for a pause<\/a> in the implementation of a program called MagicSchool AI until Superintendent Howard Hepburn\u2019s staff provides a written report addressing concerns such as student privacy, program costs, and the effects on teaching, as well as student learning and social and mental health.<\/p>\nHe also requested more teacher input and public hearings on the issue.<\/p>\n
The School Board agreed to Cervera\u2019s requests for more information, but the majority said a pause was unnecessary because schools are closed for the summer.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Howard Hepburn said he\u2019d bring back a report in July to address a number of concerns the board raised. Students return to school Aug. 10.<\/p>\n
Hepburn said he hopes to launch the MagicSchool program sometime in the fall semester.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this is coming back in July, and the board is going to look at the written report that you\u2019re bringing back in July, why do we need to pause anything or stop anything if it\u2019s not being rolled out to students at all?\u201d Board member Jeff Holness asked Hepburn. \u201cIf we have any concerns with that report, then we can address those concerns before it\u2019s rolled out in the fall?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is correct,\u201d Hepburn responded.<\/p>\n
The School Board had voted in March to buy the MagicSchool AI program, using a $1.8 million donation from Fort Lauderdale philanthropists Wayne and Lucretia Weiner.<\/p>\n
Although Cervera made the request for Tuesday\u2019s discussion, he ended up voting against the item, saying an amended version favored by most board members was \u201cwatered down,\u201d since it didn\u2019t explicitly call for the pause. Board members Lori Alhadeff and Nora Rupert also voted no.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t\u00a0pause or stop this, what\u2019s the point?\u201d Cervera asked board members. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to keep doing what we\u2019re doing. Nothing\u2019s going to stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll get a report. The whole crux of this was for a full stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cervera wanted to prohibit any use of the MagicSchool program, or any similar AI programs, during summer school or teacher trainings until the board voted to resume use.<\/p>\n
But Hepburn said 4,300 teachers had already been using a free version of the program during the 2025-26 school year.<\/p>\n
Some board members also said that some students and teachers may need to use the program for some of the input that Cervera was seeking about how well the program works.<\/p>\n
Hepburn said there\u2019s no other similar AI program used by students right now. District employees are using another AI program, Microsoft Copilot, to try to create efficiencies and simplify job tasks.<\/p>\n
The discussion on Tuesday attracted more than a dozen public speakers, most of whom agreed with Cervera\u2019s call for a delay.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, pause AI. Absolutely,\u201d Daina Sanders, a Davie parent who also serves as chief of staff for the Broward Teachers Union, told the board. \u201cIn fact, get rid of a lot of it that we have. We don\u2019t need more AI and technology in our classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zayra Lenchus, a parent and former district employee, also urged the district to slow down the rollout.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must ensure AI does not undermine or replace the teacher\u2019s professional judgment, classroom autonomy and lesson design,\u201d Lenchus told the board. \u201cLet\u2019s not fast-track a trend just to be No. 1 at the expense of our children\u2019s privacy and our educators\u2019 autonomy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most board members said AI has a place in education, since students will need to use in the job market. They said more communication was needed with parents and teachers to address their concerns.<\/p>\n
Board member Allen Zeman said he\u2019s a big proponent of AI and spends about 15 hours a day on it for his work, but he acknowledged not everyone is as enthusiastic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community has been very clear through this item and other communications that there is significant fear about anything related to AI,\u201d Zeman said.<\/p>\n
He said the district needs to overcommunicate with parents that \u201cthere are both opportunities with AI and there are safeguards to protect the students.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Broward School Board has ordered a review of what effects a recently acquired artificial intelligence program may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[113,249,251,250,266,115,109,32797],"class_list":["post-318103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-education","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-social","tag-south-florida-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}