BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – Buffalo Public Schools held its final of 16 reopening meetings on Monday but are still finalizing exactly how the school year will look for its 33,000 students across 60 schools.
The first day of instruction September 8. In the coming days, students will receive their class schedules. Each day will include both a live stream of classes with their teacher and classes that will require a student to work independently.
Anne Botticelli, the district’s Chief Academic Officer, said each individual school will send their kids a schedule.
“Students will always be asked to log into Schoology and then navigate to their appropriate course,” Botticelli said. “If I’m a third grade student, I would go to my third grade course. Within that, my teachers would have posted folders that would contain lessons, links, and things I need to access for the first day.”
There was no concrete date announced for the start of a hybrid model, nor any timeline for how long discussions would take place before a district decision is made.
How will grading work? Botticelli said their goal is to have a more traditional model, but teachers have been asked to be considerate that extra time may be needed. Though she said there are extreme examples that may also require guidance counselor intervention.
Most of the schools within the district have already begun parent meetings. School officials said the district will continue to hold general meetings as the year progresses to keep people updated on the progress.
School officials on Monday did not address the survey released by the teacher’s union that said 70 percent of teachers do not support the district’s reopening plan. An attorney for the district said the BTF was never going to be a solution-oriented partner with the district.