Former CHS teacher urges district to confront AI’s classroom risks, suggests phone embargo

During the public comment portion of the Jan. 14 meeting, former Cheltenham High School teacher Rick Topper urged the board to prepare students for rapid technological change and to emphasize humanities instruction and classroom control over devices.

Topper, who said he taught in Cheltenham for 30 years and created a Digital Culture course at the high school, told the board that artificial intelligence is “the biggest technological disruption” facing education and argued districts must respond. “Step 1 in this effort is self evident. Embargo cell phones and return control of the classroom where it belongs to students and their teachers,” he said. He framed the issue as a human‑values question: educators should teach students to understand how AI works, who benefits, and how to assert human value in a digital age.

Nut graf: Topper called on the district to move beyond business‑as‑usual and pursue “hard decisions” and curricular shifts so students retain human virtues and skills amid AI advances.

He referenced national commentary — including a New Yorker article — and warned that education must teach students to articulate their worth and to resist a narrowed digital culture that prizes machine outputs over human creativity and care.

Ending: Topper’s remarks closed with a call for the district to engage in wide, forward‑looking conversations about curriculum and classroom policy; the board proceeded to other agenda items.