BUFFALO, N.Y. — School representatives for the Buffalo Teachers Federation have now officially asked the Buffalo School District reconsider its plan to partially reopen schools for in-classroom instruction as of February 1.
They also authorized court action to stop the district from going ahead with it. The Board of Education voted unanimously to proceed with a phased reopening earlier this week.
School District officials told 2 On Your Side they have come up with the proper procedures to open their 60 school buildings safely. They would do so in stages starting with Pre-K through second grade, high school seniors, and highest need students first.
Barry Kirker, who heads up District School Plant Operations, says the school engineers, as they are known, have worked with custodial staff to handle the work like wiping down heavily touched surfaces three times a day. That would mean things like doors, elevator buttons, and railings.
Kirker says they also have sanitary wipes and hydrostatic sprayers for desktops and work areas.
District Chief Operating Officer Jim Weimer says they are confident that they can safely bring children back to the schools.
BTF Union President Phil Rumore does not share that confidence. He says surveys by union members who checked schools found some classrooms had not been sanitized.
Rumore repeated his contention that some school bathrooms do not have proper warm water for hand washing. He says the schools are not clean and therefore no safe from COVID infections.
Rumore discounts statements by health experts that schools have relatively low transmission rates by saying Buffalo schools have not been open, so there is no way to know if that applies to them.
He also says even if teachers get\ vaccinated, as they are now eligible to do, that would not prevent community spread by students who could take the virus home if they become infected. He says the entire community should be vaccinated, but experts also say that could take months.
2 On Your Side asked Rumore what he would say to many parents who want their children to go back to school.
"Well we want them back in school too," he said. "The teachers want them back in school just as much as the parents do. The teachers like the parents are under tremendous stress. They're working sometimes into the evenings trying to make contact with the kids.
"We want them back just as much but we want to make sure that when they do return that the schools are safe and they don't bring any of the virus home to those parents, grandparents etc."
So far there is no response from the school district spokesperson.