Buffalo School Superintendent James A. Williams vowed Wednesday to overhaul the system&#8217s approach to discipline problems and end the long-standing practice of suspending students out of school for minor infractions.

The announcement was prompted by the killing of Lafayette High School freshman Jawaan

Daniels on Friday, an hour after he was suspended for wandering the halls.

Williams said instead of suspending students out of school, the city should keep students

in school and provide on-site instruction, rather than sending teachers to the students&#8217

homes, as the system now does.

He promised to have some reforms in place by the time school resumes in September but said

he needs community input to craft an effective solution.

&#8220We have to figure out a way to keep our children in school and make good choices in

their lives,&#8221 he said during a news conference in City Hall. &#8220I don&#8217t have the

answers, folks, today. I won&#8217t have the answers tomorrow. I need help to figure this

out.&#8221

Listen to more from Williams:

Rod Watson's column: City schools flawed policy proves fatal

Document: Proposed changes in suspension policies by District Parent Coordinating Council

Meanwhile, Buffalo police say they are closer to catching the person who killed Jawaan.

A long-standing quarrel between him and another young man led to the shooting, a police

source said.

&#8220It was retaliation, something that had occurred last year,&#8221 the police

investigator close to the case said Wednesday.

Authorities say they expect to make an arrest in the shooting that has raised concern over

why Jawaan was released at about 12:30 p.m. from Lafayette.

In the past few days, Buffalo&#8217s parent group stepped up its criticism of the

city&#8217s suspension policy. Several parents said Jawaan&#8217s death might have been

prevented, had he not been sent out of school in the middle of the day.

Since November, the District Parent Coordinating Council has been urging administrators to

revamp its suspension practices, calling them &#8220archaic and punitive.&#8221 Parents say

suspension is used excessively throughout the city as a response to student misbehavior.

In March, for example, nearly 30 percent of the students at the Riverside Institute of

Technology were suspended for at least one day. That same month, 20 percent of South Park High

School&#8217s students had suspensions.

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon on the steps of City Hall, representatives

from the parent group outlined reforms they want the schools to make, including eliminating

out-of-school suspensions for nonviolent offenses, involving social workers in student

discipline situations and establishing standard consequences across the city for common

infractions.

&#8220We cannot wait for someone else to die before we come up with a solution,&#8221 said

Samuel L. Radford III, the group&#8217s vice president.

Listen to more from Radford:

Later, during his own news conference, Williams agreed with much of what Radford said.

&#8220Some of the things we&#8217re suspending kids for are not suspendable issues,&#8221

the superintendent said.

One example: wandering the halls. Williams said students will no longer be suspended for

the offense that led to Jawaan&#8217s early release from school.

He also said that the $2 million to $3 million Buffalo spends each year on home instruction

for suspended students should be reallocated to provide instruction to students at school.

Williams painted suspension as a national problem, framing it as one element in a web of

problems facing urban youth, particularly African-American males. He decried the availability

of guns on the street and the toll they take on Buffalo&#8217s young people. Since he came to

the city five years ago, Williams has been to the funerals of 13 students, he said.

Witnesses to the shooting of Jawaan Daniels at the Metro Bus stop at Grant Street and West

Delavan Avenue have told police the gunman shot him twice in the stomach and fled on a

bicycle.

In defending the school system and its suspension policy, a police investigator said school

officials are being unfairly criticized for releasing Jawaan and at least two other students

also were suspended for wandering the halls.

&#8220It wasn&#8217t the school&#8217s fault. This quarrel went back to last September.

It&#8217s a travesty to blame the school. What is the school going to do, provide a cab for

everyone who gets suspended or call in a school bus driver? The district would go broke,&#8221

the investigator said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

School officials say the assistant principal spoke with Jawaan&#8217s mother, who was

unable to come to the West Side school and take him home because she had younger children in

her care. Jawaan resided on the East Side.

&#8220His mother gave clearance and details were worked out for him to leave the school and

go to a location,&#8221 said Elena Cala, system spokeswoman. &#8220This arrangement is not

unusual at the high school level.&#8221

Chief of Detectives Dennis J. Richards said investigators are making progress in catching

Jawaan&#8217s killer.

&#8220However, we&#8217re still looking for people with knowledge of the facts to come

forward,&#8221 Richards said.