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Arlington board approves Magic School AI platform with professional development and privacy safeguards
Summary
The board unanimously approved a service agreement with Magic School, a K–12 education AI platform, after a presentation by the technology director emphasizing data-privacy protections, in-district professional development, and a phased rollout; the board recorded interest and some student advisor concerns about reducing teacher-student interactions.
The Arlington School Board voted unanimously to approve a service agreement with Magic School, an education-focused AI platform, after a presentation by Director of Technology Dr. Matt Durk explaining the district's recommended approach to artificial intelligence.
Dr. Durk told the board the Technology Advisory Committee evaluated tools and recommended Magic School because it is built for education, provides data-privacy protections that prevent district-supplied content from being used to train vendor models, and includes teacher- and student-facing features that can be integrated with Google Classroom. The proposed agreement includes professional development (a four-hour in-person training plus nine one-hour virtual sessions), district-level controls, and four complimentary months of access as part of an initial implementation window.
"Our approach should be to guide, not to inhibit," Dr. Durk said, framing the recommendation as a way to offer staff and students a safe, vetted set of AI tools while the district finalizes procedural guidance. He said the technology department has reprioritized existing MSOC funds and can cover the first 16 months of the proposed plan within the current budget footprint; the contract locks pricing but does not obligate future payments beyond the district’s discretion.
Board members and student advisors asked questions about differences between Magic School and commercial chatbots, student critical‑thinking outcomes, and rollout plans for lower grades. Dr. Durk said Magic School includes features intended to discourage inappropriate emotional attachment to chatbots and to give teachers transparency into student prompts and usage. Student advisor Van (Bambi Cat in the roll call) said peers use commercial AI tools frequently and expressed concern about reducing teacher-student interaction; Dr. Durk and directors stressed the intent to curate student-facing tools and restrict open commercial AI for student accounts.
The motion to approve the Magic School service agreement was moved by Director Nap and seconded by Director Diamond; the clerk recorded unanimous aye votes: Diamond — yes; Kelly — yes; Watts — yes; President Beck — yes; Nap — yes.
District staff said implementation will emphasize training, staged rollouts, periodic surveys and check-ins, and measures to assess whether the platform improves instruction and is cost‑effective. The board requested follow-up reports and local usage data to evaluate effectiveness.
