Richland 01 committee details controlled, phased rollout of AI tools for teachers and limited student use
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Summary
At a Feb. 17 Curriculum & Instruction Committee meeting, district leaders described a phased rollout of Magic School AI that provides custom chatbots, writing feedback and tutoring while emphasizing privacy, teacher training and upcoming policy work.
Columbia, S.C. — District curriculum leaders told the Richland 01 Curriculum & Instruction Committee on Feb. 17 that the district is pursuing a staged, controlled rollout of Magic School AI to support teachers and a limited set of student uses.
"The future is here," Dr. A. Williams said as she opened the presentation at the Stevenson Administration Building. District staff described a multi-phase rollout that began in 2024 with vendor-led professional development and self-paced certification, then expanded in 2025 to more teachers and tools.
The district has emphasized custom, curriculum-aligned tools. "A customized chatbot is a chatbot that's not generic like when you go to ChatGPT," said Dr. Hassinger, the district secondary curriculum lead. He said the district has created 87 customized chatbots used about 1,700 times, 15 customized versions of a standards "unpacker," and a lesson-plan tool that 376 staff used roughly 14 times each.
Hassinger said student-facing use is deliberately limited. "There were about 70,000 generations related to students," he said, using the district's term for individual AI responses, but added that students do not have unrestricted access and that "student rooms" keep work and feedback private to the district environment.
District officials stressed that the Magic School AI implementation is designed to align with South Carolina state standards and Richland 01 curriculum frameworks. "We want them to get feedback based on Richland 1's expectations and curriculum," Dr. Williams said, adding that the district can remove or restrict any tools that do not meet those expectations.
Board members pressed staff on several practical points. Commissioner Angela Clyburn asked how the district will preserve student creativity and guard against overreliance on AI; Dr. Williams and Dr. Hassinger said the current toolset functions primarily as a research assistant, study bot and feedback tool rather than an automatic content generator, and that policy updates and grading guides are planned to set guardrails.
Dr. Moore asked whether the system stores a shared library of previously generated materials that other teachers could use. Dr. Hassinger said custom chatbots and teacher rooms keep material separate but volunteered to check and report back to the superintendent on whether a searchable shared database exists.
Legal and data-protection safeguards were a focus. "Whenever we do a contract that's gonna be reviewed by our legal counsel to make sure that our students' data is protected," said the district representative who highlighted the need for legal review, adding that IT had been "pleased with the willingness of Magic School AI to conform" to district agreements.
The district also discussed detection and accountability tools. Presenters said schools use plagiarism and AI-detection services such as Turnitin to flag potential misuse and that teachers are being trained to interpret results and hold students accountable when necessary.
Staff and board members described teacher training and prompt-writing as central to success. Board member comments emphasized that the instructional skill will shift toward how teachers and students craft prompts to get useful, curriculum-aligned responses: "Garbage in, garbage out," one member said.
Officials said the district is monitoring adoption and outcomes. Hassinger reported that registered users rose from 868 last year (485 active users, 55%) to slightly over 1,000 registered users and a current active rate of about 79%, and that English language arts teachers had generated more than 38,000 AI responses tied to writing feedback.
Looking ahead, presenters said they will proceed with phased elementary pilots supported by the Office of Professional Learning, continue vendor and peer-district collaboration through regional forums such as SCASA, and refine district policy and grading guidance. Dr. Hassinger and others repeatedly emphasized a "slow integration" approach that prioritizes ethics, alignment and legal safeguards.
The committee took no formal policy votes at the meeting. Commissioner Clyburn adjourned the committee after the presentation and questions.
Next steps: staff will report back with follow-up information on the existence of any shared databases of generated materials, further details of contract safeguards, and proposals for policy language to guide classroom and grading practices.