BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — As students started in-person classes for the first time in 18 months, Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash addressed parents who might have concerns.
“I feel you I understand exactly how you feel. We want parents to be confident, we say we want you to trust us, we want you to work with us so we can protect your child," said Cash.
One issue many parents faced today—long waits for buses. Buffalo Public Schools were short 150 bus drivers before school began, so they made changes to their bus routes. But with heavy rain today, they ran into problems staffing.
"We were 30 drivers that did not report today, it’s a rainy day, sometimes drivers don’t report on a bad weather day, we had the other 480 drivers drop their children and come back and get the students who were late," said Cash.
Dr. Cash says parents of those children were informed. Another delay happened when students got to school. Some students experienced long lines to enter the building because of the district’s new COVID-19 protocols.
"There’s five questions they have to answer, they have to take their temperature checked through a scanner, some schools have been efficient, but this is the first day, so we’re pressure testing that system," said Cash.
Once in class—the next focus for students is a mental wellness check.
For parents wondering what it would take for students to no longer wear masks, Cash says there are no plans to take them away.
“The virus would have to be gone, it would have to be solved for that to happen," said Cash.
He also mentioned wanting a statewide vaccine mandate for school faculty. At the end of the day—there will be a meeting to discuss what went right, what went wrong and how to fix things before the bell rings tomorrow.
