Laguna Beach schools present AI-in-education plan and tools; board questions center on learning, safety and policy

Laguna Beach — District leaders presented an information item on Jan. 16 outlining how artificial intelligence will be used across instruction and operations and what safeguards the Laguna Beach Unified School District plans to deploy.

Deputy superintendent Dr. Mayberry and Chief Technology Officer Mike Morrison described a district approach that places human inquiry and reflection at the center, provides job‑specific professional learning for staff, and uses a mix of closed-model tools and in-house software to track and guide AI use. The district demonstrated an internal Google Docs add-on, AI Trust You, which lets teachers set assignment-level AI guidelines and lets students record how they used AI. Morrison said the tool is intended to move classrooms from suspicion and secrecy toward transparent conversations about allowable AI uses.

Morrison and staff showed examples of classroom pilots: student prompt-writing for AI-generated images, an adaptive feedback tool called Snorkel for math instruction, and a SchoolAI product configured to operate in a closed model under the district’s student-data‑privacy agreement. The presentation included usage data showing staff interactions with ChatGPT‑style tools and a UCI study comparing parent and teen AI use.

Trustees pressed staff on several issues: how AI will affect students’ cognitive development and independent thinking; whether AI responses that deliver opinions can be blocked; how the district will prevent overreliance; where student work and prompts are stored; and how the district will partner with parents. Trustee Malcheski warned that AI can become a ‘‘dopamine hit’’ that reduces classroom struggle and critical thinking, and asked how AI will map to explicit learning objectives. Trustee Hills asked whether the district can avoid repeating past problems with overuse of devices.

Morrison described safeguards: the district prioritizes closed models for classroom monitoring, logs interactions, limits session windows, and embeds AI usage into unit design so teachers can control when and how students use AI. He said ChatGPT premium is not currently offered to students because of provider age restrictions. On policy, the superintendent said the district has adopted CSBA-recommended language and will update policies to keep pace with rapid change.

Public commenters and board members urged caution and recommended explicit teacher training and parent workshops. A student representative said banning AI will not erase use and suggested refocusing curriculum toward skills that prepare students to critically engage with AI.

The item was informational; no votes were required. Staff said they will continue phased professional learning, refine policy language and return to the board with implementation updates.