A group of parent leaders in the Buffalo Public Schools seeks to mobilize at least 500 parents to apply to have their children transferred from failing schools to schools in good standing within the district.
Under the law, it is their right to make that request, said Samuel A. Radford III, president of the District Parent Coordinating Council.
During a meeting of the council’s executive committee Tuesday, Radford and other members sought to map out a strategy to inform parents in the district of their options.
To that end, council representatives plan to raise the subject at a school district meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. today in Waterfront Elementary School and next Wednesday to host a joint informational meeting with the City Council’s subcommittee on Education in Council Chambers at City Hall
“We want to make sure that parents have that information, because on [Sept. 6], we want to collectively go down to [the district’s Central Registration office on] Ash Street,” Radford said.
Radford said he was informed by district officials that, since the Public School Choice program was enacted about a decade ago, no more than 300 students in any given year have sought transfer from failing schools. Furthermore, he said, a polling of District Parent Coordinating Council members indicated that few parents in the district were even aware of the program.
Parents have been alerted, but not comprehensively, even though robocalls were made to parents and the information has been posted on the district’s website, Radford said.
“So the information is generally out there, but it is not comprehensively out there,” he said, meaning that a letter has not been sent from the district “to every parent at every house.”
He contends that if more parents were aware and requested transfers for their children, the district would be hard-pressed to accommodate them.
Of the 57 schools in the district, only 13 are rated as being in good standing, and six of those are off-limits to students who don’t meet the academic qualifications for admittance.
Radford said many parents who in the past tried to have their children transferred were informed there were no spaces available to accommodate them in their school of choice.
“Who in their right mind would send their child to a failing school when you could send your child to a school in good standing?” Radford said.
“Our goal is to get at least 500 parents to transfer, triggering the district to create capacity so that kids can actually transfer,” he added.
“Wherever we find schools in good standing – be they private, public, charter suburban, whatever – that’s where we should be educating children. We shouldn’t be leaving children in failing schools under any circumstances.”
As elected parent representatives, Radford said, his group has an obligation to ensure that parents are informed of their options.
“We’re not trying to break the system. We’re trying to improve the system. We’re trying to get the system to come to terms with the fact that we cannot keep irrationally saying that parents are satisfied with their kids going to failing schools,” Radford said.
“Don’t reduce us to people who are satisfied with failure.”
Parents of students in failing schools have until Sept. 9 to apply for a transfer for their children.

email: hmcneil@buffnews.com