NYC Cancels AI High School Amid Parental Backlash Over Technology and Admissions Policy

A. I. High School Is Put on Hold After Parental Backlash

Families in New York City expressed concerns about the rapid adoption of the technology. The schools chancellor also canceled a plan to close two Upper West Side schools. In Brooklyn, an artificial intelligence program helps public school students pronounce words. In Queens, high school students ask Google Gemini how to improve their essays. And in the Bronx, students in a robotics lab consult an A.I. tool before building parts on a 3-D printer. As teachers and students in New York City and across the United States have increasingly embraced artificial intelligence in the classroom, school leaders in the nation's largest school system were set to make one of their biggest splashes yet -- the opening of an A.I.-focused high school in Manhattan next school year. But on Monday, the new schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, abruptly halted the creation of the school amid a groundswell of opposition to the rapid adoption of the technology and its potential harms. In an interview, Mr. Samuels said that he understood the concerns and questions parents have about artificial intelligence in the classroom and its safety and impact on critical thinking. "I want to be able to think about the technology in a very thoughtful way," Mr. Samuels said. Despite the decision not to proceed, school leaders in New York City and beyond remain bullish on the future of artificial intelligence in education and its potential benefits. They argue that it could transform teaching and learning, a claim also promoted by companies that sell the tools, and that it would be irresponsible to ignore or restrict the technology. But New York parents have expressed concern about the artificial intelligence programs used in schools or accessible on students' computers, as well as the lack of information about the applications and data they collect. Some families recently delivered to Mayor Zohran Mamdani a petition with thousands of signatures calling for a two-year moratorium on generative A.I., such as chatbots. "The intense outrage among parents in New York City is as great as I've seen it on any education issue that I've been working on for 25 years," said Leonie Haimson, an education advocate in New York City and member of the Coalition for an A.I. Moratorium. Under Mr. Samuels's leadership, the city's Education Department has started to develop guidelines for how teachers and students should use artificial intelligence. Last month, the school system published its first playbook for A.I., developed in consultation with educators and education technology companies. The creation of the new high school, known as Next Generation Technology High School and located in the financial district of Manhattan, was expected to be another major step toward the embrace of artificial intelligence in a school system whose decisions, because of its size, often influence other districts. A vote on the creation of the high school by a 22-member education oversight panel was scheduled for Wednesday. The group's chairman, Gregory Faulkner, said that he did not believe a single member would have voted in favor of it. Mr. Faulkner said that out of the many emails he received and conversations he had with parents, just a handful of comments were supportive of the school. "If there's anything that even has a hint of A.I., there's strong opposition to it," Mr. Faulkner said. "People are very nervous about the technology and how it is going to be used." Next Generation Technology High School would have started with a ninth-grade class of about 100 students and grown to about 450 with the addition of subsequent grades. Students would have studied emerging technologies beyond artificial intelligence, including computer science, robotics and advanced mathematics. A.I. would have played a central role. Students would have learned how to become "ethical users of A.I," according to a description of the school. Mr. Samuels said that Next Generation had support from some families and had received a significant number of applications for the upcoming school year. Mr. Faulkner said that opposition to the school extended beyond A.I. He said he would have voted against it because of its selective admissions process. Critics of admissions screening say that it contributes to New York schools being among the most segregated in the country. "Poor kids and kids of color wind up in one school system, and wealthy and privileged wind up in another," Mr. Faulkner said. "It is very obvious that screened schools create that imbalance, and we have to confront it." At the same time that Mr. Samuels made the decision about Next Generation High School, he withdrew an equally contentious plan to close and relocate several schools on the Upper West Side. Mr. Samuels had crafted the proposal in the final months of his last job overseeing those campuses before he became chancellor. The plan was intended to address declining enrollment at some schools and high demand in others. It would have also helped them comply with a state law that caps the size of classes in city schools. During the past four months, parents and educators on the Upper West Side spoke out forcefully against the plan, arguing that it had been rushed. Deputies for Mr. Samuels had told parents for months that there was no room for negotiation and that the changes would be made before next school year. Two middle schools, the Manhattan School for Children and the Riverside School for Makers and Artists, would have closed. Another, the Center School, would have been relocated. Parents from the Center School were especially outspoken and described the new site as incompatible with their curriculum and traditions. Mr. Samuels said that delaying the changes would allow school leaders to revise the plan during a longer period of consultation with families. "If I could have predicted that I was going to be chancellor, I probably would have not put them all up at the same time," Mr. Samuels said. "We are committed to really deep parental and school community engagement."

NYC nixes plan for AI-themed high school after woke backlash to merit-based admissions policy

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels pulled the plug on a Manhattan high school focused on artificial intelligence after backlash from woke activists who claimed its merit-based admissions policy would exacerbate racial inequality. Fierce opposition to the the proposed Next Generation Technology High School included concerns over its focus on AI, but the head of the Panel for Educational Policy said he opposed the school because of its planned "screened" admissions policy. "While I support the concept of a school dedicated to advanced technology and appreciate the academic rigor of this model, I will unfortunately not be voting to approve the Next Generation proposal," PEP Chairman Greg Faulkner said in a notice to parents. He claimed screened schools do not promote "equity and equitable access" and that the admission structure will "further exacerbate existing disparities" among students from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Faulkner said he would re-consider his opposition to the AI-themed school if proponents revise its selective admissions policy to be open to all. "This technology should be taught to everyone," he said Monday. A planned opening was set for fall in a building at 26 Broadway, but it seemed highly unlikely the proposal would've received enough votes to get through the 24-member panel on Wednesday. Chalkbeat first reported the chancellor's decision to derail the AI high school. Next Generation has a website and 1,000 students have applied for 100 seats. Supporters of Next Gen Tech said Faulkner's opposition was misplaced because the applicant pool for the school is 39% Hispanic, 21% black, 20% Asian and 17% white -- with the remainder being multiracial or Native American. "To have the chairman of PEP to say that he's not going to support a screened school is beyond surprising," said Linda Quarles, secretary of the Citywide Council on High Schools and Next Gen Tech booster. Quarles said 120 screened high school programs in the city base admissions on student performance or merit. Phasing out screened or merit-based schools with rigorous standards will only discourage parents from enrolling their kids in city public school system and encourage them to leave the Big Apple altogether, Quarles said. "It is a dangerous precedent," she said. "It's devastating for the kids." Mayor Zohran Mamdani himself attended and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, a selective school whose admission is based on students' scores on a single admissions test -- though Hizzoner now wants to phase out selective "gifted and talented" programs in the lower grades. A rep for Chancellor Samuels confirmed that he pulled Next Gen from consideration, along with other controversial decisions to close Upper West Side middle schools PS 191 and Manhattan School for Children and relocate The Center School. Samuels grappled with those proposals as the Manhattan District 3 superintendent before being appointed chancellor by Mamdani. "We take family and community feedback very seriously and, after careful consideration, we have decided to withdraw some of the proposals from the April 29 PEP agenda," a city Department of Education spokesperson said. Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani's socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politics "Ensuring that every child has access to academically rigorous and truly integrated education remains our focus, and withdrawing these proposals is not an end to these important conversations," the spokesperson added. "To our school communities: we heard you. " By design, Next Gen Tech would be an academically rigorous school with a strong math and science curriculum with calculus offered in the 11th grade. Technology courses would include coding while students could earn certificates in digital music audio production and cybersecurity. NGT planned to partner with Carnegie Mellon University and Google. Caleb Haraguchi-Combs, a former assistant principal at the Manhattan Center for Science and Math, planned to be the founding principal of the aborted school, which would have shared a building with Richard Green High School and the Lower Manhattan Community Middle School. It would have replaced the Urban Assembly School of Business for Young Women, which is slated to close due to low enrollment. PEP will still vote on the proposed closure, officials said. Parents and educators with the Lower Manhattan Community Middle School had opposed the AI-based school coming into the building, saying they wanted to use the vacant space and expand to include high school grades nine to 12.