Ahead of increasing the presence of artificial intelligence in the classroom in the 2026-27 school year, two-thirds of School District of Lancaster board members say they favor updating a year-old policy that governs AI programs to specifically guide how students use the technology.
MagicSchool AI will debut this fall under the district’s first contract with an AI provider, said Karen Wynn, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment. Several schools in the district piloted the program from January through the end of school, Wynn told board members at their Tuesday meeting.
“As AI is becoming more ingrained in society, we have to be more specific about what we’re talking about when it comes to policies,” board Vice President Katrina Holmes said Thursday.
Teachers will decide how students use the MagicSchool AI platform, accessible through student iPads, Garret Derr, an elementary school instructional technology coach, told board members. Most teachers will use the technology to plan lessons, he said.
The plan to offer MagicSchool to teachers and students in kindergarten through 12th grade this year drew sharp criticism from four board members, who described the move as unnecessary and premature for the district’s youngest learners.
Administrators insist MagicSchool AI will greatly increase student learning and provide resources for all teachers and for students, primarily beginning with fourth grade.
“AI will never replace the role of a teacher,” curriculum director Wynn told board members. “You cannot negate the positive, or the positive interaction between the teacher and the student.”
How it works
Derr walked board members through a recent presentation of how a teacher used MagicSchool to structure a third-grade science unit on marine life.
In that case, Derr helped the teacher create introductory web pages encouraging students to explore marine life within MagicSchool. The teacher fed MagicSchool the research materials, including district curriculum, as well as magazine and newspaper articles and pictures.
Those introduction pages contained language that targeted students at various stages of literacy and knowledge, Derr said.
Each student received a specific code that opened a MagicSchool page to a suggested welcome screen for an exercise or activity. The program started by asking students what they already knew about marine life and then provided more information or asked more questions to spur interest.
“The platform tries to determine what the student already knows,” Derr said.
Using manatees as an example, MagicSchool might ask a knowledgeable student how water temperature affects the mammal’s survival. A student with less knowledge of the topic might receive a prompt asking what a manatee looks like.
The unit lasted about two weeks and involved students using MagicSchool a total of about 10 minutes, Derr said. Pupils then used their research to create a final project, such as a poster, video or slide presentation.
Brain drain or learning tool?
“I’m skeptical, especially at the elementary level, that there’s any appropriate instructional use of AI,” board member Dave Parry said. “He likened the platform to having students play the wrong note on an instrument. “It’s like going to (a student’s) music practice and saying, ‘Oh, you messed up that note. I’ll just do it for you.’
“The value of AI is that it requires you not to learn,” said Parry, who chairs the board’s policy committee. For instance, he said, AI providers promise users that their products can do the thinking for them. “In the case of students learning, we actually don’t want to offload cognitive learning.”
After the meeting, Wynn said using AI in the classroom is not meant to be a cognitive drain. She cited data from the World Economic Forum that lists analytical thinking as the top skill employers look for in 2026-27.
“At the end of the day, our job as a school district is to graduate students” ready for higher learning or jobs, she said.
Administrators chose MagicSchool because it protects each student’s personal information, allows teachers to monitor use and lets staff members upload district curriculum into the program, she said.
A parent or guardian will be required to give written permission to their student to participate in the school’s AI offerings, as mandated by the national Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which regulates artificial intelligence for children under 13, Supervisor of Instructional Technology Wes Emlet said after the meeting.
Parents and guardians will be able to opt out of MagicSchool, he said. MagicSchool may operate under the current district policy that guides artificial intelligence, he said.
Previously, the school community received no notification about MagicSchool except for school board meeting minutes from June 16, when administrators announced the nearly $57,000 contract, and from June 23, when board members approved it.
“Not all screen time is bad,” Emlet told board members, saying MagicSchool digital interactions promote high-level reasoning and problem-solving. “Technology should support learning, not replace great teaching.”
Board member Anita Pilkerton-Plumb urged administrators to use caution before allowing some students access to AI because it decreases face-time between teachers and students.
“I’m really concerned about the decreased face-to-face interactions with a teacher,” she said. “I’m concerned about jumping in with little experience.” We “do not have very much data on the impact of AI. I know everyone’s doing it, but I don’t think that necessarily makes it a good idea.”
“What scares me,” board member Kareena Rios said, “is that we don’t have the right answers, and we don’t have a lot of research on it. Our students, specifically in public schools, get experimented on with a lot of different technology, new ideas, different curriculum, and it doesn’t provide a level of consistency throughout their learning.”
Holmes, however, mentioned a benefit associated with introducing AI to elementary school students.
“Living in a society that we live in, kids are being exposed (to) artificial intelligence no matter what,” said Holmes, noting she still has some concerns about students using artificial intelligence.
“I appreciate that we are moving forward in a way that is telling our students like, ‘Hey, let’s be safe about it. Let’s be responsible about it.’”
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