BUFFALO, N.Y. — As a new school year starts for Williamsville Central School District, Superintendent Dr. Darren-Brown Hall is setting out to tackle a familiar problem.
"Unfortunately, there is online bullying that takes place," Dr. Brown-Hall said outside of Williamsville South High School on Tuesday morning.
In his back to school message to students, the third-year superintendent geared his comments to fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders.
"They are the more senior students in all of their buildings, and we know that the younger students look at them," he said. "We want them to model the proper behavior for all students in the school building, and be the perfect example. The upstander, so our younger students can see, when I become a 4th grader, an 8th grader, a 12th grader, that's what will be expected of me," he said.
Williamsville is also introducing a much larger class of new teachers than normal. The district negotiated a retirement incentive with the Williamsville Teachers Association last year, which sixty teachers accepted.
"We really, truly hate to see all our experienced, senior teachers leave the profession, many of them will be coming back as substitute teachers, but we're able to welcome over sixty new teachers to our school district," Dr. Brown-Hall said.
The district also has a handful of new assistant principals, including at South High School, Mill Middle, and Heim Middle.
"We're just really excited to get some fresh ideas in the classrooms," Dr. Darren-Brown Hall said. "Our more experienced teachers have fresh ideas every year and we have a host of professional learning opportunities, so our teachers stay fresh, and we're really excited about that."
Another change coming to Williamsville Schools this year involves new security procedures at every building in the district.
"Anyone entering our buildings, they have to wait in the vestibule before allowed into the school building. If parents have to leave something, a lunch, a musical instrument, you do it in the vestibule. So you don't need to have access to the entire school building," Dr. Brown-Hall said.
Later in the fall semester, the district will introduce new software called Raptor Technology to screen all visitors against various law enforcement databases. Anyone entering a school building will have to show government-issued I.D.
"Parents want, teachers want, students want to feel safe in our schools, so we make sure that all of our security enhancements were going to be put in place, and that's feedback from our parents, our community members, and our families," Dr. Brown-Hall said.
"We want everyone to feel safe, because ultimately, students, if they don't feel safe, they're not learning," said Dr. Brown-Hall.