As the classroom evolves with the advent of artificial intelligence, educators and students are navigating uncharted waters. The integration of AI tools has sparked both enthusiasm and concern, raising questions about their impact on learning and teaching practices. This article delves into how New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) are adapting to AI, exploring the perspectives of teachers and students alike.
When Ryan Boroski opened Google Classroom to grade his students’ five-paragraph essays, he had three other tabs ready: Scribbr, ZeroGPT, and GPTZero, which are all AI detection tools. Having taught social studies at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School for 11 years, he noted that the rise in AI use, especially post-pandemic, has prompted him to run every essay through these AI checkers. Although no software is flawless, Boroski engages with students if multiple tools raise red flags. For instance, among the essays arguing whether America should continue to honor Christopher Columbus, he discovered that two out of the 19 submissions were entirely generated by AI.
The Independent interviewed 15 teachers and three classrooms of students about the role of AI in New Haven Public Schools. Insights from these conversations revealed that AI is significantly influencing classroom dynamics.
Students are increasingly using AI for a variety of tasks, including science worksheets, math problems, essay writing, and reading assistance. While some are utilizing AI for academic dishonesty, others manage to cheat without detection.
Educators are grappling with how to capture students’ interest in traditional assignments—such as worksheets, reading responses, and essays—when chatbots can complete these tasks in seconds. Some teachers aim to integrate AI into their own methods, while others prefer to rely on established practices.
Since OpenAI released ChatGPT three years ago, AI has made waves across economic sectors, igniting heated discussions on its place in our lives. A particular focus has been on its potential impact on the education system, from higher education to early childhood programs.
In January 2025, Connecticut introduced a semester-long AI pilot program across seven districts. School systems statewide are in the process of creating AI policies, as state-level guidance remains sparse.
In August 2025, New Haven’s Board of Education passed its own AI policy, characterizing AI as “a tool to support learning” while underscoring the indispensable role of teachers and the essential human abilities expected of NHPS graduates. This policy outlines how staff can utilize AI, such as creating lesson plans, offering feedback, and streamlining administrative tasks, while also detailing how students might use it to generate study materials and that enhance comprehension.
NHPS continues to grapple with the lingering educational impacts of Covid-19, with social media contributing to diminished attention spans and prolonged focus. Last year, just 23.4% of K-12 students in New Haven met grade-level benchmarks on English state assessments—a slight increase from the prior year, yet still below the pre-pandemic figure of 34.4%. The district also faces long-standing challenges with funding—partly attributed to insufficient property tax revenue from several Yale University buildings. Approximately 75% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch, and the district grapples with high teacher vacancy rates. While Connecticut generally ranks among the nation’s top states for education, a 2025 study found it placed second to last in educational equity.
During the January 26 school board meeting, Keisha Redd-Hannans, the district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, presented on the promising role of AI in education, citing positive experiences shared by four educators.
“AI may be the most important tool to date,” proclaimed Board of Education Secretary Edward Joyner, a seasoned educator. “But it also may be the most dangerous tool to date.”
“I worry that we might enthusiastically embrace AI as a trendy educational advancement,” Boroski expressed. “But in five years, we could discover a decline in literacy and math scores because students aren’t thinking independently.”
In a separate conversation, Redd-Hannans stated, “AI is here, [and] we have to embrace it.” She added, “I genuinely believe that AI serves as a great equalizer in education as we navigate this transformative phase.”
Can AI address NHPS’ challenges? Or will it ultimately deepen existing inequalities and hinder student growth? More than five months after establishing their AI policy, district administrators have begun implementing a pilot program and training teachers on AI utilization. Meanwhile, students are becoming more familiar with, and reliant on, AI tools, as educators express differing opinions on how to integrate or discuss AI in their classrooms.
As NHPS grapples with the emergence of AI, teachers must rethink their strategies to prepare students for an economy increasingly influenced by this technology.
I. AI As A Smart Friend
In Boroski’s third-floor classroom at Co-op, 17 sophomore students, dressed in hoodies and jeans, settle in. Excitement fills the air as they discuss their upcoming debate on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
Boroski steps out, allowing students to share their thoughts candidly about their AI usage. The conversation begins easily: “How many of you have ever used AI?” Almost every hand, except one, goes up. Most students report using it weekly, with four claiming daily use. One student incredulously declared, “Hourly.”
The reasons for their AI usage vary: identifying trusted sources amid overwhelming information, crafting stories for creative assignments, developing resumes, and even writing complex emails. One student mentioned how, when uncertain about responding to a question, they consult AI for guidance, enabling them to formulate their answers independently. Some also utilize tools like Photomath or Gauth.ai with teachers’ approval to review homework answers, though it’s likely that some use these resources to find answers directly.
These students reflect a national trend; a September 2025 report from the RAND Corporation revealed that 54% of students employed AI for homework, marking a more than 15% rise from the previous year. Additionally, the survey noted that 21% used AI more than once a week for school assignments.
Their experiences mirror those reported by teachers. In interviews with 15 educators across five New Haven public high schools, estimates indicated that between 10% and 30% of the submissions received last year were AI-generated.
A student offered insight into the appeal of AI: “It directly responds to your inquiries,” she explained. “Even if you pose a simple question, it provides additional information that you hadn’t directly asked for, often articulating it in a personable manner, making it more user-friendly than Google.”
Many sophomores expressed a sense of dependency on AI. The student who claimed to use it hourly said, “It’s a bit addictive. It responds like a really smart friend would.”
II. The District Embraces AI
At last Monday’s Board of Education meeting, NHPS announced plans to implement AI pilot programs testing two new tools—SchoolAI and Magic School AI—designed for K-12 education across eight schools.
Participating schools include Clinton, East Rock, Engineering Science University Magnet Schools, and Hillhouse High School for SchoolAI, while Hill Central, John C. Daniels, Wilbur Cross High School, and Co-op will pilot Magic School AI. Redd-Hannans indicated that these schools were chosen based on their principals’ expressed interest.
However, Redd-Hannans voiced concerns over the uneven integration of AI across the district. “Despite the momentum we’ve built in New Haven Public Schools, I acknowledge we’re not as advanced as other districts,” she remarked. “My primary concern is ensuring that AI is fully embraced in all our classrooms, as our students must be AI literate.”
One area where the district is experimenting with AI is in middle school English language arts classes. In 2023, NHPS adopted the new Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Into Literature curriculum for sixth to eighth graders, which incorporates an AI tool called Writable.
Writable provides personalized feedback on writing assignments but first submits its comments to the teacher for approval. Jenna Swingler, NHPS’ secondary English language arts supervisor, finds Writable beneficial for both students and educators. She appreciates its ability to deliver prompt feedback on basic writing issues, such as comma splices and misplaced modifiers. Initially hesitant about AI-generated feedback, Swingler has since conducted research and grown more confident in the tool’s capabilities.
In 2024, the district reported a slight improvement in literacy rates, partly attributing this progress to HMH’s integration of education, which provided a standardized reading and writing curriculum. “We observed an increase in vocabulary, improved writing skills, and enhanced teacher quality in just a short, two-and-a-half-month pilot,” Redd-Hannans noted in an article by HMH.
Redd-Hannans heads the NHPS AI Policy Committee, composed of roughly 15 teachers, principals, district officials, and students. They have met biweekly since April, drafting the district’s AI policy and evaluating potential AI tools based on usability, consistency, and data privacy. As a current Google Global Silicon Valley Education Innovation Fellow, she is an advocate for embracing this new educational technology.
Educators are also actively experimenting with the extent of AI tolerance and instruction. The district is closely monitoring the effects of these choices. “It’s a balancing act,” Redd-Hannans explained when discussing policy development for teachers who hold diverse views on AI.
Last fall, only “pockets of teachers” collaborated with administrators familiar with AI. In December, NHPS offered 15 hour-long online professional development sessions led by Google staff, covering topics like Google Gemini, NotebookLM, creating reusable AI assistants, and effective prompt writing.
“I attended both sessions and was amazed by what we can accomplish for our students and as educators,” Florence Constantinople, a reading instructional coach, stated during the Board of Education meeting. One workshop showcased Gemini generating an animated graphic novel from a prompt.
While Redd-Hannans emphasized that AI adoption by teachers is not mandatory, Joyner suggested that, at some point, the district may need to encourage mandatory usage: “It can’t just be an option.”
Later, in an interview with the Independent, Redd-Hannans clarified, “I believe now is not the time for mandates, but eventually it will be necessary, as AI is a competency that our students must be comfortable with upon graduating from New Haven Public Schools.”
III. Navigating The AI Wild West
In the same Google Classroom window as the essays on Columbus, Boroski can utilize AI. He clicks on the Google Gemini chatbot, seamlessly integrated into Google Classroom, and asks it to “Write an informational text,” “Develop a unit plan,” or “Brainstorm project ideas.”
The NHPS policy allows teachers to use Google Gemini and NotebookLM due to their seamless integration with Google Classroom, according to Michael Simeone, New Haven’s chief technology officer. Teachers are also exploring other AI tools in the classroom. Simeone reported that MagicSchool, which created an AI chatbot tailored for educators, has over 80 NHPS teachers using its tool.
The district’s AI policy grants teachers, especially those at the high school level, autonomy to establish the rules and protocols for AI use in their classrooms. This has resulted in disparate approaches, often influenced by each teacher’s personal stance on AI.
Ben Nelken, a creative writing instructor at Co-op, expressed his reluctance to incorporate AI, stating, “I’m largely tech-averse. I’m not interested in anything impeding my teaching. I have methods I’ve relied on for 25 years, and unless someone guides me, I’m not inclined to experiment with it myself.”
Conversely, other teachers are eager to explore AI’s potential in their classrooms. Jodi Baker-Zielenski, a science educator at Co-op, encourages students to use Perplexity for research and teaches them how to write effective prompts for chatbots. At the Board of Education meeting, Zania Collier, a history teacher at Co-op, shared her approach of utilizing AI to adapt texts for various reading levels, develop lesson plans, and make contemporary connections within her teaching. NHPS’ world languages supervisor, Jessica Haxhi, praised AI’s ability to tailor learning materials according to students’ proficiency levels. Kim Daniley, the principal of Hill Central School, revealed how Gemini assisted her staff in creating a tagline for their school.
Mercedes McKelvie, who teaches ninth and tenth-grade English at Co-op, first encountered AI during her doctoral studies in educational leadership at Southern Connecticut State University. She was pleasantly surprised when her professor demonstrated effective AI applications for outlining papers and organizing readings. Now, McKelvie is experimenting with various AI tools. Her creative writing class is utilizing TextFX, which helps brainstorm figurative language for poetry based on a specified word or topic. Her honors English students are preparing to draft an argumentative paper on responsible and irresponsible uses of AI, and she plans to teach them how to leverage chatbots in their writing processes—whether for composing introductions and conclusions or editing drafts using rubrics.
McKelvie believes that sticking solely to traditional teaching methods stifles student growth. “AI represents the future of education,” she asserted.
IV. Student Use Of AI
Yamilet Sampedro, a ninth-grader in McKelvie’s class, first encountered AI in sixth grade. She viewed it as a potentially valuable tool for her schoolwork. For a middle school English assignment about a poet, she asked ChatGPT for a list of the top ten famous poets and incorporated that information into her project.
Sampedro later reflected, “Initially, it prompted ideas for projects, which made me less engaged in my own thinking. I allowed AI to take over my decision-making.” While acknowledging the temptation to use Gauth.ai, a tool for solving high school math problems, she has made an effort to avoid it, recognizing that relying on AI would diminish her intellectual confidence. “I understood that if I don’t do my work, I will miss valuable knowledge which will impact me in the long run.”
In another assignment by McKelvie, Sampedro was tasked with curating an album inspired by The Poet X, the book her class was reading. Using AI, she selected and crafted the album cover, instructing Canva to create an image that featured “Medusa’s green snakes,” a significant detail in the novel.
Sophia Smith, another ninth-grader in McKelvie’s class, routinely uses ChatGPT for long papers, pasting her drafts into the chatbot to seek grammar help or determining which sentences to eliminate. When submitting her work on Google Classroom, she clarifies how she utilized AI to McKelvie.
Smith differentiates her approach from students who completely rely on AI to “do the work for you.” “I have observed many classmates who rely on AI for everything, effectively avoiding their responsibilities,” she noted.
Throughout our discussions, teachers provided varied estimates regarding the percentage of students who misuse AI. They believe that between 10% and 30% of the assignments received involved AI assistance.
Board of Education student representative Abdellah Aly, a junior at Hill Regional Career High School, uses NotebookLM to study for his physiology course at SCSU and to refine his essays. Serving on the NHPS AI Policy Committee, Aly acts as a liaison for student concerns about AI. He shared that since January 1, three students reached out, stating that they were flagged for AI use by their teachers even when they hadn’t used it. Aly believes that the extent of misuse may be overstated; he estimates that 40% of his peers use AI “neutrally,” staying within acceptable boundaries, whereas Smith believes as many as 70% of her classmates lean heavily on AI.
“It’s concerning and a bit unfair,” Smith remarked, “as they are not engaging with the material themselves and ultimately missing out on learning.”
V. The Purpose Of Education
Dario Sulzman, an English teacher at Wilbur Cross High School, seeks to understand why students resort to AI for their tasks. He identifies three key reasons: assignments often seem daunting or unclear, students perceive them as irrelevant or unhelpful, or they are overwhelmed by academic or personal commitments.
On a fundamental level, Sulzman suggests students share the economic anxieties that many workers express about AI replacing them. “It’s a pervasive fear driving even high school students to use AI, as they understand grades influence their futures,” he stated. “While this concern isn’t unfounded, it certainly complicates the learning process.”
In Boroski’s class, students acknowledged that such fears affect their decision to use AI, nodding in agreement when asked.
A recent Reuters poll revealed that 71% of Americans fear that AI will lead to permanent job losses. Researchers remain uncertain whether AI has already caused job losses for early-career white-collar workers or if these losses have been exaggerated or offset by new opportunities. Notably, studies have suggested that using AI to enhance resumes can improve hiring chances.
Against this backdrop, how should students adapt? Sulzman cautions that frequent AI usage might lead students to adopt a “soulless” style in their writing, which could jeopardize their job prospects. He foresees a potential backlash against traditional grammar conventions, with a preference for more natural, human voices in professional settings. “My classroom is designed to celebrate unique student writing, even in its awkwardness,” he shared.
Despite concerns that AI-driven writing might hinder students’ employment prospects, Sulzman insists that education should aim for more than merely producing a skilled workforce. “I resist the notion that public education should function solely as job training,” he affirmed. “Once that perspective takes hold, we stray from the core mission of public education, allowing capitalist interests to dictate our educational priorities.”
This raises an essential question: What is the core purpose of public education? Scholars identify various objectives, including teaching foundational skills, preparing students for the workforce, fostering knowledgeable citizens, and enabling social mobility. As AI reshapes our economy and society, educators grapple with how to adapt or redefine their teaching methods.
VI. A Tale Of Two Classrooms
When we asked Boroski’s students how excited they were about AI in the classroom, most raised two fingers, indicating moderate enthusiasm. Although they utilize AI, they strive to preserve their individuality and express creativity. They are aware of AI’s implications for the job market and feel apprehensive about their futures.
While test scores in the district have shown slight improvement since the pandemic, many students still fall below grade level and national averages. If AI follows the trajectory of previous technological advancements, it may produce both positive and negative outcomes for student learning. For instance, computers have expanded access to resources while also shortening attention spans. Thus, AI may not singularly resolve educational inequities, but it could aid some students in their learning journey.
Amid discussions, Boroski emphasized, “Irrespective of individual teacher approaches, we all prioritize your critical thinking. However, educators also owe you an explanation for our preferences against AI usage. It’s not merely a matter of authority; it’s rooted in our commitment to your intellectual independence.”
As the session concluded, students turned their focus to prepping for their debate over whether Malcolm X or MLK would better address contemporary Black American challenges. They are examining texts like “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and “The Ballot or the Bullet,” among others. Boroski will moderate the discussion, emphasizing the use of evidence and sound arguments—AI assistance is strictly off-limits.
Down the hall, McKelvie, an optimistic English teacher, perceives AI’s potential to enhance the learning experience. She aims to teach her students responsible AI usage, recognizing their technological fluency as “iPad kids” of Generation Alpha. Building rapport is part of this approach.
At the conclusion of her honors creative writing class, McKelvie announced that she would be teaching them how to edit their essays using AI for their next assignment, drawing on techniques from her doctoral studies in educational leadership. If successful, she plans to explore AI’s role in their final projects. “Yes, I’m learning to use AI, too, guys. It recently helped me with statistics,” she laughed.
Boroski and McKelvie represent divergent approaches to integrating AI in educational settings. While one aims to minimize AI’s footprint, the other encourages its utilization. Ultimately, both are committed to fostering student learning and preparing them for an uncertain future—whether that involves AI or not. “Building relationships is essential in teaching,” Boroski concluded. “At the end of the day, human connection inspires students to engage in their education.”
