Buffalo Public School District, the Buffalo School Board voted unanimously in approval of a three-bell system for the 2023-24 school year on Wednesday.
This new system will see start times of 7:30 a.m., 8:20 a.m. and 9:10 a.m. in elementary schools, while high schools will start at 7:40 a.m. and 8:25 a.m.
While the new system may take some time to get adjusted to for next school year, parent reps like Sam Radford from We The Parents feel it was the right decision for students across the district.
"I'm really happy that finally our children could get something they should have had already, and something that every other child in Western New York already has," said Radford following Wednesday's cote of approval. "The fact that now we can have after school programs for all children, children get picked up every day on time, they can have a full instructional day, they can have modified sports, they can go on field trips. Those are things every other child in Western New York already had, and now with a three-bell scheduled, the children of Buffalo Public Schools can have those things as well."
Ed Speidel, President of the District Parent Coordinating Council, is also in support of the three-bell system coming for Buffalo Public Schools, saying it is what's best for every student in the district.
"Being the only person who attended every Operation Sunrise committee meeting, we spent months debating, arguing, bringing in special people, different parts of government. This is the only conclusion we could come up with that would protect our children," said Speidel of the new system. "I'm for it, because I believe everybody gets equal education."
While the new school bell system next year may conflict with some parents with students of differing school age, Radford believes it is definitely a workable solution.
"Truthfully, if our commitment is to children, it was the only real option available," he said. "That's why through the Buffalo Education Equity Task Force and Urban-Think Tank, we worked so hard all year to make this happen, because there was no way, I feel, they we're gonna receive anything remotely close to equity if we did not go to the three-bell schedule."
"It's going to shorten the transportation time. The average time, I think [it was] said [Wednesday] is 46 minutes, it's gonna bring it down to under 30 minutes," added Speidel. "It's gonna get every kid an opportunity to play modified sports now, and field trips - our kids haven't been on field trips since before COVID."
When it comes to the differing bell systems between elementary schools and high schools for the district, Speidel explains decision was made because there's 40 buses or so that go to those schools for special education students, and the only way to make the overall transportation work was to move the times for the high schools.
Radford also points to the fact that some high school students could catch the NFTA Metro bus to school, allowing for them to get the necessary instruction needed every day and not miss after school programs and sports.
"They were not in the same situation as our elementary school students, so I think the priority should have been, and it was, to resolve the inequity that was going on with the elementary school children," Radford explained.
As part of the Operation Sunrise Transportation Task Force the school district put together, Radford and other members of the task force also looked at the data and research that showed high school times starting later actually is a benefit to high school students. The plan in the future will be to look into addressing the later start times for high schoolers, but in the meantime, the task force is committed to making sure the district is providing students all they need to get them the education they deserve.
Can this three-bell system set to be implemented next school year be a long-term solution for the Buffalo Public School District? While Radford thinks it can be a sustainable solution long-term, he doesn't know right now whether he'd support it being in place for the long-term.
"We, as a task force, is going to look at the question of, 'Should we be busing right now anyway?' The fact that we're busing 70% of our students across the city as a measure to desegregate schools where it doesn't serve that purpose anymore, I don't know that we're doing justice to parents by busing their kids all the way across town where they have limited access to the school, they have limited participation with the school," Radford said. "I think if we want to increase parent engagement, we want parents more involved with their children, we got to have them going to schools closer to their children. Now that we're talking about having pre-K kids, three- and four-year-olds going to school, I don't know that we want to put three- and four-year-old kids on the bus with seventh and eighth graders and bus them all the way across town.
"I think we've got to start having a discussion about should we be sending kids to schools closer to their home, as opposed to spending $60 million to bus kids, to think about whether that money can be better spent to ensure that our children can re-write and do math on grade level, and graduate college or be career ready."
"I'm hoping it's a short-term solution. Multiple years, but short-term," Speidel said in agreeance with Radford. "I'm hoping we can hire enough drivers to bring the time closer to 8 o'clock and 8:30 a.m. so people are happy."
Over the coming days leading up to June 1, the Buffalo School Board will be holding community meetings in every school 1 to explain the changes to parents and other members of the district. Speidel is also of the understanding each school will present its parents and members a 15-minute video of the changes, followed by conversations with the school principal.
While both Radford and Speidel does expect a question and answer period to be opened to the floor with regards to the three-bell system, there likely won't be any further impacts on the three-bell schedule.
"At this point, I just think it's the opportunity to get clarification, and for parents to understand that their kids will now have a full instructional day, they will have after school. It's very different than what 29,000 parents have been experiencing for the last two-and-a-half years," Radford said.
"We had the transportation crisis right from coming out of the pandemic, so we have not stabilized parents since before the pandemic. I think the meetings are really just to inform parents that we are getting back into a more normal process for kids going to school, and make sure parents can make those adjustments and make sure they have that information. I don't think it's going to have any impact any other kind of way."
In the end, Speidel believes there are some people who are still upset over this matter for really nothing.
"In the long run, it's going to be a minor hiccup in our life. None of us like change, but I think the parents will adapt, and the kids will have a better educational experience because of this," he said. "I will say, if it doesn't work, I'll be the first one they're looking for change, because my job as a parent rep is to support the children and what's best for children."
And although the new three-bell schedule should meet the needs of children who were falling farther behind others in the district, Radford says the conversation can't end there.
"The conversation has got to also talk about the fact that there were 3,000 kids that were in school whose parents brought them to school, or who walked to school, who were able to get after school for the last two-and-a-half years, we were able to get modified sports, were able to go on field trips, they were able to get a full instructional day. There's a group of 29,000 kids that have suffered a harm as a result of what has happened in last two-and-a-half years," Radford explained. "We've also got to be having a conversation about these two [group of] kids are not starting from equal places. So next year, when this group of kids come into the after school program, it's a group of kids that have been in there for the last two-and-a-half years that are much further along. We've got to assess what the impact of two-and-a-half years of not having the after school program, not having the modified sports, not having a full instructional day, not being able to go on field trips, or being on the bus for a full hour or up to 90 minutes and then having to come to school. There's a lot of impact, and we've got to talk about what we're going to do to assess that impact."
