WEST SENECA, N.Y. — Lisa Walczak's son, Rocco, is in kindergarten at Winchester Elementary. Since the West Seneca Central School District started fully remote, he's learning online at home. But some days, he's not able to log on while he's at his grandparents and his parents are at work. 

Walzack is hopeful he'll be able to go to school in-person soon.  

What You Need To Know

  • West Seneca Schools unveiled options for a hybrid learning plan 

  • Elementary families voted on whether to return for two full days or two half days each week

  • The district will begin phasing students back into the classroom in November

"It's tough. You know, it is what it is and we're doing our best," she said. "Unfortunately missing a couple of live classes a week adds up, and he's falling behind."

West Seneca Superintendent Matthew Bystrak announced on Tuesday two options for elementary students to return to the classroom two days a week, broken up into two cohorts of students. One group would attend school Monday and Tuesday, while the other would be in the classroom on Thursday and Friday. Both would have some form of remote learning on the other three days.

There's also an option for families who want to stay fully virtual.

"There is a lot of work to be done here, but we can absolutely do it," he said.

In one hybrid plan, students would have two full school days in-person. That will likely cause some to have a change in teachers and less live interaction with their teachers on the days at home.

In the other plan, kids would go to school half-days twice a week, keep their same teacher, and have live online lessons of some kind on the other three days.

But that option has its drawbacks too.

"The one thing it dose pose as a challenge would be the daycare issue, the child care issue that is an issue right now, and it would be students having to leave half days," Bystrak said.

Elementary families were asked to vote for which plan they prefer by Thursday evening. Then the district will make decision on what the hybrid and remote plans would look like.

But for Lisa Walczak, it doesn't quite add up.

"The way they did it seems a little backwards that they didn't try to narrow down. Who wants to stay 100% virtual and who wants to move forward with hybrid before having parents vote on a hybrid model," she said. 

The elementary schools will phase in the hybrid model through November and December. The middle school and high schoolers will have to wait until January.

• November 9 – Select self-contained special education classrooms

• November 16 – Universal pre-kindergarten (Northwood & Allendale)

• November 30 – Students in kindergarten

• December 7 – Students in grades 1 & 2

• December 14 – Students in grades 3 - 6

• January 4 – Students in grades 7 – 12

Molly Dana is the parent of an eighth grader and a high school junior. She thinks West Seneca should've had a plan in place to make it happen sooner like most other surrounding districts.

"What they are missing is the human connection. That social capital," she said.

To Dana, the safety of students is important. She says she understands the guidelines for social distancing and capacity that the school district must follow.

However, she is among a group of parents planning a protest for next Tuesday from 5-6 p.m. at the district offices looking for more answers about the plans.

"We're all parents that have been really involved in the school district, she said. “We love our school district. We love our teachers. That's why we're fighting so hard to get our kids back into school."