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Hunterdon Central showcases classroom use of AI; state education office to observe
Summary
Staff, teachers and students described the district’s two-year focus on artificial intelligence, classroom experiments, an AI student club and tools such as SchoolAI and GoGuardian; the New Jersey Department of Education’s Office of Innovation will observe the district’s work.
Hunterdon Central Regional High School District staff and teachers detailed ongoing work to integrate artificial intelligence into instruction during the board’s Jan. 27 meeting, saying the program focuses on protecting student privacy while using AI tools to personalize learning and save teacher time.
Superintendent Jessica Candelosi Haid introduced a panel: Bridal McIsaac, supervisor of English, drama and film; Chuck Roberto, supervisor of technology and the IMC; and Denise Spina, library media specialist. They described a two-year staff focus group and professional learning sessions in which more than 135 staff attended AI-related workshops during an in-service day.
Presenters and classroom teachers described specific uses in world languages, English and science. World language teachers said SchoolAI and other platforms let them prompt conversational practice and return immediate feedback, enabling faster differentiation. An English teacher said she used AI as a “peer partner” for revision so teachers can spend limited conference time on ideas and deeper feedback. Science teachers used AI to simulate interviews for selection to specialized field trips. Staff also described tools for process-tracking such as Google Docs’ revision history and extensions like Draftback to show students’ drafting work.
Technology supervisor Chuck Roberto described GoGuardian as a classroom-management and monitoring tool that lets teachers see students’ open tabs, restrict access to specified sites during a lesson and send private messages to students. Denise Spina emphasized early uses focused on teacher productivity (rubric formatting, grading preparation) and on student practice that would otherwise take excessive class time.
The district also introduced a student Artificial Intelligence Club. Kevin Hardy, a business and computer science teacher, said the club has about 28 members and meets twice a month. Club president Dhruv Sood said the students aim to be “the student voice of AI” at Hunterdon Central and to promote ethical AI use in classrooms. Student officers described member roles for creative outreach, research and external partnerships.
The presenters said the state Department of Education’s Office of Innovation plans to observe a focus-group meeting and that the district has presented its work at conferences. The panel emphasized that use of AI will be intentionally designed to preserve student voice and capture learning processes rather than focus solely on final products.
Board members praised the presentation and asked how teachers would preserve peer interaction and collaborative learning; presenters said teachers are designing a mix of AI-supported and AI-free assignments and are using human oversight to maintain the “human in the loop.”
No formal district policy changes were adopted at the meeting; presenters said the district continues to pilot tools and collect feedback from teachers, students and families.
Quote: "They're looking for assistance, not necessarily answers," said Chuck Roberto, summarizing student feedback about AI.
Ending: The district said it will continue staff professional development on AI and will host the state Office of Innovation for follow-up observations next week.
