Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore believes coronavirus remains far too present in Erie County to even consider reopening Buffalo schools in the near future.

"If one person dies, do you want to be the one to explain your position to the family and loved ones of that person that died needlessly? I would think not,” he said.

Rumore expects students will continue learning from home for the rest of the school year and disagreed with the premise parents can't return to work unless kids are physically back in class.

"Teachers aren't babysitters," he said. "They're educators. They're working very hard right now to educate the kids and I think the most important thing is not the connection to businesses but what's best for the health of our kids, their families and the community."

The district appears to be preparing for the buildings to remain closed as well, sending out new instructional guidance for teachers, including grading procedures that convert numerical averages to a blanket final rating of outstanding, satisfactory or incomplete.

Rumore said he's still reviewing the document but questioned whether teachers were consulted.

"I'm going to be putting out to our teachers and saying, ‘What do you think about this,’" he said.

Districts are also considering enhanced summer school programs.

The union president said it's a possibility but if the district reopens buildings, he doesn't believe students should get on buses and his members should get to decide whether to work the extra time.

"I would think it would be wrong to mandate that teachers have to teach summer school because some of them have other jobs that they have to do," he said. "Some of them have families and children as well, but I'm pretty sure that many teachers would volunteer to do it."

Finally, the union is asking the district for written assurance the virtual classroom platforms it is using are compliant with students' privacy rights.

"So that somebody from the outside who has a malicious intent cannot pick this student’s picture up off the internet and do terrible things with it that everybody knows they can do," he said.