As students arrived at Harriet Ross Tubman Public School 31 Thursday morning, Buffalo Public Schools interim superintendent Dr. Ebony Prophet-Bullock shared some good news before visiting some of the classrooms.
“Our earlier reports tell us that our buses are on time” she declared. “I want to give a big shout out and a big thank you to First Student and NFTA. We know that we had to wrestle with some tough choices around contracts and all of those kinds of things. What I want our community to know is that First Student and the NFTA, they showed up for us today. Our children are in schools.”
Day One of the Buffalo Public Schools academic year was off to a smooth start, after a turbulent summer. Prophet-Bullock’s predecessor had abruptly resigned amid a sexual harassment claim, while a school board member also faced accusations of sexual harassment. An investigation determined the accusations against the latter were unsubstantiated.
Prophet-Bullock addressed the summer of discontent.
“We're moving forward. This summer is now in the past. We move forward together again,” she said.
One way Buffalo schools are moving forward this academic year is with the addition of a resilience curriculum. As a representative from Congressman Tim Kennedy’s office delivered a copy of a proclamation declaring Sept. 3, 2026 as the National Day of Resilience, Buffalo native and national motivation speaker Duncan Kirkwood explained what the curriculum means.
"We know that young people struggle with resilience, and we need to create awareness around mental toughness, around mental health, and just create a space where people can pause for a minute to recognize the need for resilience," he said. “Every single student will get this vetted curriculum based out of positive psychology research from the University of Pennsylvania, based on military research, based on the work we do at Villa Maria around the Center for Resiliency, so they can build those resilient skills to persevere and be the best version of themselves throughout this school year."
The program includes 25 videos, about five to seven minutes in length. Themes include forgiveness, self-love, positive self-talk, how to overcome setbacks, trying new things and more. Each video includes an activity. Kirkwood said high school students might have more flexibility to fulfill watching the videos, while elementary school students might be more likely to do the exercises in their classroom.
The program is being sponsored in Buffalo Public Schools by Erie County Legislator Taisha St. Jean Tard. The Town of Amherst has also expressed its support for the curriculum and according to the program, the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has sponsored it for Catholic schools throughout the region.
Prophet-Bullock said what she likes about the resilience curriculum is that teachers, administrators, and school social workers will also be involved and will learn from the program.
She is especially looking forward to seeing the segment about forgiveness.
“We are in a place right now where we need to have forgiveness for each other, and we need to do some repairing,” she said. “I can't wait for that module to be rolled out because it will be significant, not just for our students, but for our entire school system and community.”
