WBFO Education Desk

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed one of the country’s first statewide restrictions on the use of all biometric identifying technology in schools into law Tuesday.

An investigative report released earlier this year by the Gow School, a southern Erie County boarding school for students with dyslexia, found accusations of sexual abuse there in the 1990s, but no evidence of failure to act by the school’s administrators. Three lawsuits, however, allege the school failed to protect its students.

A new educational initiative of the Buffalo Jewish Federation is facilitating conversations between Jewish teenagers and their non-Jewish high school peers in an effort to promote understanding and fight anti-Semitism.

James Malatras says he is "on a good path of getting a lot of good things done," but he gives himself a grade of "Incomplete" as he approaches the end of his first semester as SUNY chancellor.

The State University of New York formed a new committee this fall in an effort to become more “student-centric.” WBFO’s Kyle Mackie spoke to Collin Lacki, one of the new student representatives from Western New York, who said he plans to fight for accessibility issues on SUNY campuses.

From Buffalo to Stony Brook and New Paltz to Plattsburgh, the State University of New York system has spent the last 10 days before Thanksgiving testing all students using any on-campus facilities this semester for COVID-19. WBFO’s Kyle Mackie reports on the all-hands-on-deck effort aimed at controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus this holiday season.

In the words of a Buffalo School Board member Wednesday evening, the board again kicked down the road the future of Kriner Cash as school superintendent, as the board spent more than 1 1/2 hours debating whether to talk about his contract.

It’s been a difficult school year for students, with many unable to attend classes in person or play sports due to COVID-19. Another experience many are missing out on is field trips. That’s why a new partnership is trying to help Buffalo and Niagara Falls students visit local educational, art and cultural centers virtually. 

The State University of New York is requiring every student to be tested for COVID-19 before they leave for Thanksgiving and tested again when they want to come back on campus for the spring semester. What happens when students are in class after Thanksgiving?

Some West Seneca students were closer to their classrooms Tuesday than they have been since buildings were closed for the COVID-19 lockdown. Parents and kids marched to protest an extended plan for getting classrooms re-opened.

Buffalo Public Schools have offered free grab-and-go meals ever since students began remote learning at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. Now, combining two of the biggest trends in the culinary industry, it’s offering locally sourced meals on a new food truck. 

In the last decade, Erie Community College has lost 46% of its enrollment and still hired people. Now faced with millions of dollars of deficit and holdback of millions of dollars by Albany because of COVID-19, ECC is making significant cuts in its staff, from senior management to probationary workers.

Families with kids in Buffalo schools will soon have an opportunity to place them in safe virtual learning environments, while solving potentially child care concerns created by the pandemic.

The long and winding road returning to the classroom in Williamsville is becoming clearer, although still long. On Wednesday, students met with Acting Superintendent John McKenna.