Crane Branch Library hosts concerned parents, district officials

Tonight (Thursday, March 19, 5-6pm) at the Crane Branch Library, 633 Elmwood Avenue, parents and other stakeholders are invited to attend a meeting to learn about plans to move third and fourth grade classes from their current location at Olmsted School 64 to the Olmsted at Kensington (OAK) school, which currently serves fifth through eighth grade students, and is located over four miles away. Future plans at OAK include extending enrollment all the way through grade 12.

Buffalo Public Schools officials are pressing for the move as a cost-cutting measure, to reduce the cost of Phase 5 reconstruction at Olmsted 64, located at Amherst and Lincoln Parkways. OAK is already set to receive Phase 4 reconstruction as part of the ongoing billion-dollar Joint Schools Construction Project.

As has been the case with the closings of other schools last year, the change would have been rolled out by the BPS without public input, were it not for the effort of school board member Catherine Nugent Panepinto, who arranged the hearing and also championed a change in school board policy that gives important stakeholders the opportunity to weigh in on big decisions that will affect their children.

The meeting officially starts at 5pm, but parents are encouraged to arrive as early as 4pm, since there will be a lot of ground to cover, and the library closes at 6pm.

—buck quigley