MERIDEN, Kan. (WIBW) – Jefferson West USD 340 is one of many school districts across the country adjusting to keep up with AI.
Jeff West Middle School language arts teacher Mary Williams uses a stoplight to represent the ways students can and can’t use AI in her classroom.
“This is an opportunity to utilize things but it isn’t something that you want to use to cheat or any of those kinds of things,” she said. “If they learn how to utilize it well, I think that we will be able to see some great gains in what they can do with it.”
USD 340 is one of about 20 Kansas school districts that received a $7,000 grant from KU’s Center for Reimagining Education.
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic,” Jeff West High School social studies teacher Shawn Dolezilek said. “We haven’t spent the money yet because we’re still trying to figure out what’s the best way to use that. I don’t just want it to be wasted dollars.”
“It’s really powerful to see, in a world where sometimes education isn’t always at the forefront of people’s minds, that there are still people who are willing to invest in it and people who are standing behind us and do want to see how education can progress,” Jeff West Middle School art teacher Brooklyn Petrie said.
So far, teachers say they haven’t heard concerns from families.
“I expected parents to say ‘No I don’t want my student using that’ and we had none of that,” Williams said. “Everybody was right on board.”
They want to use this opportunity to change how students learn.
“So that’s what we’re trying to do is be innovative and kind of be the sky’s the limit on how can we fundamentally change the way we do school,” Dolezilek said. “Because right now we’re still based on that 19th century farming model.”
The district is now in the second of a three-year partnership with KU.
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