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Norwalk schools approve AI tools, ChatGPT licensing and student-information system purchases
Summary
The school district will license two AI education platforms and renew a student-information system after the Board of Education IT team described professional-development and student-data privacy safeguards.
Norwalk Board of Education technology staff told the Finance & Claims Committee on July 10 that the district will license two AI education platforms and renew its student-information system to support teachers and students while protecting student data.
Ralph Hopp, director of BOE information technology, said the district vetted four providers and selected Magic School Inc. and OpenAI LLC as two of four licensed platforms for the coming year. "These are part of our professional development," Hopp said, adding the district has developed "responsible-use" guidelines and privacy protections so student data entered into licensed systems remains within the district's contracted environment.
The committee authorized the purchasing agent to issue purchase orders for Magic School Inc. (amount not to exceed $25,800) and OpenAI LLC (amount not to exceed $34,323.29). Hopp said the licensing is intended to give teachers tools to create differentiated lesson plans and to teach prompt and ethics skills to students.
The committee also approved a sole-source purchase of PowerSchool Group LLC as the district's student-information system (amount not to exceed $232,511.50). Hopp described PowerSchool as the hub for grading, attendance, discipline and state reporting and said the platform is the district's long-standing solution for student data.
All three authorizations passed unanimously in committee and will be forwarded to the Common Council on July 22 for final review.
Ending: The committee approved the procurements and directed the items to the full Common Council for final action.
