BUFFALO, N.Y. — The West Seneca School District, one of the few in the area still conducting entirely remote learning, is announcing plans to begin hybrid learning.
But it won't be right away, and parents are not being given much time to decide how to proceed.
In a video message to parents, West Seneca's superintendent of schools said they are actually considering two different hybrid plans
One plan would involve full days, the other half-days for the elementary students.
The half-day option would appear to be unique among Western New York schools.
An accompanying letter describing the two hybrid models, and the potential pros and cons of each, was also sent to parents.
Superintendent Matthew Bystrak says the district wants parents to vote on which plan to go with, but has only given them until Thursday night to do so after just revealing those plans on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, other districts that started the year with remote learning are already phasing toward a partial return for students through hybrid learning.
Moving forward
In Kenmore-Tonawanda, kindergarteners and first graders, along with special education students, returned last week
The district has a target date of November 16 to bring back the second through fifth-graders. Grades 6 through 12 are targeted for a January return, although that may be moved up to an earlier date, according to a district spokesperson.
Maryvale, which wasn't going to start hybrid learning until after Thanksgiving, already sped things up by bringing special education students back earlier this week, with a planned return for Pre-K-5 on November 2, and middle school and high schoolers set to come back November 16.
Buffalo Public schools have yet to establish a date for a hybrid return.
Parent dissatisfied
In West Seneca, whichever plan parents vote for, most elementary school students still wouldn't return return until early December, and high schoolers wouldn't come back until January.
"Orchard Park is open, Lancaster is open .. everyone else is opening in some way shape or form. And they border West Seneca. What are they waiting for?" asked Chris Yax, the parent of a fourth-grade student.
Yax is part of a group of parents that plan to stage a protest next week outside school district headquarters, and who he says are fed up with what they term as a lack of transparency from school officials, who they believe have failed to secure enough parental input.
"I don't think the parents have been involved in the process at all," said Yax, who describes the plans unveiled as confusing.
He also notes that a district-wide survey in later summer revealed that 70% of parents wanted their children in school and that the district then adopted a fully remote model to start the school year anyway.
"But I guess the superintendent must be a whole lot smarter than us," Yax said sarcastically.
Superintendent Bystrak did not return a message left with his office seeking comment.
What kind of learning is this?
In the meantime, Yax's 9-year-old son continues to spend six to eight hours per day, in front of a screen, getting an education that is unquestionably substandard compared to what he received a year ago.
"What happened to all the concern about the amount of time our children were spending in front of screens and how unhealthy that is? And now the answer (from school officials) is to have them sit in front of screens more than ever before. At the end of the day, all I want is for my son to go back to school," Yax said.
