Candidate's remarks on school renaming come under fire

Mar. 2—After commenting on the Niagara Falls City School District's plan to rename schools, Bruce Brundidge, a candidate for the Niagara Falls School Board, has come under fire by some residents.

Brundidge, announced his candidacy for the school board in February, with the school board's focus on renaming school buildings being the first issue he centered his campaign on.

In a letter to the editor that appeared in the Gazette on Feb. 25, Brundidge, a former guidance counselor with the district, said renaming schools shouldn't be a priority for the school board, whose time should be spent on working to get students back in the classroom. While the school district has students in both hybrid and virtual models of learning, Brundidge has continued saying the school renaming should be done at a later time.

During the school board's Feb. 25 meeting, several members of the community spoke out against his remarks, one of which was Gloria Dolson, who has been a supporter of school's being renamed.

"The renaming of schools, those with street names to proper names of African Americans representing persons who gave outstanding contributions, to not only the nation but to the city of Niagara Falls," Dolson said. "I don't have the names of the schools because most of us are familiar with the names. I do not have to tell you, children do learn, in spite of a street name. And this is because we have some of the greatest teachers and hard-working, brilliant students. Apparently, Mr. Brundidge is not aware of the Board of Education's, both members and Mr. Laurrie, hard work to reopen schools."

Dolson added any schools not reopening has to do with COVID-19 spreading, rather than a lack of focus by the Board of Education. Though there have been some school closures since the 2020-21 school year began, all schools have managed to reopen with students returning safely. She's been a fervent advocate for renaming the schools and hopes African American students in the district will look to the new names with pride.

Mayor Robert Restaino said he agrees with being able to rename the schools and feels they should be named for people who had an impact on the district.

Brundidge said he's been misinterpreted, since he would like to see the school renaming go forward, but at a later time. Getting kids back into the classroom five days a week is of the utmost importance, he feels, with students in the hybrid model going to school two days a week and three days done virtually. He said the need to get kids back in the classroom is dire to prevent the learning gap from widening any further.

"Kids need structure in learning," he said. "They cannot continue to learn at home in this remote process. African American kids need structure in the learning process. It's critical. Once again, I've had several phone calls on this also. And I'm more than happy to apologize to this group because I never intended for people to feel that way. The district can handle this, that, I'm sure they can handle several things at one time. But, these kids have been out of school for a year now. The learning gap is not good."

The Niagara Falls City School District is looking to form a committee to further probe school renaming, with community members having until March 15 to be considered to join the committee.

Joe Genco contributed to the reporting in this article.