BUFFALO, N.Y. — After much debate among parents and the city’s school system, as well as vigilant tracking of the COVID-19 pandemic in Western New York, Buffalo schools will finally return to in-person learning on Monday.

Some believe this will make for better learning outcomes for students.

What You Need To Know

  • In-person learning resumes for Buffalo Public Schools Monday

  • Superintendent Kriner Cash released a letter containing guidelines and suggestions for students to safely reintegrate into schools

  • Some parents feel that important aspects, such as a remote learning option, were not addressed in Cash's letter

  • Wendy Mistretta, District Parent Coordinating Council president, shared questions and concerns that parents raised ahead of the school year

“We learned very clearly last year that it is not healthy for our kids to not have access to their teachers and to their school buildings,” Wendy Mistretta, Ph.D, District Parent Coordinating Council president, said. “There were a bunch of other health issues besides COVID that we were facing by having our kids outside of the room, and then COVID was added to it.”

Superintendent Kriner Cash released a set of guidelines and suggestions, many of them reminiscent of what students have had to adhere to for the past 22 months. No mask breaks, social distancing, and frequent hand washing are among the requirements for safe reintegration. Cash also suggested that children and guardians eligible for vaccines and boosters should get them, and that parents take advantage of the district's free, in-school randomized COVID-19 testing. Even with the superintendent’s precautions, some parents are still advocating for remote learning, as concerns loom about the omicron variant spreads more easily, which Cash noted in his letter.

“We should have a remote option for those families who do not feel like it’s safe for their kids to be in school and who feel like their kids could still do well with the remote option, because there were some who did,” Mistretta said. “That is the biggest challenge that was not addressed in this letter.”

She also said Cash's letter has produced more questions than answers for parents, including questions about how often families will be required to utilize the home COVID-19 rapid antigen tests that Western New York schools began distributing as early as Sunday morning, as well as the distribution of the 500,000 KN95 masks the district has received. There are also questions regarding the criteria for emergency closures related to COVID-19 cases.

“[Cash] mentioned that they were going to close based on data, and that’s another one; we want to know, what are the metrics?" Mistretta said. "What’s the data? If half the kids in the class are quarantined, does the class close? If a quarter of the school building has it, does the school close? I know there are staffing issues, so if a teacher’s out, what happens?”

Spectrum News 1 reached out to the Office of the Superintendent regarding the guidelines and is awaiting a response.

Kriner Cash New Year Message by Adam Penale on Scribd