By: Edwin Martinez

The Buffalo Public School District has created an all-new Lafayette International High School. A ribbon cutting was held Thursday to welcome parents, community and partners.

Buffalo Schools Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash said this is one of five new innovation high schools to open that will motivate students to learn and bring students into the global economy.

“This is a magnificent evening,” stated Cash.

Cash said he truly believes this will resolve equity issues and should begin to close the gap with criterion city schools.

“It’s going to close the gap between equity and quality that we have among our high schools and Lafayette, among the criterion schools and traditional high schools. We’ve got to close that gap. It can’t be a tale of two school systems. That’s what this will do” Cash said.

City Council Majority leaders David Rivera joined the event.

“It is good to have a visionary superintendent, isn’t it?” remarked David Rivera.

The innovation schools are designed to provide expanded opportunities for careers in the emerging technology industries in Western New York.  The Majority leader of the council David Rivera is certain there will be thousands of future jobs to fill in the city.

“In the next couple of years more than 12,000 new jobs will be created in the city of Buffalo proper,” David Rivera declared.

The schools are designed to help provide a ‘career pathway’ and direct opportunity into an emerging workforce in the next ten years, spurred by the city’s economic initiative for Buffalo.

“We want our young people and especially our international students to be prepared and ready to take the jobs that are coming to Western New York over these next ten years,” stated Cash.

Cash describe creating city schools that entice and motivate a student to attend class and be excited about learning.

“You can’t attack attendance problems by hiring more attendance teachers,” stated Cash. “You have to develop programs young people find motivating, find interesting and then they have to put the effort in to be successful.”

The creation of this new community school was a group effort with the district, Lafayette High alumni, community leaders and city leaders.

Newly Elected School Board Member Jennifer Mecozzi was part of the effort to keep Lafayette preserved and creating the new community school.

“When we first started out, I was very concerned. I was afraid, to be honest with you, because I didn’t know how we were going be able to save this building,” explained Jennifer Mecozzi. “ My kids attend Lafayette and I had a vested interest as a parents and community member and more now that I am a school board member.

The new Principal of Lafayette International is John Starkey moved away from Buffalo in 1999, but he never really left. During his 17 years as a Western New York expat, the educator returned often and kept a close eye on his hometown, paying particular mind to the growing refugee and immigrant community, a population that has been central to his professional life. Starkey, who rose through the ranks of the New York City school system to become a principal at some of the city’s more challenging schools – The International High School at LaGuardia Community College, the Bronx High School of Business, Peace and Diversity Academy – has returned to Buffalo and is at the helm of a restart for Lafayette High School, which was closed after persistently low achievement. The school, which takes in most of the city’s growing number of foreign-born students, is being reintroduced by Starkey and a host of community partners under the Internationals Network for Public Schools model, a system he knows from his time running The International High School in New York, which had on-time graduation rates above 60 percent. Lafayette had a graduation rate of 32 percent last year, doubling the number from the previous year.

LAFAYETTE IHS OFFERS…

• Learning through projects that are interesting, important and challenging
• A safe and caring community school
• College and Career preparation
• Internships and mentoring in different fields, including education and business
• Sports, Music and Arts
• Native language support
• Partnership with various organizations and colleges

The event was full of festivities