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Malden parents press school committee for advance notice and opt-outs on classroom AI
Summary
Public commenters at the Feb. 2 Malden School Committee meeting asked the district to require parental notice and opt‑out options before expanding use of CourseMojo in 7th‑grade English and requested release of midyear assessment and survey data informing the rollout.
Dr. Liz Tonogbanua, a Malden resident, told the School Committee on Feb. 2 that families were not informed in advance about the district’s use of an AI tool called CourseMojo in some 7th‑grade English classes and urged the district to secure parental consent before expanding the tool’s use.
"Families were not informed in advance about the implementation of CourseMojo," Dr. Tonogbanua said during the public comment period, and she asked the district to provide openness about which grades and schools would be affected, whether the program will expand next year and to release the midyear data and student survey results she said district leaders referenced.
Caitlin Peale Sloan, another public commenter, supported parental‑consent safeguards, opt‑out options and true pilot evaluations that include data reviews. Sloan also urged the district to continue assigning full novels in the high‑school English curriculum rather than relying primarily on excerpts.
Superintendent Sippel noted in his report that the district will share additional disaggregated assessment data in coming meetings; at the Feb. 2 session he described early assessment gains and said more detailed subgroup analyses are forthcoming. Committee members asked for clarity on how the district will notify families and what materials will be shared at planned engagement events.
The public commenters requested that family engagement opportunities be accessible (not dependent on QR codes), provide balanced information about benefits and drawbacks of AI, and include clear detail on survey timing, response counts and main findings. No formal policy changes or votes on CourseMojo were taken at the Feb. 2 meeting.
The committee did not adopt any immediate policy at the meeting; public‑commenters asked the district to respond with specifics about notification, data release and pilot evaluation plans at future sessions.
