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Student-built AI app piloted in Middlesex schools, district says teachers are testing features
Summary
Student representative Kevin Ware and technology manager Damien Dimino described a student-built AI application piloted in about 30 classes that shows student prompts to teachers and includes flagging and teacher-control features; the superintendent said the developer will market the product outside the district.
A student-built AI application that gives teachers live visibility and control over student chatbot use is being piloted in the Middlesex Borough School District, student representative Kevin Ware and technology manager Damien Dimino told the school board on May 20.
"My name is Damien Dimino. I'm the technology manager here," Dimino said, describing the internship that produced the project and the student team who built it. He said he set an internship project focused on AI and "a young man in my internship came up with an incredible idea" that others then helped build into a classroom tool.
Kevin Ware, the student representative, said the pilot has run in about 30 classes and the app is designed so "whatever they say, it's shown to the teacher," adding that the software includes flagging features and a teacher dashboard. "There's also, like, 1,000,000 custom settings for the teacher to control the AI," Ware said, describing options to limit output to assignment-relevant content.
Superintendent Dr. Roberta Freeman and staff described a collaborative rollout: administrators identified volunteer teachers who provided feedback and iteratively refined the app during the pilot. Freeman told the board the original student developer is leaving the district and "is now a CEO of his own company that is marketing this product, and it started right here in Middlesex."
District staff framed the project as an experiment in AI literacy and classroom oversight rather than a formal curricular adoption. School officials said the tool was designed to let teachers see student interactions with chatbots such as Gemini or ChatGPT in real time and to mark or flag content for review.
The board did not vote on a procurement or district-wide adoption during the meeting. Administrators said the pilot will continue and the district hopes to expand the program within the district and potentially to other schools in the state, pending further testing and staff recommendations.
Next steps: staff said they will continue piloting the app with volunteer teachers, gather additional feedback, and report back to the board with any recommended policy, privacy or procurement changes related to broader use.
