Buffalo Public Schools

At Wednesday's Buffalo School Board meeting, the long struggle over getting more minority and women-owned businesses among the vendors to the district system turned into a discussion about using student labor.

Buffalo's substitute teachers cannot come to an agreement over a pay increase with the school district. Now the union president is starting to talk about - some day - not showing up for class.

A major uproar in a Buffalo school spilled in front of the public Wednesday night, when a delegation of teachers appeared before the School Board to protest the management of their principal.

Buffalo Public Schools administrators are telling the School Board they want to turn School 66 in North Buffalo into a community school, starting in the fall of 2018.

Buffalo Public Schools are buying more and more computers for students, as the district works on a $56 million technology plan to get one laptop or tablet to every student and install WiFi antennas on the growing network of community schools to serve the surrounding communities.

Buffalo Public Schools are running out of time to define a future for BUILD Academy, whose weak academic performance is impairing its prospects.

Buffalo Public Schools are grappling with an attendance problem. Every student misses an average of 11 days of class last year and the district is trying to find out why and what can be done about it.

Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash told the School Board Wednesday night that BUILD Academy is not the worst school in the state, no matter what test scores show. However, the school is in rough shape and its future is uncertain.

The Buffalo Public School system is constantly negotiating union contracts with some organization, with the recent contract with the Buffalo Teachers Federation establishing a framework. Wednesday night, the School Board heard protests from the substitutes union and a separate dispute over the parent facilitators, a relatively new position in the school system.

As Buffalo Public Schools near the start of the long process for admission to the city's criteria school next year, the district is asking city residents to come up with ideas for improving racial and ethnic diversity in the schools.

Buffalo Public Schools are rushing to look at internal data - data on issues like attendance - to see if it is accurate.

The finances of Buffalo Public Schools wound up last fiscal year $18 million better than expected, although still a deficit.

Parent Facilitators, who recently learned they're out of a job with the Buffalo Public Schools, are calling for the program's restoration. Advocates say the facilitators played an important role in city schools.

Buffalo Public Schools are chipping away at the vast costs of health insurance for current employees and retirees, saving millions of dollars.

Two-thirds of students in Buffalo Public Schools have problems showing up to class every day. That is according to data released at a Buffalo School Board committee meeting Wednesday.

School bells were ringing Tuesday morning for thousands of Western New York children who started a new school year. In Buffalo, public school officials led invited guests on a tour of a handful of schools, hoping to show them how the dollars secured from their respective governments are impacting the students.

The Buffalo Teachers Federation and city school district are in a dispute over start times at three schools. WBFO's senior reporter Eileen Buckley says the teachers union has filed a lawsuit against the district and Schools Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash.

Local education leaders plan to meet Tuesday night with parents from Buffalo's persistently low achieving schools. The city's District Parent Coordinating Council is continuing its effort to help turnaround failing schools.

"What we want to do as parents is be proactive and make sure we are understand everything that is going on, said Sam Radford is vice president of the parent council.