Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - The passionate pleas to fully reopen school districts across the region have grown from letters and press conferences on the sidewalks, to formal legal action being filed in the court system.
Four school districts are facing lawsuits to reopen their schools full time. Plaintiffs say they're also suing the state and county to have some progress made, but some wonder why districts are also being named defendants.
Tarja Parsinnen of WNY Students First is one of the supporters of a parent-led lawsuit against Clarence Central Schools.
"The school district is one very small part of it. We're suing the county, the state, Cuomo. and those are the people we are turning our attention to," says Parsinnen. She says attorneys advised to include everyone to avoid finger pointing at whoever was left off. "We've been very happy with what the district is doing, we feel like their hands are tied," explains Parsinnen.
Parsinnen says New York has yet to adopt the latest CDC guidelines.
"That is stunning and shocking, and to be honest, the county could have allowed school districts to open now, with masks and barriers, but the county hasn't allowed that either." She adds Clarence bought the barriers to be ready.
Parsinnen notes kids are in a mental health crisis with hybrid and remote learning.
Michael Cornell, president of the Erie Niagara Superintendents Association, says he disagrees with naming school districts as defendants in suits to reopen schools.
"It's symptomatic of a larger problem," says Cornell. "The larger problem is the silence from the New York State Department of Health. On February 26, Dr. Howard Zucker said he was going to update the state guidance related to schools. Here we are on April 1, and they still have not done what the state said they were going to do."
Cornell says things have changed since August. "The spread of COVID in schools is exceptionally rare. We know schools are safe. We have studies that tell us schools are safe at three feet, and six feet," notes Cornell, who again says he's waiting on updated state guidance.
Attorney Todd Aldinger is representing parents suing Williamsville and Orchard Park School Districts to reopen. Aldinger says schools' hands are not tied.
"The only directive that authorizes schools to not have in-person education was on September 4th, so that directive expired on October 4th,' explains Aldinger. "The guidance that was issued by the state was the offspring of that executive order which expired. From our perspective, there's no legal authority at all for schools to not be operating full time classes right now."
Aldinger says schools should be willing to open on their own. "Their unwillingness to do so and their attempts to say the guidance is still in effect, I think it's inaccurate, and I think they could open schools full time but have chosen not to," says Aldinger.
Aldinger says a hearing on the Williamsville matter is set for Tuesday afternoon.
