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Virginia Beach schools outline measured AI rollout for classrooms with guardrails and monitoring
Summary
Director Ryan Goldberg told the board the district is treating 2025-26 as a guided practice year for AI: required staff training, limited generative AI access for high schools (teacher-directed), Google Gemini blocked on devices from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m., and early usage data will be monitored and shared with the board.
Ryan Goldberg, director of instructional technology, presented the division's quarterly update on artificial intelligence implementation, professional learning and planned outreach to families.
Goldberg said the district scheduled three professional learning sessions per level (elementary, middle, high school) to build staff capacity and that high school instructional staff completed a required 90-minute AI session over the summer. "This AI implementation year is a year of guided practice, and students should only engage under their supervision for specific purposes," Goldberg said.
The division emphasized ethics and safety: staff learned to verify AI-generated responses, apply lateral reading to check accuracy and identify bias. Goldberg described a usage scale that ranges from AI-resistant experiences to AI-assisted tasks with teacher direction.
High school students were allowed supervised access to generative AI beginning Nov. 5; the division limited Gemini access on school devices to teacher-directed assignments and configured device controls to block Gemini from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. Goldberg said elementary and middle school students will not use generative AI this school year except limited, approved tools (Adobe Express, School AI, NotebookLM outputs), and teachers are advised to work with instructional technology coaches and library media specialists when integrating AI.
On monitoring, Goldberg said the team collects teacher feedback after turnkey trainings and analyzes Google-form responses to shape subsequent sessions. He also shared preliminary usage counts since Nov. 5: most students made fewer than 200 prompts; specifically, 69 students made 200'499 prompts, 179 students made 50'199 prompts, 3,500 made 10'49 prompts, and 3,940 made 1'9 prompts. Goldberg said the division will continue to track prompts and application usage and report results to the board.
Board members asked about enforcement for inappropriate use, cluster scheduling for PTA outreach (86 schools), and continuous teacher feedback after students begin using AI. Goldberg said acceptable-use policies were updated to set expectations and that enforcement would be coordinated with school leadership and student-conduct procedures.
The division plans further community webinars and PTA visits after the holidays and intends to return to the board with another update in the third quarter.
