School Board Meeting - April 23, 2026

001and to reaffirm their shared commitment to justice, dignity, and excellence in education for every student. Adopted this 23rd day of April 2026 by the album He's still representing, so All right, let's get started. Thank you for having me here just one last time. If you haven't been living under a rock the past 2 years, odds are you've heard about something called artificial intelligence. Odds are you've also noticed the vast implications that has had on society and the planet. This school year, I've observed that there is one side where people feel like a feel like the sky is falling, and then there's one side where people say AI will solve all all of our problems. Tonight, I would like to give you my take, which hopefully doesn't result in the sky falling. Who knows? For context,

002I've spent the past 2 years learning as much as I can about AI. I've created my own automations and AI agents, and I started the AI club at Monticello High School alongside Miss Panic to educate students on the topic. Before I go any further, I'd like to assure you that my good buddies, Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT, did not assist me in any way making this speech. I'd like to begin by looking at a study from MIT, where scientists studied the accumulation of cognitive debt in the brain when using an AI system for an essay writing task. This experiment consisted of 54 people in three distinct groups. One group used large language models like ChatGPT to write the essay, another used a search engine, and the third one old school, brain only. You're probably wondering what

003that weird image is, but I'll get to that in a moment. The result The results demonstrated that the LLM users showed weaker brain connectivity and lower memory retention compared to the other two groups by 55%. Essentially, writing is a cognitively demanding task that builds neural pathways. When students use AI in the wrong way or in excess, those pathways don't get built. In fact, when those same LLM users went to write an essay without using any assistive technology, they couldn't re-engage at the same level as the brain only group, suggesting that those neural pathways supporting individual thought had already begun to weaken over a very short period of time. Second to our brains turning to mush, I would like to look at a study by the company Anthropic, the same company who created the large language

004model Claude, which researched AI's implications on labor markets. So, looking at image two, the data from their research showed that AI isn't necessarily firing people immediately. It is simply closing the door to opportunities, mostly those in entry-level white-collar jobs like finance, law, and coding. Maybe even school board seats. Just kidding. The data shows since ChatGPT was released, there has been a 14% drop in in the job finding rate for ages 22 to 25, again driven by slowed hiring, not layoffs. Here's a photo from the article which demonstrates the theoretical and observed AI coverage in different occupational categories. Already, we see that Claude covers currently 33% of tasks in the computer and math category. Other areas alike are still growing as well. Zooming out, all this data seems pretty scary, and it is. But that fear

005is what keeps people away from using AI entirely. You see, using AI can absolutely result in cognitive decline, but only if you're using it in the wrong way. One thing I actually left out of the study from MIT was that there was a fourth round of testing where the brain only brain only essay writers came back and were then allowed to use an LLM. The results showed that their brains didn't disengage like the original GPT users did. It actually improved because they used AI as a tool on top of an already engaged mind, not as a straight replacement for thinking. This is why it is more important than ever to educate our students on this topic. We need to teach them to use it the right way because it isn't going away anytime soon and

006the implications will only get bigger. If we don't start now, I believe we're doing a disservice to our students. So my solution is to start with the basics. Students should be informed which jobs are most vulnerable to AI. They should learn to protect their cognitive foundations and students should be taught to prompt AI, which I know we all do here shortly. With how the world is going, AI should be taught more like a core subject, not a club which is optional. Thank you and go Mustangs. Impressive. Thank you so much. Does anyone want to follow up with that? That one? I don't know. Thank you so much. That was impressive. Other other school board superintendent or committee updates tonight? I have two things. One, I had the honor and privilege of attending opening night last

007night at Western for High School Musical and man, it was incredible. There are over 70 students involved in that production and um including one of our student reps, Claire Curry, is in it and um it was my mom called me today and she was like, I cannot get over how good it was. So I encourage you guys to go this weekend. I know the other schools have theirs coming up, but I think the arts are alive and well in ACPS and it was really beautiful to see. So I encourage you guys to go. And speaking of arts, the other thing I wanted to mention is um the arts in Western education which helps fund some of the needs of our various arts in the Western feeder pattern is looking for some new leadership. I guess

008they're having several people that kids are graduating or they're moving on and so they came up to me last night and asked to just give them a little bump tonight if you're interested in getting involved to contact them because they are doing some really amazing things and they need some more involvement. So if you're interested please reach out to me and I can connect you or reach out to them directly but definitely go see the musical. It's really really fun and really well done and congrats to Miss Pitts at Western for a really great production. Any other updates? Then I will also give a shout out for the AHS musical which is The Wizard of Oz and actually the opening night is tonight and I'm missing it and I'm sad about that but I will

009be going tomorrow. That's a fun production. I might as well shout out my show as well. Our opening night is tonight as well. They're doing Mamma Mia. It's it's awesome so I suggest you see that as well. And what is Monticello's? It's Mamma Mia? Is that right? That's great. And you can get tickets for all of them. I think if you just go to the school website. >> website. That's right. And I think they're sold at the door. It was full last night so I would encourage you to get tickets ahead of time. It was impressive. Nothing well I was going to say nothing that exciting nothing that already but I did I guess Bob Beard and I attended the student Senate meeting on Friday which is really pretty incredible group of students. I got

010there when Senator Creede Deeds and representatives Amy Laufer and Katrina Colson were on the panel and there was a quite a few sophisticated questions from the students and it was it was a very interesting event. I don't know if you were there. Were you there? If you wanted to add anything. Yeah, I would say it's always just an amazing experience. We've had various leaders come, give presentations. I mean, especially from our legislators come and letting us talk to them and then they give like their opinions on certain things. I know they talked about AI data centers in Virginia. I mean, a lot of people don't even know that we have the most data centers out of anywhere in the entire world and that we're experiencing some brown spots in some areas. I don't know if

011that's currently happening, but they said if we continue on this path, it definitely will happen. So, it's just really interesting to get their point of views on certain topics. Want to give a quick shout out to the track and field programs at all the high schools. So, coming up a week from this Friday and Saturday, the Dogwood Track Classic, which has been around for generations. One of the elite track meets on the East Coast, outside of Penn Relays, is happening and we've had just amazing athletes from Western and Monticello and Albemarle, as well as schools from four or five different states that'll come to UVA. So, this not this weekend, but next weekend. Thank you so much. As there's so much going on and and for those of you here and for those of you

012listening remotely, there's so many ways to support your your schools, but one of the one of the easiest ways is to support attending games, attending arts shows, and attending musicals, orchestra. And so, if you are interested in any of those, there's a ton of information on each of the schools' websites. So, I encourage everyone to look at that and support our schools in that way by supporting the amazing work that they do and their teachers do it and every day. Uh the next point on our agenda is 5.0 public comment and I am going to turn it over to Vice Chair Spillman for to manage public comment. Thank you, Chair Berlin. Uh we welcome public input at our school board meetings. To sign up to speak during the public comment period, you can do so

013in several ways. Online sign up is available from 9:00 a.m. on the Monday of the meeting week until 2:00 p.m. on the meeting day. By phone, call the school board clerk's office to sign up until 2:00 p.m. on the meeting day. In person sign up at the meeting is available from 6:00 p.m. until the public comment period for in-person meetings only. Please note that public comment is not received at special board meetings unless specified on the agenda. Each speaker will have 3 minutes to speak, but the chair, with board consent, may reduce this to 2 minutes should there be more be 14 or more speakers. The maximum number of people or groups that may speak at a meeting is 20. If there are more than 20 people or groups who wish to speak at a

014particular meeting, each speaker will be assigned a number and numbers will be drawn to determine which people or groups will have the opportunity to speak. Those who do not have the opportunity to speak at a particular meeting may sign up to speak at a subsequent meeting and or may submit written comments to the school board's consideration. Speakers should state their name, address, or voting district, address comments to the school board as a whole, limit comments to school board governance or school division operations. Comments may not be directed to individual board members, division leadership, or staff. Provide written comments, sorry, provide written statements and supporting materials to the clerk. The school board will have a timer to track each speaker's time. Once the time is up, speakers are asked to wrap up their comments. To maintain

015respect, please refrain from clapping or other audible forms of support. You may raise your hand instead. Debate with the school board is not allowed and the projection system is for staff presentations only. Uh we have five people signed up tonight. The first one is Jennifer McDonald. Do I Either one is okay. Okay. Um Hi. I enjoyed, as a teacher, the AI presentation, by the way. Um hello. I am Jen McDonald and I have been a teacher for 31 years and in Albemarle County Public Schools for 24 of those years. And it has been a very disappointing and demoralizing time under the grading policy that was adopted by the county 5 years ago. These are some of my observations. First, a 50 for no work is untenable. Students, even high achievers, have lost motivation. They see

016peers doing reasonably well with little effort and wonder why they should try or take away from their own free time. Grades are also inflated and do not reflect the skills that many students do or do not have. Students can pass a class with very little effort. In fact, I have had a handful of students every year since this began pass on to the next grade without writing a single formal essay. I am not the only teacher this is true for. Many teachers in the division at the secondary level have confirmed it is also their experience. This is egregious. Teaching students to write is the core objective of an English class. We cannot say we are a division offering rigor in good faith. Second, retests, the way we are doing it is eroding student accountability and

017learning. Students who study and do well the first time are getting frustrated that students who don't work can take the test again and sometimes score even higher than the student who showed effort. Students are losing the motivation to try. Many students do not prepare anymore for assessments. They have figured out that they can take a test, determine what is on the test, and then retake it. It is a waste of time and effort both for students and teachers. I have so many students regularly retesting that I have to take part of instructional time in order to accommodate them all. This is the primary reason my classes are further behind in curriculum than they were before this policy. Students are more interested in grades than in learning the material or skill. For many students, the only

018assignments they will do are those with a grade attached to them. Even if they see that it will help on the summative, they still avoid it. It has fine has made a culture where the grade is more important than the learning. Finally, no late penalties for late work is problematic. Students often wait to do work until after the class has finished and gone over it. They're also trying to learn new skills when they haven't mastered the previous content they're trying to build upon. Having long deadlines without penalty has made it normal for students to just wait to finish work, which creates a cycle of forever being behind and working on old assignments while new ones are assigned. It is unsustainable and doesn't teach them how to truly budget time. Most alarming, none of these grading

019policies are preparing students for the real world, much less college. Professors give zeros, don't retest, assign late penalties. In the real world, students will have to regularly attend a job, be on time, do work completely and in a timely fashion. Because of limited time here, I emailed possible solutions to the board. Teachers are suffering moral injury by being made to participate in this policy, and students are being done a disservice. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um next I have Britney Lyons. Good evening, members of the school board. My name is Britney Lyons and I am a teacher at Greer Elementary in the Jack D. Jewett district. I'm here to speak about the work happening at Greer, a Title 1 school where many of our students face significant challenges in reading and beyond. These challenges

020disproportionately impact students of color, who are more likely to experience gaps in access to rigorous instruction, experienced teachers, and stable leadership. At Greer, we refuse to let that be our story. And that started all with our principal, Dr. Steve Saunders. Under his leadership, we came together to design a system that would not fail our students. We implemented strategic grouping, so every child received on grade level instruction. Every student taught the full fifth grade curriculum. There's no watering down and no lowering of expectations. Dr. Saunders created a culture where teachers are trusted, supported, and expected to innovate on behalf of students. Because of that, we partnered closer with our reading team through co-planning and co-teaching and expanded that same all hands-on deck approach into math. We operate as a unified team, taking collective responsibility for every

021student, and it is working. At the beginning of the year, 81% of our students scored below the 50th percentile in oral reading fluency. Today, that number is 46%. We've cut it nearly in half. That growth is not accidental. It is the direct result of strong and stable leadership. Research consistently shows that students, especially students of color, benefit most from that kind of leadership paired with high expectations and access to grade level content. This work began with teachers, but it has been sustained and made successful because of Dr. Saunders. He trusts his staff, removes barriers, creates the conditions for meaningful, lasting change. Because of his leadership, our students are now meeting and exceeding district averages, and we are just getting started. So, I have to ask, what message does it send about equity when a leader

022who is driving success in a Title I school is removed while being placed in a more affluent school that is struggling? For Greer, the message is clear. That it is unacceptable for Crozet to be without an astounding leader, but for Greer to be at a loss is the norm. If equity is truly the priority, then the students who have historically been underserved should not lose the leadership that is helping them succeed. Leadership matters, stability matters, equity is not just about where resources are sent, it's about where they are sustained. Greer is a community-driven school that deserves the opportunity to continue this work without disruption. We are in a literacy crisis, and failure is no longer an option. The principal panel is tomorrow, and while we would strongly prefer to retain our principal, the teachers of

023Greer Greer will have high expectations for who is to come. I urge you to consider what is at stake if this momentum is lost. Thank you for your time. >> Uh next I have Claire LaPlant. Hi again. I'm Claire LaPlant, a reading specialist from the Rio District in Greer. I'm here again tonight to speak about Dr. Saunders' removal and its impact on literacy and student outcomes. Did you know 40 I mean 54% of American adults cannot read above a sixth-grade level? Students who are not reading on grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. It is possible for at least 95% of students to learn how to read. Our concerns about Dr. Saunders being moved are not just about him. They are about the

024systemic choices that directly impact whether students learn to read. On a personal level, my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade. She was still not reading by third grade. My family was fortunate enough to access the support she needed, but many families rely entirely on our public schools for that. Learning to read is a basic right, and our students at Greer deserve the support necessary to achieve it. Greer is making that happen. Last year, Greer was fully accredited. Some examples of further gains from our mid-year balance data this year highlight the progress for our students are making. Kindergarten increased students in the low-risk category by 36% outperforming the division. First grade increased low-risk students by 20.8% compared to the 12 and 1/2% of division growth. Second grade is outperforming the division in every single

025measured category. In fifth grade, students below the 50th percentile in spelling decreased from 45% to 25% by mid-year. In oral reading fluency, fifth graders below benchmark have dropped from 81% to 36%. The achievement gap is closing with black students reaching a 57.8% pass rate surpassing the division's 54.5% rate. We are making these gains because we are working hard, being innovative, and having the support of a strong administrative team. That is why we are struggling with this change of leadership. It's hard to let it go and get over it when we know in our hearts the decision that has been made is not in the best interest of the students in our school community. Removing Dr. Saunders from Greer is like taking the engine out of one car and placing it into another and expecting the

026first car to continue to function. That is not how systems work. The district should be prioritizing our most vulnerable students. Strong elementary schools lead to strong secondary schools and ultimately leads to educated, productive citizens. Teachers at Greer feel unheard. Morale has dropped significantly. At least 10 staff members are already leaving and more are looking for other positions. We feel like no one is listening and no one cares. We feel like we are being punished. There is a real concern about the stability and quality of future leadership. We want a leader of equal or greater quality than Dr. Saunders. We are not looking for someone to simply fill a role. We also want this process to be real and our school interview recommendations to be heard and not overridden. Please hear us. This is important. As

027a board, you're elected to support our schools. You're elected to make good choices for all students, and you have the opportunity to make the situation right. I hope next year I'm not I'm standing in front of you saying, "Thank you." And for making Greer priority and not saying I told you so. Thank you so much. >> to win it. Are you? Thank you so much. Uh next I have Jana Bailey. Good evening. My name is Jana Bailey. I am the librarian at Greer Elementary. And I reside in the Jack Jouett district. Thank you, Dr. Host, and members of the school board for allowing me to speak with you. More Greer community members would have been here, but tonight is also the annual Celebration of Cultures Night at Greer, one of our most treasured school events.

028I'm here to talk about the reassignment of Dr. Steve Saunders. As you know, Dr. Saunders has been the principal of Greer Elementary for the past 7 years. Approximately 83% of Greer students are economically disadvantaged. And the majority of our student population is black and Latina. Greer is a Title I school. It is a challenging, yet extremely rewarding place to work. That is because of Dr. Saunders. He has built a community of inclusion, equity, and compassion at Greer. During his tenure, student attendance rates have increased, test scores have improved, and staff morale has stayed high. These successes are a testament to Dr. Saunders' leadership. Recently, the principal of Crozet Elementary announced her retirement. In contrast to Greer, approximately 17% of Crozet's students are economically disadvantaged. And the majority of Crozet's population, roughly 82%, is white. Crozet

029is not a Title I school. This gives me pause when I think about the reassignment of Dr. Saunders. Rather than engage Crozet Elementary School's community in the search for a replacement for their principal, it was announced that Dr. Saunders would be taking the helm, leaving the onus on Greer to search for new leadership. I find this both disheartening and confusing. The way this reassignment looks from the outside is most unsettling. An affluent, non-Title 1 school with a majority white population has been given, in my opinion, the strongest and most effective elementary school principal in the county. In contrast, the Title 1, majority black and Latina population school has had its leader taken away and is left to essentially start from scratch. In closing, I'd like to reference one of the guiding principles of ACPS, trust

030and transparency, in which the following tenants are promised. Communicate honestly, clearly, and proactively. Build community trust in ACPS and confidence in the division's ability to help students thrive. Ensure community members feel heard, respected, and valued. Make data and information used for decision-making easily accessible to the public. I do not feel that any of these tenants were followed in the reassignment of Dr. Saunders, nor are they reflected in the subsequent search process for a replacement. Going forward, it is my sincere hope that you change course for the inevitable transition, as it is not too late to lead with these values in mind. The Greer community deserves that. Thank you. Thank you. Um at last, we have Lori Aldridge. Good evening. My name is Lori Aldridge, and I teach in the Jack Jouett I'm here today to

031share my concerns about the decision to remove our current principal, Dr. Steve Saunders, from Greer Elementary School. And I wholeheartedly oppose this decision, and I want to explain why. I come to you as a member of two communities. First, as an educator with nearly 30 years experience across four school districts, three states, and three of them in Title 1 schools. And second, I come to you as a member of the African-American community. And I grew up in the African-American community in inner-city Philadelphia. I earned two degrees from Penn State, and I began my career in State College, Pennsylvania, in a mostly white, predominantly white school district. And in my early years in State College, Pennsylvania, I noticed a difference in the education I was providing my students and my own education. In the early years,

032I In that school district, I was the only black teacher my students had for many years. And that experience It It had me confront the inequities in education, both theirs and my own. And it shared It shaped my commitment to ensuring that every child receives a quality education, and that's what they all deserve. So, when I speak today, I speak from experience. I speak with urgency. Greer already has a principal, Dr. Saunders, and he is doing exactly what you tasked him to do and what you say you value. And I just want to coin a term today, justice, dignity, and equity. He is an outstanding leader who has built trust in teachers, students, and families, and he communicates clearly. He leads with purpose. He understands and helps us understand the why behind our work. So,

033I have to ask, why remove a leader from a Title 1 school who's been tasked with closing achievement gaps, and he is actively doing that work? Make it make sense. Why disrupt progress? And from where I stand, it raises serious concerns. When someone is making meaningful change and when they are pushing systems to do better, it can make others feel uncomfortable, but that's not a reason to remove them. It's a reason to support them. And I want to be clear, the decision to remove our principal rests with you, the board. As the board, you are responsible for ensuring the leadership decisions serve the best interests of the students rather than undermine them. You are responsible for transparency, and you are responsible for standing behind what is right even when it's uncomfortable. So, I urge you

034to reconsider your decision. Thank you so much. Thank you for everyone's public comment this evening. The next item on our agenda is the approval of our consent agenda. Do I have a motion on the approval of our consent agenda? I move we approve the consent agenda. Second. Moved by Ms. Lee, seconded by Mr. Beard. All those in favor of tonight's consent agenda. I. Any opposed? Tonight's consent agenda clearly passes. The next item on our agenda is our last fiscal '27 budget adoption. >> Good evening. Um my name is Myra Azala, director of budget and planning, and this evening I'm here to support you all in the adoption of the fiscal year 2026-27 school board's budget. Um to begin, I wanted to bring it back to the strategic plan, which is where we started the budget

035process. The FY27 budget supports and is in alignment with ACPS's strategic plan mission to end the predictive value of race, class, gender, and special capacities for our children's success through high-quality teaching and learning for all. We seek to build relationships with families and communities to ensure that every student succeeds. While this has been another challenging budget process, I think you will agree that this budget meets the adopted budget goals. And just as a reminder, I just wanted to share those again. First, plan, prepare, and implement a fiscally responsible budget that provides the resources necessary to support the mission. Second, engage community members, including parents and guardians, teachers, staff, business leaders, volunteers, civic organizations, and the community in the development of budget priorities. Third, provide a salary and benefits plan that supports the division's competitive position

036and reflects market adjustments where necessary. Fourth, develop and maintain a responsive and systematic approach to building and grounds maintenance, technology services, transportation operations, child nutrition services that reflects industry best practices, and ensures long-range financial stability. Fifth, new budget proposals will align with the strategic plan and school board priorities. And finally, schools, departments, and strategic proposals will incorporate logic models and or performance measures to support decisions that align with the division's strategic plan with the goal of using metrics as a management and decision-making tool during the budget process. In particular, um I think this budget process has truly focused on community engagement more so than others. Um we heard from um those groups listed in the budget goal from parents, guardians, teachers, staff, business leaders, volunteers, civic organizations, and the community, and our budget priorities were

037developed based on that. So, this is an overview of the FY 27 proposed revenues. I just want to focus on um the main categories here, which are the local transfer, the state revenues, and one-time use of fund balance. So, the first line represents the changes of the local transfer looking back at the current year's FY 26 adopted budget, um the FY 27 request approved by you all, and then what's being proposed here this evening. Um as you can see, uh the board of supervisors has approved um a decrease of $6.4 million in the local transfer, um but to pull it out into the greater perspective, the change from the adopted budget FY 26 is a $9 million increase or 4% increase um that we are very appreciative of to have that increase in our local

038transfer. The second piece is the increased revenues from the state. Um it is an additional $11.8 million. As a reminder, this is largely a restoration from the spike in the LCI, which we estimate of the 11.8, about $10 million is restoration. So, it really is a modest increase um from the state when you compare the um pre- LCI spike to now. And then finally, the 3.15 million in the use of fund balance is recommended as part of the FY27 budget as discussed previously. In total, the budget-to-budget change is an increase of 23.9 million dollars or about 8%. On the expenditure side, I'll show a summary in a few different ways. The first one is what's changing when you compare the adopted budget from this year to next year's proposed budget. So, this is a visual

039representation of the level of investment in each of the categories that we have reviewed. The first is 4.2 million dollar increase in non-discretionary increases. That would include things like health care and inflation. 4.3 million dollars in new school costs to operate ACE Academy at Lambs Lane and Mountain View Upper Elementary School. 7.8 million dollars in increased compensation investments in alignment with the collective bargaining agreement. 4 million dollars in working conditions improvement, also per the agreement. And then in order to get to a balanced budget, we did have to propose 2.8 million dollars in reductions. But now we could accommodate 3.3 million dollars in new proposals. And just as a a scale reference, 3.3 is about 1% of the entire budget in new programming. So, the total FY27 operational budget is 305 million with one-time expenditures

040of 3 million. That's 20.7 million dollars in recurring new investments that is proposed here this evening. The strategic priorities that we heard from the school board and the community are shown here. We're investing in programming at Scholar Studios at Lambs Lane, which will open next year. We're maintaining our small class sizes. We're increasing the recurring investment in our instructional resources into the future. We're expanding our services for math intervention in our schools, and we're adding positions to support our special education services. Um, over the last 3 years, including this budget, uh, we're looking at $10 million in permanent service reductions to balance the budget, um, as an indication of your fiscal stewardship and getting to a balanced budget, um, this evening. And then this is the summary of how those expenditures are broken out, and

041you can see this, um, truly aligns with our strategic plan. Um, we're investing 70% of our budget in instruction. And you can see some examples of where that money is going. Um, other categories include transfer, transportation, building services, technology, and administration, attendance, and health. So, this evening, um, you will, uh, our plan to adopt this FY27 budget, um, but I will be back, um, because the state budget has yet not been released, um, so we will come back in May, um, to provide updates on the state budget. So, with that, I'll turn it over to you, the chair, Dr. Berlin. Thank you so much. Uh, before we move forward, I just wanted to see if we have any questions about the budget, any comments, um, individuals would like to make. Next is our official. Next,

042please. When it says spending on resources, specifically textbooks, does that literally mean like real physical textbooks that we would buy, or like online resources? Good question. Both. Both. Yes, but we we have, um, completed, uh, curriculum adoption, like to pick textbooks, um, for several subjects. And so, that was funds will go towards the purchase of those, as well as some online materials. Okay. Thank you. And and I was just going to say um Max, when I had the opportunity to join, I think it was student senate, um one of the things we heard I heard um particularly um from some of our high school students was um the need for physical books, right? And textbooks as well as as as books in the um English literature. Um and so I think one of the things,

043you know, we know we need to you know, right now we've made a huge investment in in computers and software technology, but we also know um that we need to replenish um textbooks. And I think one of the things you'll see over time is us beginning to look at all this research that you're talking about regarding no screen time. We know we've made an investment, we that's how we're teaching right now, but what do we need to do going forward? And so this that piece was making sure we also had some of those those textbooks for some of those adoptions in in middle school and high school that we needed. Okay, awesome. I can Thank you for recognizing that. I only cuz I I only wanted to ask cuz whenever I think of like a

044textbook, I think only like those those big bulky things and I'm like I flip through them and I don't know what I'm reading, but so that also includes like school books like for English classes as well. >> Yeah. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Thank you so much. Questions, comments? I know we've had lots of questions and lots of comments. Um but this is the time to to lift anything up. You know, I think I think Ms. Kumazawa and her team have answered, I don't know how many dozens or hundreds of questions so far. >> What's the number? 202. 202. So Not that she's keeping track. Yes. of question we can, I believe. Thank you for the responses. Make sure you write that down. That will be on our trivia night. I need a motion. Yes. If

045if I do not see any more questions or comments, I need a motion for the approval of our um our budget. The language is in front of you and I know this is one that um no one wants to do because you have to show your um your you have to go back into your math literacy to make sure you read your commas right. So. I move to adopt the FY26-27 school board budget of 308 million 67,157 dollars for the school fund and 33,000 33 million 700 thousand 221 for special revenue funds. Good job. Second. I do want to do uh I don't think I mentioned this to to Ms. Thompson ahead of time, so I apologize. I would like to do a voice vote for this. Um moved by Dr. Seconded by Ms. Lee.

046Ms. Ms. Osborne is absent this evening. Ms. Pillman? Yes. Dr. Ekov? Yes. Mr. Beard? Yes. Mr. Dillabough? No. Ms. Lee? Yes. Chair Perdue? Yes. With a vote five one with one absent, the motion carries. Thank you so much. Thank you, Maya. Thank you for Thank you to everyone for all of your work. Thank you to the community for all of your input. I think this is is the record um both I heard I listened to the the Board of Supervisors. They had record attendance at their town halls. Um and as an aside, too, was many many ahead of um questions before. So, um a huge thank you for all the work you've done and I've just a tiny token of thank you from Ms. Kumasawa. Ms. Kumasawa here. Thank you. >> I should have gotten

047you 202 for all the private I hope you can get a little bit of sleep and maybe have a Thursday evening to yourself before you need to come back. So, thank you very much. The next we will now be moving into our school division work session. This was targeted very well by our school representative. We are talking about artificial intelligence in Albemarle County. Jamie Foreman, Deputy Chief Technology Office, Clay Todd, Assistant Director of Technology Integration are going to introduce this to us and I know they have a team coming forward that they will also introduce. So, we will be spending time together to learn about both our policies and how AI is used within our school system. So, for those of you listening, just a reminder that this is a work session. So, you'll just

048seem a little bit different. We will believe there'll be a presentation and then we will be working probably in in small groups. Oh, we do not have a break. We have lunch. It's on here. It's just not on the schedule. >> Oh, sorry. Did I Did I miss the break? Oh, let's do yeah. Everyone's looking at me like we need a break. So, I apologize. Is it a 10-minute break? Yeah. Okay. We are going to do a 10-minute break and we will come back at 8:05. Sorry about that, team. What's that? For head starter. And I'm going to welcome again our work session on artificial intelligence in Albemarle County Public Schools. Jamie Foreman, Clay Todd, and I ask that you introduce the rest of your team. We're excited to work with you tonight. Absolutely. Thank

049you all so much for having us. I really appreciate your time tonight. It's a topic that we're all very passionate about and I especially want to thank Max for for his excellent segway into this. I think you're going to find that we all align on your thinking here. Um it's a big topic that's disrupting schools but also presenting a lot of opportunities. We're going to talk a bit about that today. Before though I introduce myself, I'm going to actually let my team step up and introduce themselves. Hi, I'm Megan Panek. I am the LTI at Monticello High School and Walton Middle School. Good evening. I'm Monica Cabarcas. I am the secondary English Language Arts Curriculum Coordinator and K-12 Libraries. Hi everyone. I'm Katie Broyles. I am the LTI at Greer, Red Hill, and Ace Academy

050Seminal Place. Will you remind everyone what LTI stands for just for those >> I would love to. >> Oh, okay. Is that part of your presentation? LTI stands for Learning Technology Integrator. These are folks who are out in buildings helping teachers to think purposefully about technology integration. So you can imagine around the topic of AI in particular this has been a very important topic of discussion for our team and a lot of the resources that you're going to see tonight have been created by by our team. So hi everybody, I'm Clay Todd, Assistant Director for Technology Integration and I supervise the Learning Technology Integrator team. They are an awesome group of people that do exactly what I just shared. Um, do want to start tonight very, very briefly. Um, I know it's late. With a

051story. Um, technology for me, uh, is a topic that is more than just a job. Um, I grew up in a house where, uh, my father was a professor of kinesiology at James Madison University. Uh, he, uh, his one of his primary areas of research was the effects of electronic media. That was the term back when before he was retired, uh, on childhood obesity rates. Uh, you can imagine that my house was very interesting when it comes to electronic media. Um, I grew up, uh, without a lot of access. Um, our television had a box on it that had a little punch code, and you would punch in your code, and it would let you watch TV for half an hour, and then it would shut off. You couldn't get back on for the rest

052of the day. Um, so I I grew up in a house where we were, uh, taught to think about our technology use and reflect on it. Um, but I also love technology. I'm a gamer. Um, I no doubt love it. I work in the field. Um, I say that, and I shared this with family council a couple years ago, because I think it's important that you all understand, and that our family's here, that there are folks in this school division that believe in the power of technology, but also understand its impacts when it's not used well. Um, I've heard a couple of school board meetings where we've been reflecting on that. Um, and we're going to talk a little bit about that today. Um, but I just want you I want you to hear that,

053cuz I want you to know that within our Department of Technology, those folks making those decisions around our technical infrastructure, you have folks who are advocating for our kids and for instruction. Um, and we We to partner with you as you continue to think about um the impact that it's having in schools. Um So, with that um tonight, we're going to kind of take a two-pronged approach. We're going to talk a little bit about tech in ACPS and the why behind it, and that's going to lead us a little more naturally into uh our approach to AI. And then we're going to kind of shift and do a professional learning session uh that some of our school administrators had the opportunity to experience just so you all get sort of a taste of what they

054learned about, including some of the resources we've developed, as well as um the opportunity to learn about what AI can do for you. Um we will have time at the end for hands-on exploration. Um again, we're replicating experience that was done for school administrators, so I'll kind of leave it up to you how hands-on we really want to get with that. I know it's late. Um but when we get there, I'll describe the activity and you all can decide uh what works best for you tonight. As far as our strategic plan, um tonight, this topic really falls under all three goals. Uh thriving students um in the sense that uh students uh live in a digital world. We know this. Um and tech can help or hinder. It's all in how we use it. Uh

055affirming and empowering communities in that technology uh is presents opportunities to bring our community in and to connect students with those in our community again when done well. An equitable and transformative resources uh thinking through uh how technology can be transformative in the classroom, but also how it can be used when used well to close achievement gaps. So, we're going to talk a little bit about tech in school. So, first off is why. Why do we have access to technology in our buildings? Um technology can be an an accelerant or a decelerant in the classroom. It all depends on how it's used. Um when it's integrated well, it supports digital literacy, including AI literacy, so skills um that students need to have to succeed in the world because technology is a part of our everyday

056lives. Uh workforce readiness, uh the different skills specific to the job or career that a student might uh choose. Uh accessibility of learning materials and resources. Some examples of this might be uh our We have a new tool called Read&Write, which it does some read aloud for students. Um it allows students to do some voice dictation. Some of our students even have this in their IEP. Um digital citizenship skills. Digital citizenship is exactly what it sounds like. It is being a citizen in digital spaces. So, what does it mean to be kind online? What does it mean to understand what misinformation looks like and be able to to to parse through that? Um there is also uh uh This is new to this slide deck as of tonight. Uh new legislation that just came through.

057You may or may not have heard uh around uh instructing around the addictive qualities of technology that we are going to need to wrestle with over the next um couple years. Uh we need to develop resources around that and helping students to think through uh what healthy media use looks like for them and also understand the ways in which technology can, not always, but can be developed to uh encourage addictive behaviors because we want to bring students back to those platforms that, you know, keep making money, right? Um delivery of content and assessment. Our SOL tests on just on a basic level are taken with technology. So, we want to make sure that our students are prepared when it comes to assessment time to um access those platforms that are needed uh to take their

058tests and do well on those tests. Um and then finally, the video we uh if you're not familiar, actually does have standards around technology integration. They're called the digital learning integration standards. Uh they are currently about to be revised. Um and these sort of govern what good technology use in the classroom looks like and what those digital literacy skills are that students need to take away uh when they graduate. Um so for all these reasons and more, um we believe it's important that students do have access to technology. Um but tonight, I'm going to then kind of shift to some other questions around, well, what is it that that they're doing um and how are we uh helping uh students and staff to think through technology use in a way that is accelerating, right, and

059not decelerating. So, what uh technology do students have access to? Our K-2 students have iPads um at a one-to-one ratio, and the decision around iPads is specific uh to developmental needs. Um students are not keyboarding at that age yet. Uh it's a more limited environment in terms of what students can get to. Uh and then well, by the time in the third grade, we see in some of our standards those keyboarding skills coming in, uh and we start to just scaffold up uh towards a more workforce ready uh platform, which is in our case a Windows laptop. Um all of our classrooms also have interactive displays. Um these are meant to be collaborative. They're more than just a projector. They allow students to get up together um and and work on a display. Uh they

060also allow the teacher to uh have a a higher degree of interactivity so that they're not tethered to the front of the classroom in the same way that they might be with just a projector. And then a document camera. So, that's what you can expect to see if you were to walk into a a classroom. Um in terms of resources that are currently available, um up here, you'll see uh the majority of our guaranteed viable curriculum. Uh there may be one or two things uh missing from this list, but uh these are the curriculum resources that we would expect students to be engaging with when they are on technology. Um there are also a vast array of other supplemental resources that are available to students. Um and these are used at teacher discretion. Um they

061are vetted uh through a set of criteria that I'll share with you in just a moment. Um but you can see that list of resources at resources.k12.alabama.org. Um we had a question from Camp Family Council that um I think some folks here were also interested in, and that is what resources are used for intervention. Um and you can see those here as well. Um if you're a family member watching tonight and you're not sure which resources your child is using, the best thing you can do is ask their teacher or their case manager. Okay? And now the the million-dollar question. How much time do students spend on technology in school? My answer for this is um I don't mean it as a cop-out. I mean it honestly. And that is that it depends. Uh it

062depends on the course. The difference between being in a CTE computer science course is going to be very different than being in a band classroom, right? Um so the best thing you can do to know exactly how much time is being spent on technology in your classroom is to check with the with the teacher. Um they know their classroom. They know their instruction best of all. Um I do want to note um around research that uh there's a lot of research out there about screen time. Um and that research is has been conducted in a lot of different ways. Some studies look at screen time in a very broad set. Screen time, period. I'm on a screen, what is the effect it has? Some studies look at what is actually happening while on a screen.

063Um and what has been found with those studies, I'm going to share They're actually a couple linked there at the bottom for you, um, is that the quality of what a student is doing on a screen is uh, more indicative of outcomes than the quantity of time. So, it's an important question to ask what our kids doing. Um, we are we aim, uh, for our screen time to be high on what we call the EdTech Triangle, uh, which is a framework for technology integration that we share with you, uh, momentarily. Um, for families listening tonight, um, it is important to have conversations and to co-view with your kids. Um, if you know they're going to watch a you're watching a movie at home, watch it with them. Talk about what they saw. If you're uh,

064going to allow your child on social media, uh, be having conversations with them about what they're doing on social media. These are very important things and studies show that when we actually having conversations about what is happening on those devices, that's what leads to more positive outcomes. Um, we also have a digital citizenship curriculum, uh, that is designed to help students reflect on their own tech use, um, in school, including both the quality and the quantity of time spent. Uh, since even there are lessons where students take an inventory of that. Um, and then finally, as I mentioned, you have LTIs out in buildings prepared to work with teachers and families around the healthy integration of tech. Um, I want to point to a little bit of research here. Uh, the American Academy of Pediatrics

065actually just a couple months ago released their new guidelines around screen time, um, and they conducted they arrived at these guidelines through their own studies and also through some meta-analyses of other studies. Um, and these were kind of their top three conclusions. Um, one is that students do have a right, uh, to devices, um, that they are going to be going into a world where they have to use them, and so we should be teaching about that in school. Um, also the lack of access to a device they have found exacerbates um, inequalities, right? In that some students have this at home while others may not. And so, it's important that in school we are addressing healthy, thoughtful technology use. Um, they talked about just kind of what I was mentioning before, um, which is

066that we want to move the conversation from quantity to context. Uh, so really what are kids doing? So, instead of asking how many minutes, we want to ask how it's being used. Um, and then we want to differentiate between active and passive screen time. So, passive screen time, which we all engage in, it's not that it's a bad thing, it's just that we want to think about when we're doing it. That's screen time for entertainment's sake. That's um, playing mindless games. That's um, watching TV. That's again, not necessarily a bad thing, but I'm not actively engaging with an experience in those cases of screen time. Um, active screen time looks like I'm doing something with the technology that is involving me in some way. Uh, you're going to see some examples of things that have

067happened out in buildings, but um, an example might be uh, coding. I'm actively creating something. I'm programming. An example might be developing a presentation. Uh, it might be collaborating with peers over a Google Doc. Very different than uh, just simply writing on my own. They also focused on the three C's. This is new in their uh, guidelines. Uh, the first is context. So, when we're thinking about screen time and context, we want to think about the details in which technology is being used or implemented. What is the context of the screen time experience? And in the case of school, this looks like the instructional task, right? So, what is what is it that we're asking kids to do? And what is what are the parameters around that? Second is content. Um so it's we want

068to make sure that families, teachers have a clear understanding of what students are actually learning, right? Um we don't want it to just be, you know, free time on on the iPad. We want it to be we understand the content that we're delivering. In the case of school, this is our learning targets. Uh and then the last is control. And we're not saying, you know, control our students. But what this really means is what are what are the parameters being put in place to allow us to manage the learning environment when technology is being used. Uh you're going to hear some examples in just a moment of some of what that can look like. So, to reframe the question about how much time, the important question to ask is what are students doing? Now, I

069don't ask this this question to say that we shouldn't pay attention to quantity of time. Uh there are studies, there is emerging research to say, especially for very young children, we're talking prior to the kindergarten, the screen time does have an effect um on uh cognitive ability. Um we still want to be paying attention to the research. But we also want to make sure that we're not just looking at it from a quantity perspective, but what are kids doing? What are kids doing? And now, to speak of some things that kids are doing here in our schools, I'm going to invite Katie up to share a little bit about an example in our elementary school. All right. So, hopefully, as you may be already know, a majority of our elementary schools do have student broadcast

070teams. So, these are typically fourth and fifth grade students. Some of our schools get started a little bit younger, where the students are working with a teacher mentor to create the daily news. So, they are getting to interact with all the different components of a news crew. Some of them are writing the script, some of them are doing the actual filming, and some of them are on camera and it gets streamed to the entire school. Um, so that's a technology we use is called WeVideo, um, but that's one example of how we are doing that in the elementary setting. And I believe Megan is going to talk about middle and high school? I think that's high school. Yeah, I've got that. Oh, sorry. That's okay. Actually, the uh, LTI that supported this project was honored

071tonight, um, as uh, one of our licensed staff of the year, but I wasn't going to make him stay until 10:00, so I let him go. Um, so uh, this is a project that recently happened at Lakeside where, um, students in a computer science course were working with Arduinos, which is a, if you're not familiar, it's a it's a microcontroller, um, and it can be programmed, uh, to create and control all sorts of different things. And so in this case, it was, um, I think we were near Halloween and uh, students made animatronics. Um, but through making animatronics, uh, they were using their devices, uh, to actually code how these animatronics were going to move. Um, so great, uh, high-level use of, uh, technology in that case. And Megan's going to share about one of

072our high school experiences. So at the high school level right now, we have about 30 Oculus that can travel around to any of the, um, secondary schools in the division. Um, and this year we just started being able to use them with middle schools, but we've been primarily using them at the high school level. Students have been able to travel to all different locations, um, all around the world and even beyond the world. They've gone to the International Space Station, um, to the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City. Most recently, just a few weeks ago, I got to take seventh graders to, um, Anne Frank's Annex in, um, Amsterdam. So these devices really allow students to feel like they are in these locations, like they are experiencing these locations. Um, and when that happens, we

073also, after they finish the experience, often do reflections. And when we compare kind of the experience with the reflection afterwards, it really does help the learning stick. And so I mentioned a bit ago, how do we know? How How do we know that the technology experience, with screen or otherwise, is having an impact? And the framework that we recently adopted, we used to use a different one called SAMR, you may have heard of it, but we switched to something called the EdTech EdTech Triangle about a year ago. And what this basically shows us is it allows it gives staff a framework to think about when students are on screens, what is the role that technology is playing. We're aiming for the top of that pyramid. And what we're looking for are examples of technology integration

074where we are producing a high a unique outcome, developing some kind of high-level skill. Um in particular, I think about the animatronic example I just gave you. That's giving students Students are coding. They're engaging in those computer science standards. Um they are making things happen. There's excitement. There's engagement. Technology is doing something to the learning that would not have happened without it. Um supportive, these are places where technology is supporting the curriculum. Um some examples of this might be some of our digital curriculum resources. It's uh functionally improving it by maybe a smaller margin than a true transformative experience, but it's still doing something that would not be achieved without it. There's there's a little kick up, so to speak, a plus one. Um an example of this could easily be using Seesaw where students

075are sharing their learning with others. So maybe I I did a project, I took a picture of it, I posted it in Seesaw, and now my family can see it, and other families can see it, and we can we can we now have authentic audience, right? So the technology is just It's It's adding a plus one. Um restrictive uh this is when technology's not functionally changing anything, but it's not also functionally like hurting anything. It's just kind of standing in. An example of this for us might be email, right? Uh we could write memos back and forth to each other and stick them in our mailboxes, but uh email is is is just a little easier, um but it's not fundamentally changing what we're doing. And in a learning capacity, uh if I'm just putting

076my responses in Google Docs, um it it's easier for the teacher. It's maybe for some students it's it's easier for them if they like to type, um but it's not fundamentally changing anything about the learning. And you'll notice there um that I I noted that restrictive tasks sometimes increase efficiency, um but they don't change the learning itself. And so, with teachers we we we'd like to think through that because we want to ask that question. Is the technology bringing something positive to the learning experience, or is it just making it easier for us? Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Um teachers have a lot to do, and so sometimes yes, it is appropriate for uh technology to um make their lives easier so that they can focus on the learning experiences. Um but those

077are those are our restrictive examples. And the reason that we switched to the EdTech Triangle is that it includes the category of disruptive. Um the previous model we used did not. Um we know that technology when not used well can take away from the learning. It can be a distraction. It can um take our focus away from what we should be doing in school. Um so, we want to make sure that there's a category reserved for that. And this is that technology for entertainment. Now, that's not saying technology for entertainment is bad. I'm not telling you all to go throw your televisions away, um but in school, we want to make sure we are avoiding this category. And an example of it might be using uh technology as free time. So, what's in place? I

078mentioned our LTIs already. Um are there to help staff. We have our digital citizenship curriculum, which I briefly mentioned. Um and this hits six categories that you can see there. I'm not going to hit all of them. And we also have a family field guide, which accompanies that curriculum, and that goes home to families to help with them conversations at home regarding technology use. You can see it there. I should note that that is under revision and almost done and will probably launch in the fall. So, you you may see a broken link or two there um as we uh continue to revise that document, but it is aligned directly with that digital citizenship curriculum. And finally, this is a new program for us. It's called Lightspeed Classroom Management, and it gets at that that

079uh control when we talk about the three C's. Uh this is a program that we've that teachers now have access to um that allows them to see student screens. It also allows them to sort of manage that technology environment in the classroom through different uh functions like allow lists where we only allow certain resources through through block lists where maybe we're blocking certain resources that we know are maybe a particular distraction that day. Um and we're continuing to provide uh professional learning and whatnot on how to use Lightspeed Classroom Management. And then finally, um around general technology use, uh what are we doing to keep kids safe? Um we have a firewall and a web filter. Those sort of work in tandem with each other. The firewall kind of looks at all the incoming traffic

080and says this is an unsafe thing or this is a this is a security risk. And then sitting behind that is the web filter. And the web filter, we're allowed to we are able to more granularly um allow certain things through or block certain things based on grade level, uh that sort of thing. Um I should note that filters are not perfect. They are actually maintained by a third-party company in terms of what's on that list. We can customize it and we do constantly. We're adding things, we're removing things based on things that happen out in the field and on feedback. But it is it does happen that occasionally something might get through and we have our LTIs help teachers think through how to handle those situations. So close your computer, raise your hand, get

081a teacher, those sorts of things. Our resource vetting process, the resources that you see on the resource library have all gone through this and that's where we vet our resources, our technology resources for instructional value and we partner with our Department of Instruction on that. For safety and security of student information, that's one thing we haven't hit today is the federal laws governing that and that's a whole other presentation. But we do check to make sure that these tools are compliant with those regulations and that student data is not at risk. Redundancy and compliance with our existing systems. So we don't want to be buying stuff that doesn't work with the stuff that we have or we've already got a tool that does this really well. We don't need to spend money on another one.

082And then finally, keeping students safe. We have the responsible use policy. There's one for both students and staff that governs what appropriate use looks like and we actually revise this gosh, it's been a year now um to include more student-friendly language around what responsible use looks like. There's the data governance policy which governs the way that we handle student data and then to transition the AI policy which is new that governs our use of AI. If you go see that policy, well you all have seen that policy because you approved that policy. It is relatively general right now because AI is changing so quickly. So it does a lot of referencing of other policies. And that is the first part of our presentation. So before we move into AI, I'm curious if you all have

083any questions. Clay, what grade level are students taking devices home? That's a good question. They start taking them home in middle school. Yes, our elementary students leave devices at school. Okay. Any questions? I Just just remind me the training for LTIs, you have both certification in education and in technology. >> correct. Our LTIs are licensed teachers, and they need to have been in the classroom for at least 5 years. So, they need to have had that experience to have that empathy for what teachers experience and go through. But then, we have our LTIs go through a certification program through VSTE, the Virginia Society for Technology and Education, who actually If you don't know, Katie runs that program for the state. We've got a star in the house here. Um So, that prepares them for some

084of the There's there's no college degree to be an LTI. It is a state-required position, but there the training for that we have to provide in-house. So, we do a lot of onboarding. There's also a lot of technical components to being an LTI. You have to understand the way technology works and able to advise the department around the instructional impacts of the decisions that we make. So, there's there's a lot of on-the-job learning around how a filter works and how different systems work and all that sort of thing. So, yeah. And beyond like individual working with teachers, do you provide some professional development sort of generally in the For the the division at large? Correct. >> Yes, we do. So, we tailor it based on the need at the time. An example would be AI.

085Last year we gave pre-service PD around AI to all staff. So, yes, that does occur, but it's on an as-needed basis. We actually recently developed a professional learning technology professional learning plan that it that addresses the different needs. Another example would be anytime we onboard a new system. LTI needs to understand that system and then develop the training for that system or the professional learning for that system. Lightspeed was a great example. We're about to onboard a new communication system. So, the LTIs have been in the room through this election process for that and will help develop that professional learning for teachers and staff. Thank you. Any questions? I No, I was just going to say I thought the use of the um Oculus was really cool. Like I would have loved that as a

086kid to be able to go to Anne Frank's Annex. Um is that um mainly towards elementary school or is it across all grade levels? >> VR? >> Yeah. We have it again There are the experience is different across grade levels. Megan mentioned the Oculus. That's a very sort of robust high-end headset that can do a lot. It's got controls. We do have it in elementary as well, but it's more of a seated experience. They pick it up. They hold it there. They put it down. We want to make sure it's not strapped to their face, you know, developmentally. That's important. But But yes, it is available across all grade levels. It's just the experience varies basically. >> do teachers get to use that experience? I mean, do they sign up for it? Do they go

087to their LTI? >> LTI. And the LTI it varies by interaction. In some cases, the LTI might come in and model the lesson and deliver the lesson for the teacher. And a teacher that's done it a couple times and had that experience, we might just check out It's really fun. It's actually there in a suitcase. So, you see the LTIs going around with suitcases in school. They might check out the suitcase and and drop it off. Just depends on the the context. >> Yeah. That's very interesting. Thank you. Yeah. I was going to say I appreciate the context that you gave us cuz I know we asked for AI, but like I think helping us understand how this fits within the broader instruction, particularly broader instruction around technology, um is important as well as the

088triangle. Cuz again, I think it's important of like how do you balance >> Yep. That's right. >> um what is like high quality, high content with something that's just like repetitive use. >> Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, and having raised four kids and taught high school for a number of years, I recognize the fact that young people are extremely sharp and creative and can often figure out ways to get around firewalls and such. It I'm guessing because technology is changing so quickly, you guys have to be really on the ball to keep up with the changes and it's it's must be sort of an ongoing evaluation of how well Lightspeed actually works. >> I call it a dance. We're dancing all the time with with with the kids, right? Like they are figuring stuff out and

089we're responding. Sometimes we're ahead of it, but it is Yes, we have to be responsive cuz technology is changing all the time. Yeah. And not everybody's as responsible as Max. No. No. I guess >> Max is quite responsible as as we saw tonight. >> that begs the question then, are Do you have students involved in like letting you know what the new like VPN might be or like whatever because I know as the mom of teenagers, I ran into that with my oldest or he was like, "It's okay. I used your credit card to get a VPN." I was like, "I'm sorry, what?" Never mind, I'm on school board. Um so, I'm just curious, you know, they seem to always be one step ahead of us. How are the students involved in letting you know

090what the So, we do seek student feedback on occasion. I was at a talking about AI actually at a student council meeting recently. But, I would say that our LTIs are actually really crucial to that because they are out in buildings with students, right? And so, they they have their ear to the ground and they're able to bring back to us as a department like what specifically is going on and what sort of tweaks and things we need to make. Great. Thank you. Mhm. Hey, I noticed that uh this week Los Angeles is banning iPads, I believe, in K1. I'm wondering what Talk about the iPad use in in K1 in ACPS. What do kids do with it? What do they use it for? >> That's a very good question. >> you think about the

091banning? Uh that's a that's a loaded question. Um what they're doing with it in my observations K2 and I would actually like to hear from our instructional leadership on this as well. Um not putting on the spot tonight, Dr. Hayes, maybe another time, but um I it should be tied to curriculum, right? It should be those if we're on HMH, we're using those digital components of HMH when appropriate and sometimes we're not using those digital components. Um it it should be tied to curriculum. Um we do have, you know, examples of some of those higher level learning experiences um that we might see use of, but that would be the other use we'd like to see. So, an example might be if you've heard of Scratch before, there's a a kid-friendly version of Scratch, which

092is like an introductory coding program. Um and it they they sort of teach the the cat to to do certain things and jump around the screen and I've seen like literacy tie-ins where we're retelling stories that we've learned about by programming characters to do certain things. So, we'd like to see a lot of that as well. Um as far as the bans go, um I I think we need to look at the research. Thank you. And that's the answer I'm going to give you. I do actually have a follow-up on that just for Dr. Hayes just for kind of for later is I am interested in finding out again and we talked about this a little bit last time is you know, we know that there are um curriculum components that are that are embedded

093in the that are embedded in the curriculum like you mentioned for technology. So I would be interested in just understanding on the just on the K2 level K1 and 2. Um I mean I'm trying to I have to think about what the question is but like like the proportion maybe of HMH and Kittem activities or follow-up activities that are coming through an iPad versus um uh paper and pencil or books. So that you know, you know, is it is it that the majority of those Kittem and HMH activities that are being done are actually you know, like more three to five or or how many are really in that K2 cuz I think you know, that's something we'll I think we'll be looking at going forward. Thanks. I think seeing no other questions if you're

094ready to go forward with AI and Megan. >> move into AI and works the exciting stuff. Okay. So AI in ACPS. Um as I mentioned what you're going to see today is a presentation that has been given to our school administration. So I'm just giving you that context ahead of time in case anything feels like why are we learning about this specifically? It's through that frame. Okay, but we want you I I felt it was important that you all have the opportunity to hear what our leadership is hearing about as you are also leaders in our school division. Um as we all know AI is one of the most pressing issues right now in our classrooms and frankly in our communities. Um and Max spoke about data centers. This is this is a real thing

095and it's not going away. So we can't bury our heads in the sand about it but we we need to address it and we need to address it in a way that's measured um and balanced. So I'm going to turn it over briefly to Megan to talk a little bit about what AI is Uh to lay a foundation for us. So, AI really is not new. Um it has existed for a long time. It's the type of AI that has changed pretty dramatically in the last few years. We've had traditional what we call assistive AI for a long time. So, assistive AI is those kinds of machines that run on an algorithm, right? That interpret data and help us make decisions. If you have an Alexa in your home, if you have Siri on your

096phone, if you have Netflix that recommends um different things that you can watch, this is AI. It's been in our lives for a long time. Um does anybody know what happened on November 30th of 2022 that changed everything? Max knows. Yeah. Is that what ChatGPT got? ChatGPT was released to the public November 30th of 2022. So, it's only been about 3 years um since really the ground started moving underneath our feet. Um generative AI was that really brought generative AI to the public. Um these are tools now that don't just interpret data and help us make decisions, but they create entirely new content. So, generative AI can create something completely new from all of the patterns and all of the data that it has been trained on. Okay. So, um the way that generative AI

097in a very simple simple explanation here, a very simple metaphor. Um the way that it's trained is that we take a bunch of examples of something. So, lots and lots of data. So, if we wanted to make an AI model that recognizes cats, right? We'd feed it tons and tons of images of cats. Um so, that assistive or traditional AI would say, "Okay, I've seen enough cats that I can recognize that thing as a cat, and everything else is not a cat." Well, generative AI blew everything out of the water and it said, "Well, no, I've seen enough cats. I'm trained on enough data that I can create a cat for you." And so, that is an actual AI created image of a cat using I'm not sure which Dolly from um ChatGPT. So, you

098can imagine you've heard all of the challenges that this presents from academic integrity issues to learning uh loss issues, stealing the thinking as as uh Max was talking about. These are all very important things, but at the same time we know again, this is not going away. Uh it is accelerating and we need to address it uh in schools. Uh it presents both a challenge, but also an opportunity, right? Um you all have probably had a chance to try it at some point and can and maybe it's helping you in your life right now. It's helping me in mine in a lot of ways. So, how do we balance those things? Um one thing that I want to state that we have uh tried to make very clear is that when it comes to AI

099in the classroom, our teachers, our staff are in the driver's seat. They know their students, they know their uh curriculum, and we want to empower them to make the best decisions that they can, while also providing the resources and the professional learning uh to learn and grow as this thing continues to impact us. So, what are those resources? Um couple years ago, uh myself um our manager on our team um sat down and started drafting some guiding principles uh that we then worked alongside a group of division leaders who went to um some professional learning experiences. Dr. House came to a couple of those uh where we then took those, refined them, and as a division came up with a guiding principles document. This is a what do we believe about AI? And what it

100basically says in essence is exactly what I said before, is that there are challenges and there are opportunities and we need to address both of those. Um you are welcome to click in and take a look at that document. It is linked. Um we will continue to revise this document. It's probably time to do that already, even though we I feel like we just finished it. But again, uh AI is changing so quickly. On top of that, um myself and a couple folks from our team partnered with a couple folks in the Department of Instruction, Monica's going to share with you a little bit in a minute, to develop some instructional best practices. So, this is this says, okay, based on what we believe about AI, based on those challenges and those opportunities, what are

101the recommended best practices when it comes to how they impact learning? If I'm a teacher that's going to use AI, what are some some cautions look fors, uh some some things to consider? Um and then on top of that, we have our resources. And these resources are are extensive. There can be more and there will be more. Um but we're going to hear a little bit about them now and Monica's going to come up and talk about some of those resources. So, one of one of the first resources that we framed was a syllabus statement and the purpose of this was to send consistent messaging across all content areas. And that syllabus statement appears on on everyone's syllabi at the beginning of the year. It does lay out to students that when they don't follow

102the AI guidelines, they will be subject to the same academic misconduct and integrity violations. And it lays out four points. The first point is really um that the teacher, once again, is in the driver's seat and they are the ones who are defining the degree and the role of appropriate use of AI in a particular assignment. Um if the teacher does not uh say any specific use, then the default is no AI should be used. And if a student is confused or needs clarification, we've encouraged students to just further ask for that. But the default is if I don't mention anything as a teacher, then you really shouldn't be using AI on this assignment. If you are using AI, I should be clarifying some type of role, and we'll go into the roles in just

103a minute. The second point that we um lay out on that syllabus statement is when AI is permitted, the student should be ethically using it and citing the source that they used the platform and how they used it in what way. The third point that we have is that the AI results can be biased and inaccurate. So, when you like to use the tool, then you are responsible for checking the accuracy and the biases that are in that um piece of of material or research that you are using. Finally, the last point is we students pay attention to the privacy of their data because these prompts, you know, may be be public, or you don't need to like say your first name, your last name, your location, and all of those pieces. The other um

104resource that is accompanied by this is the student usage scale. I'm going to try to click on that right now. Uh Can I get full screen? Yeah. There you go. So, there are four categories for AI use. The first one is a teacher says we don't need any AI on this particular assignment. The second level is AI is appropriate for planning. And um if you look towards the right-hand side, there are some examples that you might use this as a citation generator. You might use it for brainstorming. You might say, "Give me five resources that I can use as leads in this in this research piece." I'm going to scroll down. The third piece is a little bit more hand-in-hand, and it's AI collaboration. So, at that point, you're using it to analyze data. You're

105using it to um look and create an illustration such as a pie chart for data. You're using it to edit. So, it's doing a little bit more work than that planning stage. And finally, there's the fourth stage, which is full AI. You can openly use it to create text, to create images for you. The part that gets a little bit gray in the landscape that we're living in is the level two and level three. With um AI planning, sometimes a student might use a tool like Grammarly, and Grammarly may pick up little pieces of punctuation, fix them for you. However, if a student crosses over to the paid version of Grammarly, you've now probably, if you're a student, you may not realize you're crossing over into level three, which is collaboration. At that point, it's

106probably not just fixing the commas and the punctuation, it's actually changing the tone and voice of your writing, and maybe, you know, changing word order, or changing specific words. So, there is kind of this this landscape, and then, if a student does that, you have to think about, well, was the intent there? Was it done unknowingly? Was it done intentionally? So, like this piece is something that we encourage the teach use to clearly define the role of AI, and to to make it as clear as possible. Like, if students don't know about Grammarly, advising that you're not using a paid version, um just because this is all a new landscape for students and for teachers. I'm going to try to return. There we go. The last um resource is just referring back to our Virginia

107state standards. The secondary curriculum, the 2024 English language arts SOLs, actually dictate that from grade six through 12, that we actually discuss the use of AI. In fact, if I read the the exact text to you, I wrote it scribbled it down before I came up here. It says that students will demonstrate ethical and responsible use of all sources, including the internet, AI, and new technologies as they develop. So, teaching the ethical use, teaching how to cite this material, how to create a prompt so that you can generate something um beneficial, these are all pieces that are tied to our curriculum. Every year, we offer two lessons through the middle school level English classroom, and two lessons through the high school English level classroom, um where we discuss some of these pieces of ethics and

108understanding AI, and they kind of progressively get uh more complex. We also offer a lesson that comes through the history classroom. And if you notice history and English are the two subjects where humanities where we are writing the most. So, I don't want to misconstrue some of the teachers' feelings, but you know, in this in this area this becomes really difficult for teachers because the students are writing essays and especially as you go to dual enrollment and AP, you're writing at such a fast clip and turnover for essays that you can't do it all in class. You can't you some of it has to be done at home away. So, we're navigating this landscape and this is kind of an entry point for teaching students the touchstone of of this is the ethics if it's

109used this is the way it's used correctly. And then the last piece is the computer science standards. So, computer science standards go across K through 8 after that they become an elective course and it's much more complex or interested in it so you chose that. But K through 8 those computer science standards are are infused across all content areas and all teachers are supposed to have a role in shaping that. It doesn't necessarily look like I'm teaching coding in my English language arts class, you know, it's probably more about a habit and a mindset of computer science. So, you're teaching ethical use, machine learning, like when you enter data this is what it might look like. This is rationale and logic that we're using. So, some of those pieces that those habits of mindset with

110computer science are kind of um stre- taken across all content areas and supported K through 8. So, these are our entry points for where we try to infuse the correct use of AI because as we said, you know, it's a double-edged sword. The teacher is in the driver's seat and these are our two curriculum points that the VDOE expects us to to touch on these topics. Thank you, Monica. I will also note that we have over the course of this year received some feedback around the existing lessons and curriculum from staff and students and we're incorporating that into a process right now. We are currently undergoing revision of those resources, which will probably need to do every year with how quickly this is changing. And finally, in terms of resources, I've mentioned our LTIs tonight.

111They are out in schools helping with this. They are working day in and day out with folks particularly at the secondary level because that's where we're seeing the most impact. And you can just see some stats there around things that we have done. So this year, we've also provided through our LTI program some of the opportunities to bring teachers to different events to learn about this as well. So examples of through Visti, through ODU, there have been a few opportunities that we've brought teachers to. And then finally, professional learning sessions. We have some developed. We've got a plan in place. Our snow really dinged a couple professional learning days this year and we're really looking forward to picking those back up next year as we continue to provide PL around this. Lastly, I just want

112to call your attention back to those instructional best practices. I think you'll find them interesting if you have an opportunity to take a look at any point. And I want to end this portion with a video before we jump into the experience. This is in their own words, students and their perspective on AI. Okay, class. Today, we're going to talk about AI. What have we heard about it? Everly, I see you back there. If you ask it to write an essay about something, it will like write your essay for you, and that some people like cheat on their essays. You can put fake videos of people online. It could give me wrong information. I searched a question, and the AI overview literally said the opposite of what was right. >> One of my real big

113worries is about it taking jobs. Like you're already seeing that. >> AI is trying to be teachers. Well, I'm in trouble then, huh? Are you allowed to use it for SCHOOL WORK? >> NO. OKAY, SO be honest. How many of you are using it anyway? It seems like we have a problem here. So, how would you fix it? Today, you're going to create our new AI policy. Like right now? Desks together, groups of four, please. Let's do this. I think that we really need to learn a lot about AI now because we can already tell that it's going to be a huge part of our lives. >> So, I've heard about people um making friends and socializing with AI. And I feel like that's a little bit concerning. AIs don't have personalities. They kind of

114just agree with everything you say. >> a friend that's willing to tell you like if you're wrong and tell you if you're right if you actually and be honest with you. >> AI should be a tool and not a friend. Not everybody has access to AI. Whether it's because they don't have a device at home or they don't have internet or stuff like that. So, only use AI if everyone can use AI. Okay, yeah, that's a great idea. It can't answer certain things, and it can't like write essays or something. But it can pull it can pull trustworthy sources for you. It is really fun to kind of just pull all of our knowledge together because we were all learning a lot from each other. AI can track your digital footprints. Just be careful with

115it. >> AI safety should be should be mandatory. Kids never get to make the rules at school. I'm not even sure who does. I don't think the principal does. I I have no idea who actually makes the rules at my school. Over-reliance on a AI will make it so you don't learn anything. Yeah, I feel like we just need a class that will teach us how to navigate AI and make sure that our brains don't turn into mush because of it. >> It's really important to use AI responsibly and do what your teachers say. I don't want an AI teacher. You know, there's like no emotion there. A better combo is the teacher using the AI and then they're both teaching the children. AI is really empowering if you have some guidelines around it. Honestly,

116I'm just curious how it works and I think that a lot of kids are. I would love to learn how it can be used in everyday life and how it can be used as an accurate source of information. AI is like taxes. It's unavoidable and if you don't learn to roll with it, you're going to be left behind. I definitely want to be a part of solving big problems. We need to have a say in AI policies because AI literacy is really important. All right, very cute, right? But also very important. Um, and what struck me about that video is that all the things that I know that my team has been thinking about to hear kids be thinking about the same thing, to hear Max tonight share that he's thinking about the same stuff.

117Um, we're on the same team here, and we yeah, we just got to get to work. And with that, we're going to step into the remainder of our presentation. Um, I'm going to say from this point forward, I'm going to leave it up to you. I know it's very late. Um, so we can uh continue to go through things as planned, and get interactive. Um, we can also just share with you about what we would do if this were an interactive experience. That is up to you all. Um, and in the interest of time. So, what would you all like? Well, yeah, I'm fine with you just sharing it with us twice. >> You want to share? Yes. Okay, I'll share. Sounds good. All right, so you are a group of principals. When we use

118AI, uh there are some core guardrails that I really want you all to think about. Um, these are very important to make sure that it's used responsibly as an administrator uh in a building. Uh, the first guardrails that we want to make sure that uh all ACPS policies still applies to the use of AI. Um, they include the policies that you all heard about earlier tonight. Um, data protection is very important with AI. There are a lot of tools out there that um will use AI to train their model, or excuse me, use your data to train their model. And we want to avoid those tools for use specifically in school. And the reason for that is due to the protection of student data, and the laws that govern that. We need to make sure

119that student information is not being used by a company to profit, and that student information is not making its way into somebody else's results. Uh, so we want to make sure we are only using the aligned and approved tools uh, that we have in the school division. You can see those by clicking on this link. Um, note to the board, we are looking more closely at these tools and maybe refining this list a little bit further in the future. We have an AI steering committee uh, that includes a lot of departments that is currently having this conversation. Uh, govern number three, um, Google Gemini is the division adopted AI tool. The reason for that is because uh, we have we use Google. Um, and we have an enterprise uh, subscription to Google as a school

120division. And part of that includes a provision in our contract that uh, they don't do anything with our data. We own our data. Um, so by using uh, Google Gemini we're ensuring uh, that there's in there's more data security involved. Um, additionally uh, by using Gemini we we do have the um, ability as needed to just see what's going on in there. So something concerning or something alarming happens, um, we're able to as a technology department take a look and help our school administrators out with uh, addressing issues. Additionally, as a member of ACPS with the subscription you have access to Google's pro model, which if you didn't know cost you $20 a month otherwise. So uh, big pro there. Um, it's very important to remember that we want to anonymize or pseudonymize any data

121that we put in. Even if we're using Gemini we want to take that extra step and precaution with student data. So if you're going to use AI to process data in any way, you either want to strip those identifiers, those names out or change them. Use initials, use numbers, something so that the AI doesn't know who that data ties back to. Um, we want to remember that no AI AI tool is perfect. Um, they are all prone to what we call hallucination. AI is designed to give you an output. It will give you something. And if it can't give you what you what you want, or it doesn't know what to give you, it's going to make something up. That is how the technology works. Um so always always always check what it gives you.

122Garbage in, garbage out. Right? Um And then finally, we are um if we're going to be using it with staff or students, we're going to reference those instructional best practices. Um and we're never ever ever going to use AI to create items for sensitive student documents, such as IEPs. Now, Katie is going to share with you a little bit about what you can do in terms of improving your own productivity through effective prompting. All right. So, how many of you have used an AI chatbot before? Okay. So, it's it's Yeah, this is this I just want to know so that I know kind of where we're where we're moving from. So, whenever you are talking to an AI, there are three basic components we want you to keep in mind so that Clay was saying

123garbage in, garbage out. We want to make sure you're getting the best possible result. So, those three big components are perspective, purpose, and parameters. Um should I skip this one? Okay. So, if you were just look at these two prompts, we have an instructional prompt and we have an operational prompt. The instructional one says, "Give me a 45-minute professional development session with staff to help improve classroom management strategies." So, if I just put that into Gemini, what am I missing? And if you were with the principals, we'd have you turn and talk. And if we were doing this with, you know, our operational staff, the alternative is, "All right, make a communication that's going to go to all staff, students, and families saying that we have a 2-day closure due to snow nights. All right,

124so we're just kind of thinking about what are we missing from this? It's very generic, right? We're not giving it the specifics that it needs. So, when we are thinking of perspective, this is where we are giving the AI a role. There is emerging research coming out of the University of Pennsylvania that actually telling the AI, "Hey, you're going to be the superintendent of a school district." Or, "Hey, you're a fourth-grade classroom teacher with 25 kids in your class." That kind of nuance actually isn't as important. Personally, what I love to do is I like to tell the AI what my role is. So, if I want a specific output, I'm going to tell it, "I'm a technology coach." Something that my team really likes to use when we are using AI is something called

125the 80/20 rule, where we can have the AI do 80% of the work for us, but we need to make sure that we're going in and doing that other 20%. So, if I tell the AI, "Hey, this is my role." That kind of is an extra safeguard to make sure that whatever the output it is giving me, I'm then going to have to put it into my own words. We also have the purpose. Those two examples we gave, that's really all it was. It's the purpose. This is the meat and the potatoes. This is the part of most prompts that people are really good at. We're really good at telling AI what we want it to do. But, what we really need to work on are the parameters. Something that's really come up with our

126students is really these concerns about how AI is impacting the environment. And guess what? The more conversations we're having with AI, the bigger of an impact we're having. So, if I can put in one conversation that's going to give me everything I need, that's going to take me out of this kind of iterative cycle because the AI is going to keep talking to me. It never wants to stop. So, if I tell it exactly the output that I need, that's going to encourage those conversations to get me to my end goal, which is to actually, for me, to get to the classroom to work with teachers, not to be sitting on my computer talking to AI. So, to take those prompting examples and expand upon them, the same two that you just saw, here is

127what that might look like if we actually follow the three P's. Let's take a quick look there. Okay. Going to move on. I I just the parameter on um I had never thought about using that with this idea of because we have because we translate officially or through Google like Google Translator so many of our communications that the use uh use vocabulary and syntax easily translated via machine translation. Um like that's an like interesting and important add that I never thought about. >> Yeah, we're teaching you to think like the AI thinks, right? Yep. There are many more examples of really awesome prompts that follow the three P's at that link if you're ever curious. And just as a quick example for you, um here are two different two one prompt with output that's just

128purpose-driven and the same prompt with all three P's and a different output, and you'll see an example there of how much higher quality that output is. I want to state, very important, we've heard scratch the surface of it tonight, AI uses a lot of natural resources. We care about this, our communities care about this, our students care about this. And I encourage you if you're using AI to think about that. Using the three P's is a way to be more efficient with your AI use so that we're not prompting it over and over and over and over again and using more water, using more energy. Megan's going to quickly touch on the Gemini models. So as we stated one of the main reasons that we are using Gemini, and that's our preferred tool, is that

129it's, you know, packaged in our Google education accounts that we already purchase within the division. And it gives us access to all three models. So when you are prompting Gemini on the right-hand side, you can toggle between these three models. Fast is really just meant to be it is fast. I mean, it works instantly and it's meant to be for simple questions like drafting really simple communications or summarizing something. Just quick, you know, quick quick questions. Thinking is now going to go a little bit deeper. It's going to take a little bit longer to get a response. This is where you're going to use if you're trying to analyze data sets, maybe you're trying to make a decision on a complex topic. And then the pro version is going to take the longest to generate

130an output. And we want to reserve using the pro for really mostly like creation of materials, creation of content. This is going to it's going to take a while and it's going to use the most energy. So again, thinking about energy consumption, you want to be thinking about what model you're using it for what purpose when we look at the three models of Gemini. Just a question to actually two questions on that. One is how are you It sounds like you are thinking about this use of natural resource and is that part of the training for students, teachers, leaders so that people are always like aware of that? Is that Yes. I mean this you're seeing a presentation that was just given and called out to. Additionally, some of the curriculum that Monica was referencing

131earlier, one of the threads and themes in there is exactly that. And and then the other one on data sets. And I'll ask it's like it's a principle, right? My question would be where is my data safe, not safe? How do I decide what data like what is our what is our school policy around data? You know, if I want to look at some data deeply, sometimes I use Patrick who I forgot about earlier. And that but sometimes I might want to do that and what am I allowed to do, not allowed to do? >> That's a good question. Right now, our answer is that we want to consider the personally identifiable information in that data. If there is no PII, then we are okay. If it is PII, we need to either take it

132out or we need to as I said in the with one of the guardrails pseudonymize that data. So that's that's the threshold for us right now. Yeah. Okay. So I would actually love to comment on this sort of after this section is finished cuz I'd love to give you my perspective as well. >> love to hear your perspective. Um what we would then do with our administrators is give them a chance to put the three P's into practice through the lens of our instructional best practices. So it's a chance for them to dive into those, but also a chance to actually try out Gemini for themselves. So they would open up Gemini, they would choose an instructional best practice, and then click on the link. So let's just say for example, I clicked on communication,

133it's going to take us to the slide around communication and it's going to give example tasks. Notice these aren't prompts, these are tasks. You have to engineer the prompt to complete the task around the theme of communication. The first two tasks would be for our school administrators and the third it be for our operational administrators. These are just examples to get people thinking, to get their, you know, get the juices flowing, but folks in this experience were also welcome to try out prompting for themselves with whatever task that they were dealing with in their day-to-day, and our LTIs would walk around and and help facilitate and help out. So, what's next? We are looking to collect more student staff feedback, as I mentioned. Right now, we are looking at curriculum. Um We are also currently

134conducting our technology survey, which I've spoken with you all about in the past. Um it's our main feedback mechanism for our community and for our staff and students around technology use in school, and we use that to drive a lot of decision-making, and there's a lot of questions on AI out there. Um we are currently waiting on the translations for our family survey, but if you're a family member or community member, uh you'll see that come out in a in a communication soon, and you're welcome to take that and provide your your own feedback. Um we're revising our existing resources, the ones you've seen tonight, as well as the curriculum. Um we are looking at creating additional curriculum. We know that right now mostly it's um in ELA and social studies. Um those have been

135the areas most impacted by the introduction of AI, uh but that doesn't mean that other subjects are not. Uh so, we're looking at other subjects as well. Um we're also looking at identifying and refining our core tool list of what's out there and what's available. There is a lot out there, and a lot of it's good, and a lot of it's not, and again, it's all on how you use it. Um and so, we are taking a look at what it means to have a robust AI environment that's also very curated. Um And then finally, we're keeping an eye on legislation. There is some pending legislation out there um that could have impacts in terms of curriculum, even the availability of AI in schools. Couple additional resources for you. Um There's prompt engineering libraries that

136are really worth checking out to see examples of what great use of AI looks like in the education setting. Our general resources document you saw tonight. And then finally, we do have an AI website that is publicly facing that shares about our philosophies tonight and has information for families. I do want to say before I switch to questions, I made a small mistake in a slide earlier regarding curriculum. Savvas was on for some of our high schools and it turns out that is that is in one high school. So I just wanted to make that correction. And with that, any questions that you all might have? Max, yeah. I just want to give you my personal take and like kind of an explanation of what I've personally noticed, what my friends have like said to

137me about AI. I mean starting like the AI club, it seemed more controversial than I would like expect it to be. I know people have seen like the posters around school and they'll be like, "Oh, Max, you just love AI so much." I'm like, "No." I want to educate you on it, right? To use it properly. And it brings into the fact I love that you mentioned that with the three P's whenever you use it is more environmentally friendly. And online is also something I want to bring up. There's a lot of nuance. You see so many creators saying, "Oh, you have to be learning about AI. Like you have to be using it, right?" But they don't exactly explain how. You know, people interpret that as, "Oh, I go to ChatGPT. I'll ask it

138something, right?" And then it just gives you another bad output and they don't say, "Oh, learn prompting" or anything like that. Whereas you could just go to Google and then you could do a normal search. Like you don't need to use AI necessarily for like simpler tasks. Like it's just using up more energy. I know personal friends around me, they've used certain AIs that are cooled by wind instead of water, so it's more environmentally friendly. But I guess back to the idea of cognitive decline, I've had I've literally had people come to me and say Max, I've like lost the ability to like write an essay. I used to be able to do it so fast and now I've used it so much. And even for me personally, I mean I've used it a decent

139amount. But there's two things that you really need to have and it's accountability and it's discipline, right? So I think it's just always something that we need to teach and we need to keep in mind, or else we're going to become so reliant on these things. I mean it's like social media, right? Now that kids are like growing up with social media, their brains are like so trained, like it's just like a normal thing. But you know I guess it's just the whole idea of like over over reliance. Yep, absolutely Max and I I'm so glad you bring that over reliance reliance point up. I hope the message that you're hearing tonight is that's what we want to avoid. We want that balanced approach that says what is appropriate use? What How And how can

140I be meta-cognitive about my use? If you have a friend saying uh yeah, I've lost the ability to to write an essay. Are we helping students to think and recognize, oh that's a problem and I need to I need to reflect on my use, right? Um and what do we do about that? And that's those are the kinds of things we want to see in our curriculum and and in our resources. Yeah. Also, one more note on like that cognitive bias thing. I think the reason we've seen so much divide is specifically short-form content because you know, these students they're being fed things from their like Instagram feed and it's gives the statistics of oh, it's using this much water, which is like absolutely true. But it forces those students to like see more of

141that content and then you become less open to looking at opportunities where AI can actually like help you and like where it's going. So you tend to put it off entirely. I feel like that's a problem as well. But just us talking about it now, it can lead students more to like look into like other options. Absolutely. Yeah. I think it's interesting to those of us that are older and went through school without laptops or phones or blackberries or pagers. I mean, we we had no technology, right? Um so we wrote all our essays by hand or typewriters. In case you remember what those are. That's how we learned to type, right? In typing class on typewriters. Um but I find it interesting now. I use AI a lot in my profession profession. My husband's

142an attorney and he's actually leading a charge on how it's changing the legal field in that it's making people more efficient um so that they can take what they're really good at and focus on that and it kind of like when email and and, you know, smartphones came along. All of a sudden you don't you're not tied to your desk and working till midnight on a project because you can do it at home or you can do it on the go. But it's interesting to bring up the fact that our students are learn are not getting that cognitive like engagement of writing an essay, of having a debate, of doing those things because they're being overly reliant on AI. So it's a really interesting like thought to think about how it is shaping society now

143and how things are becoming much more efficient and um allows us to maybe do our jobs better in some ways, but in on the flip side of that, a lot of our students are probably hindered by this. Um and so it'll be interesting to see how we develop it so that it becomes an aid and not a hindrance because you're right, it is it is a part of our society now. It is a part of business. Um you're not going to get around technology, but But do we use it again as an aid to make ourselves better at our jobs, more efficient, and not um in place of, you know, learning how to do these things. And and and that engagement with AI is very much knowing what the prompts are, knowing that you already

144have the knowledge ahead of time of what exactly you're asking, and knowing what you're expecting to come out of it. If you're going into it blindly and just saying, "Write an essay on Romeo and Juliet in this theme," you know, they're not learning anything. It's just giving them >> to have the skill to know what the output is. >> Yeah. So it's it's pretty fascinating. Yeah. I um I can't claim credit for this quote. I can't remember who said it. Um but was at a conference and someone said that what we want Yeah, right. Uh that we what we want AI to do is to offload the procedural productive stuff so that we can do the human stuff. >> Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And how do we maintain the humanity in our students? >> Absolutely. I

145think that's the most important thing is um and and I will say, you know, having kids in all three uh levels in ACPS, I've been really impressed, especially at the elementary level, and I know this was a big concern of you, of the amount of time that were they're on iPads or whatever. And I have really noticed minimal use. My daughter's in fourth grade, and I really thought it's going to be ticking up. Um and I've really impressed this year. All of her homework is nothing is on technology. No none at home. We have She has to write all of her paragraphs in complete sentences. Um and even when I've been in the classroom, their Chromebooks are put away, their iPads are put away, and it's for very much instructional piece in that lesson, and

146then it is away, and they are hands-on. And so I hope and and pray that that's the case in all of our elementary school classes, but I will say that I've been really impressed because that was a concern for us is that there was over-reliance on it in elementary school, and I haven't seen that um in the last year or two. It seems to be be after COVID, you know, of course, that was a big thing, but we've we seem to have been moved away from that in the last year or two. >> Yeah. We want to move towards intentional use. >> Yeah. Yeah. It would be really helpful for me, at least, and probably for all of us, to have, um, access to studies that sort of cover both perspectives. That I'm sure there

147are studies that say, "Oh, technology's bad." And then there are other studies that say the opposite. Yeah. So, I think it would be helpful for us to hear from sort of both sides of the argument. So, I don't know if we can have access to Oh, yeah. We're We're happy to partner with you all. >> resources. And I will say, too, you know, my son who has a lot of special needs, it's been a such a gift to us because he can't write. He can't read very well, but during the day I will get, um, a notice that he's shared a document with me in Google Drive, and I can and I can see stuff that he's working on that he he doesn't bring home worksheets and things like that. So, for us, it's been

148a way to see and pour into what he's doing at school that previously we were not given any access to that. And so, it's a way for him to continue to learn in a different way. Yeah. Put that high on the EdTech triangle, right? Yeah. Right. Any other questions? Other comments, questions? I mean, what my only kind of parting words I mean, first, this is very helpful, um, and I appreciate it. And as I think about policies and like I hate like this is one that I I mean, that worries me just in the fact that you like we, you, like need to stay on top of this. Just like, you know, I just can't like, you know, when I think about your jobs and like as as as Ms. Bowman said, like, how in

149the way do you stay ahead of both on the technology side, like what's happening, but particularly AI and how it could and does impact in this rapid changing world. And so, I mean, what I would say is just however we can help continue to partner with you and support you in understanding the fact that yeah, well, normal policies are in this 5-year review, but in this situation, you know, this might be something every 6 months to a year. >> That's and that's a big part of why we wrote the policy the way that we did to be more open and flexible so that regulations can be adjusted, but really like Yeah, we we can't It moves too quick. That's right. And I will say too that um our our team, that's part of their role

150and that's part of why we're here is to help do that research, to help stay ahead. That's um R&D is a big part of the the LTI framework. Well, I'm just thinking that ChatGPT is 3 years old and how much how much how much it has changed just in the last year um is mind-boggling. So, to be able to I mean, I don't even know how you do stay on top of it when it's changing that rapidly and then trying to protect our our kids. That's a You have a You have a tough job. Last question, remind me I should know that cuz we just passed the budget, but how many LTIs do we have and how are they deployed? We have 14. Um and they are deployed across We have a secondary team and

151an elementary team. Small exception to that is Katie currently also supports Center One. Um and they are most shared schools. We have one or two exceptions to that at some of our really large high schools. It's really just the one. Um we actually were at 13 right now. We just We just made a a hire for next year for 14. So. Awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. >> Thank you all. Thank you. Appreciate it. I appreciate you all staying so late. You know, that our early We know We know you have early mornings as well. So, thank you so much for everything that you do. We so appreciate it. Thank you. Do we have any other business before the board by the superintendent or any board members or staff? Looking to my right, yeah,

152looking to my left. Seeing no nothing before us, I am going to adjourn us at 9:25. Thank you all so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. >> Mhm.