WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. (WKBW) — Parents, teachers, and board members raised questions and voiced concerns in a more than four hours long special school board meeting Friday night.
One of the biggest changes announced is for elementary school students. Hybrid students will not have online instruction on the days they're home. This is a return to the district's initial hybrid plan.
That plan was changed a few days ago to have students live stream classes the days they're home, meaning they'd watch the teacher teach the in class students. The groups would then swap on their respective days.
That is still the plan for grades 5-12. Teachers will have a laptop with a camera and microphone in their classroom. Several teachers opposed that plan during the meeting, saying it would be ineffective to teach both groups at once.
Additionally, the date changed for parents who want to select a full online model. The new date is August 26th.
A few people protested outside before the meeting began.
Gathering of parents outside @WCSD_K12 ahead of tonight’s special school board meeting. The parent holding this sign wants a postponed start to the school year. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/zfbPX2eVwz
— Gilat Melamed (@gilat_melamed) August 21, 2020
Parent Jim Sikorski, seen above, wants a delay of the school year until a plan is ironed out. He said the responsibility falls on Superintendent Scott Martzloff.
“Anybody would agree that if you elected somebody to keep your kids safe, and to have policies made where something that you could rest your back on, our superintendent is currently not that man," Sikorksi said.
In response to a board member's concerns raised during the meeting, Martzloff said the plan continues to change to try and meet people's needs in the best way possible. He added that it's unfortunate people found out information late, but that it wasn't done out of harm, and was instead done to move the plan forward.
