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Board endorses Magic School after district pilot, outlines student certification and safeguards
Summary
The New Haven Board of Education heard results of an AI pilot and moved to adopt Magic School as the district platform after a pilot across eight schools; the rollout includes teacher PD, a required student AI certification (15–20 minutes for grades 5–12), and vendor-stated privacy protections (no LLM data retention, FERPA/COPPA/SOC 2 compliance).
The New Haven Board of Education on July 27 received a detailed report on the district's artificial intelligence pilot and the recommended adoption of the Magic School platform for districtwide use.
Assistant Superintendent Beth Hannans told the board the AI committee convened in April 2025 to close a guidance gap, an operational gap and a preparation gap. The district ran a pilot beginning in January 2026 that tested two platforms across eight schools and, Hannans said, "Magic School was far superior" in teacher feedback, time-saving automation and student engagement. She added the AI committee's recommendation was unanimous: "A 100%." The pilot survey included responses from 49 teachers across eight schools, Hannans said, though not every school opened Magic School to all teachers.
Hannans described classroom uses observed during the pilot: differentiated lesson planning, individualized writing feedback, teacher-managed chatbots for study support, multilingual materials and automation that saved planning time. She said the platform was used to build standards-aligned lessons and to give teachers more time to focus on student relationships and higher-order tasks.
Becky Litchin, a Magic School representative, described the vendor's technical design and privacy practices, saying the product layers district-customized educational tools over multiple large language models and that the company holds "no data retention contracts with all of our large language model providers," which she said prevents training or resale of user inputs. Litchin also stated the vendor is FERPA-, COPPA- and SOC 2-compliant, has a 95% Common Sense Media rating, and complies with Connecticut's data protection requirements.
On student safeguards, Hannans emphasized teacher oversight: students will use chatbots only under teacher direction and the platform includes automated flagging when inappropriate content is generated so teachers are immediately notified. The district plans to require a short AI certification course for students ("about 15 to 20 minutes," Hannans said) for grades 5'12; students will need the certificate before using the platform.
Implementation steps include single sign-on integration, two district kickoff PD days, ongoing differentiated PD, office hours and a midyear and end-of-year review to evaluate fidelity and impact. Hannans said the district will use vendor-supported professional learning and select teacher leaders to provide train-the-trainer supports.
Board members praised the pilot design and called for accompanying guidance and evaluation instruments. Doctor Joiner urged rubrics and measurement tools to quantify instructional impact and fidelity; Doctor Benitez requested a guidance document to accompany the adopted policy and recommended posting the names of committee participants.
The board did not take a separate formal vote on the vendor selection during public session beyond moving forward with the implementation plan described in the presentation; district staff framed the selection as the committee's unanimous recommendation and outlined next steps for rollout.
