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DULUTH — The timeline for the school district’s plans to give high school students access to artificial intelligence on school devices is under reevaluation following several meetings where community members, school board representatives and students expressed concern over the rollout.
The district announced plans earlier this school year to enable the use of Gemini — Google’s AI model — on student Chromebooks at the high school level. The AI integration plan comes as part of the district’s effort to prepare students for the “age of AI,” said Cindy Miller, a school media specialist who is part of the district’s AI task force.
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“Students are already using AI. We already have teachers that are feeling the impacts of AI use at school,” said Miller during a presentation on AI integration for the Duluth School Board’s committee of the whole meeting in early February. “We need to find a way to build that AI literacy … around how to use AI ethically, how to use it and when to use it.”
Miller, who is also the district’s computer science lead, spoke with Duluth school administrators in August about developing a plan around how to approach AI in classrooms. By the time the new school year started, a task force made up of district instructional and technology staff had been formed to assist with the development and planning of Duluth schools’ AI rollout.
The district was set to begin high school access to Gemini starting Monday, Feb. 23, as students returned from winter break. That launch date, however, has now been placed on hold so the district can communicate with families and seek more community input.
Over the last several months, community members have shown up at school board listening sessions and urged the district to reconsider AI integration in the classroom. While some of these concerns have been raised by educators and parents, the most frequent opposition to AI during these meetings has come from students.
“I know what it’s like being in high school,” said Kalina Mattila, the student school board representative from East High School. “I know there are some people that are going to just use AI, no matter what anyone says. Teachers will tell you not to use AI, and they still will, and that’s unfortunate, but it’s the truth. And I just don’t think that if we implement Google Gemini, it’ll help.”
Along with unauthorized use, students have expressed concerns over the unreliability of AI detectors and teachers’ ability to identify AI in assignments, as well as environmental impacts and overall potential harm to their education.
Aaron Boyson, a University of Minnesota Duluth communications professor, spoke during the school board’s January listening session, urging against the implementation of AI in classrooms due to the largely unknown impacts of AI use on students.
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“There’s a lot of mixed messaging about the benefits of technology, screens, in classrooms, just in general. When it comes to AI, the conversation gets murkier, because we simply don’t know, at this time, what the side effects are going to be long term,” Boyson told the News Tribune. “So why would we treat our kids with this much disdain to let them be the lab rats in these kinds of experiments without evidence?”
A 2024 study from the Medical Research Archives raised concerns that an over-reliance on AI could erode essential cognitive skills, especially in educational spaces that have traditionally focused on developing critical thinking, creativity and language skills. With those types of detriments in mind, Boyson said, implementing AI in classrooms is something that should be done with rigorous vetting, and the costs weighed carefully.
“We should expect that AI has the power to redefine learning itself because it presents shortcuts,” Boyson said. “The AI folks will tell you, ‘that’s a virtue,’ but I want students to think, because there’s so much about learning that’s cognitive. I don’t want it to be too easy. I want that friction of thought, because I think it enhances their learning.”
“I haven’t seen anyone yet — and I’m not saying it doesn’t exist — but I haven’t seen anything that has provided for me a road map of how AI can both offer these benefits without also undoing those foundational education skills.”
As Duluth Schools have moved towards integrating AI in high school classrooms, training for both teachers and students has been underway throughout the fall semester. Starting last spring, teachers have had professional development days dedicated to AI use and implementation in classroom settings, with more to come still this year.
While some of those teacher trainings have focused on getting faculty up to speed with how AI can be used in classrooms — preparing teachers on how to educate students on AI use — upcoming training in early March will feature more targeted training on AI use in the classrooms for teachers, this time tailored towards their specific subjects.
“Teaching with AI and teaching about AI, that’s two different things,” Miller said. “But all teachers have had, or will have had by March 2, that training about how to use AI for teaching.”
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As part of the district’s AI integration plan, students have also received new AI-centric education. Specific classes across all high school grades were identified to include lessons about AI in order to prepare students for Gemini access. These lessons, Miller said, give students an overview of AI-related topics, like ethical use, bias and proofreading, data privacy, and how AI works.
In December, the school board approved an updated internet use and safety policy. Additionally, the district has created a new “common language” around AI use and academic dishonesty that will be included in student handbooks next fall.
While the actual rollout date has been put on hold with no official replacement announced, the district will continue moving ahead with teacher training and new efforts to connect with families about AI integration plans.
In March, the district will be releasing a survey to get input from students and teachers about when and how they use AI, and what students feel they should be learning in order to be prepared for AI use after high school.
“Community response to something new of this nature is always varied, and there’s always a suite of legitimate concerns that we’re going to need to consider as we chart our path forward,” Miller said. “We’re not necessarily changing decisions around that, but just recognizing that there are concerns that we need to keep in mind.”
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