Parent-technologist urges New Albany-Floyd County schools to restrict unmoderated AI access on student Chromebooks

At the Sept. 22 meeting of the New Albany-Floyd County Board of School Trustees, a community member identified as J.C. Lundy told the board he had found unmoderated access to generative AI on his fourth-grade daughter’s Chromebook and urged the district to adopt an AI risk-management plan.

Lundy said he had discussed the issue with "Dr. Belker" before the meeting and that the district technology team had followed up. "As of two weeks ago, my daughter had access to ChatGPT without needing to log in and access to Gemini," Lundy said during the public-comment period. He added that his tests produced content he described as inappropriate and that the district needs safeguards, especially for K–8 students.

The concern centers on student access to large language models and other AI tools from school-managed devices. Lundy framed the concern in two ways: the potential for students to use AI to shortcut learning and the broader psychological risk he attributed to unmoderated behavioral-manipulation techniques by large platforms. "When students hand their thinking to a machine, the loss isn't just academic integrity but intellectual independence," he said.

Lundy offered the board materials he said he had prepared, including "an AI playbook for school administrators" and reference handouts, and said he would share them with the district. He also told the board he had spoken with Dr. Belker and the technology team prior to the meeting and that he believed the conversation had been productive.

Board members did not take formal action during the public-comment period on Lundy’s request. Members and staff present acknowledged the concern in subsequent agenda items about curriculum materials, instructional integrity and technology use, but no AI-specific policy or formal directive was recorded on the meeting record. The district's public-comment procedures and limits were announced at the start of the meeting under policy 0167.3.

Lundy's remarks add to a growing pattern of public discussion about student access to generative AI in schools and were presented as part of the meeting’s allotted public-comment time rather than as a board agenda item. The board did not vote on any AI policy or restriction at the Sept. 22 session; Lundy said he would provide his materials to the district and the board for consideration.