BUFFALO, N.Y. — Friday is the first day of school for all Buffalo Public School students. As a warning, the school district and city leaders are reminding folks to be cautious while in school zones.
They're doing it with green signs saying "be alert" on street corners, warning motorists to watch for kids crossing the road. Along with the signs, they have repainted crosswalks, school zone signals, and big electronic signs placed sporadically around Buffalo.
"We feel confident that the Buffalo Public Schools have a good plan," Mayor Byron Brown said.
It's the city's way to prepare and slow drivers down in school zones, as all Buffalo Public Schools return to session. In all, 29,000 students are returning.
"But things can always break down and go wrong. We certainly hope that won't happen, but the planning has been intense. The planning has been thorough," Mayor Brown says.
Also on officials' minds is school security. The district is partnering with Buffalo Police and school resource officers to ensure students' safety.
"We have made dramatic enhancements with our school security with our Security Chief, Chief Lark, in not only coordinating our increase compliment of security guards, coordinating our weapons protection deployment, and also our new security and school radios across the district," said David Hill, the chief operating officer of Buffalo Public Schools.
In addition to Buffalo Police officers and school resource officers patrolling schools, Mayor Brown also says they'll be placing officers at some of these crosswalks, along with crossing guards.