{"id":99519,"date":"2026-07-08T21:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/99519\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:08:07","slug":"kamar-samuels-asks-principals-to-pause-software-purchases-amid-ai-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/99519\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamar Samuels asks principals to pause software purchases amid AI backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels asked principals this week to hold off on purchasing educational software until the Education Department finalizes guidance on artificial intelligence later this summer.<\/p>\n

The software purchasing freeze is the most concrete step city officials have taken to limit schools\u2019 access to AI and educational technology products amid growing pushback from families and educators over the potential harms for students.<\/p>\n

Samuels made the request in a Monday email that was first Tweeted<\/a> by independent journalist Susan Edelman and obtained by Chalkbeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis necessary pause is part of our work to ensure proper protocols are in place while supporting our students and staff and making sure that any digital tool used in classrooms is properly assessed for safety and privacy,\u201d Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said in an email.<\/p>\n

The Education Department released its long-awaited initial AI guidance in March<\/a>, sparking an outpouring of criticism<\/a> that it did too little to curb AI use. Scores of parents and educators, along with more than half the members of the CIty Council<\/a>, signed a push for an AI moratorium in city schools. <\/p>\n

Samuels acknowledged in May that the city had \u201cmissed the mark<\/a>\u201d with its initial guidance and indicated that the final version would have more stringent rules on AI use, especially for younger students. Officials originally said the revised version would be released in June, but told the City Council last month that they were delaying it<\/a>. The Education Department hasn\u2019t given an updated timeline.<\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

Every weekday morning, Chalkbeat New York is bringing thousands of subscribers the news on public schools and education policy that they need to start their day. Sign up for our free newsletter to join them.<\/p>\n

At the June hearing, Education Department officials struggled to answer questions about how many schools were using products with AI and which products they were using. With purchases largely made at the school level, they are not always tracked \u2014 an issue the state comptroller recently flagged <\/a>as a significant concern. Officials have since sent out a survey asking schools which software products they use.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear how many schools will be affected by the purchasing pause. Samuels noted that software required for \u201cmandated services or school opening needs\u201d would be exempt.<\/p>\n

Several principals said the impact of the purchasing pause could be far-reaching at a time when school leaders are trying to get their plans in place for next year. Many schools rely on software programs for basic functions such as grades and attendance along with academic support.<\/p>\n

Even when schools have used software programs for years, they often have to submit new purchase orders for the programs every year, making those programs potentially subject to the purchasing freeze.<\/p>\n

One Manhattan principal, speaking on condition of anonymity to preserve their working relationship with district leadership, worried about the drastic changes so close to the start of the new school year and wished the Education Department could have finalized the guidance earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already built budgets, planned interventions, and made decisions about programs for next year,\u201d the principal said. \u201cChanging direction in July makes summer planning significantly more complicated and creates uncertainty about whether schools will have access to the tools they planned to use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,1524,17025,613],"class_list":["post-99519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-computer","tag-hands","tag-testing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}