There are a lot of people connected with the Buffalo Public Schools system who have suggestions for Interim Superintendent Tonja Williams. They showed up at International Prep at Grover Cleveland Monday evening.
The superintendent has been touring city schools, inviting people for coffee and cookies and to ask questions about where they think the system should go. With concerns about safety in schools, on buses and in classes, some questions were not unexpected.
Some were less so, like concerns about not enough athletic fields for city students and requests for better mental health assistance coming out of the lockdowns of schools during the pandemic.
Lisa Thagard said if politicians can be safe, students should be also.
"When you go to City Hall, they have metal detectors. Let's protect our students," Thagard said. "With the incident that happened at McKinley, if we had metal detectors — not saying that the incident happened outside — but if the incident with a gun or knife would have been in school, it would have been prevented. And, then, having people applying for security guard."
The district is adding security guards and is adding aides on buses, although some speakers suggested there should be aides on all of the buses.
Teacher Samantha Stone said the district needs decisions on summer school, but a well-thought out plan.
"One of the concerns that came up was there's so much gang violence right now, that if you go to hubs, you're actually mixing the gangs together and bringing possibly more violence, rather than doing them in the separate schools," Stone said. "So just keep that in mind when you guys are thinking about summer school, because we've thought about it already."
Summer school is being looked at as a key element in helping students recover academically from the lockdown.
One speaker said another problem is the computers issued to students can only be repaired at South Park High School and that isn't easily accessible for families without cars, so maybe an additional site would help.
Another concern was finally bargaining a contract with the Buffalo Teacher Federation after three years of talks. The argument was that teacher hiring would improve with better pay and better benefits.
For one speaker, the superintendent's presence was symbolic. Abdirahman Farah said more engagement is needed.
"Community engagement and that's what we need more of. That's a challenge," Farah said. "You know, sometimes you gotta come outside and take a walk and talk to the community members who are really taking a lead on the issues. So thank you. This is openness. This is a great start."
