BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Buffalo Public School families are getting ready for a new school year, but students will be returning to new start and stop times as the district implements a "three-tier bell" system.
Classes will begin at 7:30 a.m. 8:20 a.m. or 9:10 a.m., depending on what school students attend. It was created to alleviate bus delays due to a bus driver shortage.
@Buffalo_Schools students head back to the classroom in three weeks but will be returning to new start & end times. But parents say they're upset because the district has not sent out notices. The district sent me these updated start & end times for all of its 62 schools. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/4EeGFknY0l
— Eileen Buckley (@eileenwkbw) August 17, 2023
But parents tell us they're still waiting for the district to notify them about the change.
“They’re leaving parents with no choice,” declared Le’Candice Durham, parent, Buffalo School District.
Buffalo School’s parent Le'Candice Durham has three children at the Dr. Lydia Wright School...but with just three weeks before the start of a new school year, she's waiting to hear from the district about time changes.
“I haven't received any bus letters as of yet. I’m still waiting, so I’m interested in seeing what time my children will be standing at the bus stop,” Durham explained.
The Buffalo School District tells me parents will get a letter from the schools on the new start times and a separate transportation letter that details bus pick-up and drop-off times.
The district sent me an updated list of all 62 city schools with the new times.
“You know the district has a bad habit of doing things at the last minute,” reflected Edward Speidel, president, District Parent Coordinating Council (DPCC).
Speidel says the district should have provided notice a month in advance to school families.
Buffalo School Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams tells me she realizes the time changes are tough for families, but notes there will be new benefits for students.
“This change in start and end times will greatly shorten the length of time that children are on buses, the number of children that are on school buses, it will increase the instructional hours that children have in the classroom,” Williams explained.
“Do you think you can guarantee to parents and families that there will be no delays at the bus stop when they start at school year?" Buckley asked. “Boy, that word guarantee is a little difficult to, you know, to confirm, but what I will say is that they will see an improvement, I’d like to guarantee, but if I guarantee, there may be that one person that you know, some happens in the bus is a little late, it will certainly be much better than what they experienced last year. It'll be better for the families, it will be better for the staff – we’re just asking everybody to be patient, but most of all, it's going to be better for the children,” responded Williams.
“It has to be the solution, or we'll be at the table with them demanding changes. They already said that they have extra drivers, so they should be prepared,” Speidel remarked.
Speidel is also a south park school parent.
At South Park High School students will also see a change in their start and stop times. They'll begin classes at 8:25 a.m. and end the day at 3:20 p.m. This new start and stop times are only a few minutes different from the past school year. At South Park the previous start of school was 8:20 a.m. and ended at 3:31 p.m.
“Right now it is an inconvenience and with families not even knowing what time their children attend school, we’re already creating chaos, so we need to hurry up and get those Robo calls out,” Durham remarked.
School day times are also adjusted for Buffalo School teachers. The new bell starts and end times were approved a few months ago by the Buffalo Teachers Federation in their new contract, but some teachers were dealing with resetting their family schedules due to the changes.
“We've tried hard to work with teachers where it may have created a hardship. We've tried to work really hard wherever we could to adjust and modify where the teachers are assigned so that still they will be able to work in schools where the schedule aligns with what their family needs are,” described Williams.
The district says parents and school families can reach out directly to their schools for information.
The leader of the District Parent Coordinating Council highly recommends school families make sure their schools have corrected home addresses and phone numbers.
