District 62 outlines technology upgrades, pilot of Magic School AI and next steps for AI guidelines
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Sign Up Free
Summary
The district technology chief reported on security upgrades, expanded language support in Infinite Campus, DecisionEd enhancements and classroom pilots of Magic School AI, and proposed an AI task force to develop student guidelines and literacy skills.
Denver, the district chief technology officer, briefed the board April 21 on an annual technology update that included security work, new features in Infinite Campus, expansions to the DecisionEd data warehouse and classroom pilot work with Magic School AI.
“Safety and security remains a critical part of the technology team's daily work,” Denver said, noting elimination of video blind spots, application of software updates and deployment of an enhanced 911 solution that provides more location details. With Infinite Campus in its second year of deployment, Denver said families can now manage lunch accounts in the Parent Portal and that the district planned to add Polish, Spanish, Ukrainian and Russian translations on report cards.
On data systems, Denver said additional behavior, social-emotional and multilingual data views have been added to DecisionEd so teams can spend less time assembling charts and more time problem-solving. The technology team also reported badge integration for bus riders to aid transportation reporting and safety.
A central portion of the presentation focused on Magic School AI, a classroom tool the district has begun using with teachers and students. Denver described Magic School as “designed specifically for teacher and student usage” and said it is FERPA-, SSAFA- and CIPA-compliant and does not learn from or share student data. He demonstrated teacher- and student-facing features, including translation, read-aloud and a built-in flagging system that alerted staff when a student shared personally identifiable information in a chat.
Denver summarized next steps that include forming an AI task force with middle school student input to develop student guidelines, a scope-and-sequence for AI literacy skills, parent information on district AI usage and expanded staff workshops. The board discussed environmental impact and detection tools; one member asked the district to include the energy and environmental implications of AI in literacy work. Denver said the district would monitor AI-detection tools but had heard mixed reviews about their reliability.
Ending District staff said teacher workshops and a district institute day will include AI sessions; staff will return to the board with materials such as recommended student guidelines and an implementation timeline.