Good news! AI contracts did not get approved last night at the PEP

A pretty amazing meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy happened last night.  The three AI contracts did NOT get approved by the Panel, for EPS/Amira (withdrawn or turned down for the third time!), Lumi and Kiddom., despite the push by the Chancellor and the DOE officials to keep rapidly expanding that risky technology in classrooms around the city.   

Thanks so much to the parent leaders, the teacher and student who spoke clearly and eloquently  in opposition – and also to many of you who sent comments to the Panel about this critical issue. It shows that the AI juggernaut can be stopped with enough organized opposition.

The Brooklyn BP rep, Camille Casaretti, thanked the many people who wrote in with comments.  Mine are posted on the blog below.   If you wrote in and would like to have your comments shared, please send them to me at leonie@classsizematters.org and I’ll post them as well. Soon I’ll post a video of those who spoke so well last night.

Also approved was a resolution urging the DOE and SCA to create more space to relieve overcrowding and allow schools to lower class size, and a resolution against renewing contracts for another five years for the same group of bus companies that have provided such unreliable service for the last 45 years. 

---

My name is Leonie Haimson, I am co-chair of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy.  I was appointed by the Chancellor as a member of AI working group last June, which was tasked with creating guidelines and guardrails for the use of this technology, which is controversial with many privacy experts because of the way AI tools data mine the personal information of students to improve their products, which is illegal under the NY State student privacy law. 

Many parents and teachers are also concerned because of the growing evidence that the use of AI in the classroom hampers the development of cognitive skills, creativity, and critical thinking, all central to learning, while undermining the human connection essential to a quality education. 

Yet since the AI working group was appointed, it has been sidelined.  We’ve been kept in the dark and essentially stonewalled – denied any  of the information we need to move forward, while the DOE goes full speed ahead, expanding the risky use of AI without any of the necessary precautions. 

One of our first requests to DOE was the list of AI products currently used in schools, along with their privacy policies.  Yet the DOE official briefing us refused to provide this list, saying they could not do so because of non-disclosure agreements with the vendors.  

We also asked for materials that DOE has used to train teachers in the use of AI, which the same official claimed had been provided to more than 84,000 teachers and other staff.  Yet these materials were denied us as well.  

I urge you to vote no on the contract for the EPS chatbot and other AI tools until DOE establishes rigorous privacy protections for their use, including independent security audits and privacy impact assessments, along with peer-reviewed research showing their positive impact on learning.  DOE should also explain how the serious risks of AI use related to algorithmic bias andtheir  negative impact on the environment and the climate will be prevented. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

How NYC parents can opt out of data sharing and better protect their child’s privacy

 

 Important update:  Our special privacy briefing via Zoom has been rescheduled to Wed. Oct. 22 at 6 PM! 

In May 2025, the NYC Department of Education revised Chancellor’s regulations A-820, to authorize DOE and schools to disclose a category of student personal data called Directory Information for the first time within the school  or to non-school vendors, as long as parents were provided with the right to opt out.

Yet the instructions for parents on how to opt out on the DOE website are difficult to access and understand, requiring clicks across many webpages and forms.  In some cases, the webpages omit key details, including which grade levels these disclosures apply to and the deadlines for opting out.  In at least case, the deadline listed is from last year and in the case of disclosures to charter schools requires that you know your child’s OSIS number.

1. How to opt out of the disclosure of your child’s Directory Information

To simplify the opt out process for parents, the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy has developed a simple one page opt out form that offers all this information in a clear and organized fashion, and can be printed, filled out and handed in at your child’s school.

To be clear, this is an unofficial form that we have created based on the opt out form used by Los Angeles public schools.  Though we repeatedly urged DOE to create a similar form, they have refused to do so.  Still, we recommend you print this form , fill it out and hand it in at your school as soon as possible.

• In any case, to ensure that the DOE recognizes your intention to opt out, you should also check our instructions on how to opt out of four different directory information disclosures that DOE intends to make: to charter schools, the military and/or colleges for recruitment purposes, as well as the National Student Clearinghouse.

• Also, here are  instructions on how opt out of the NYC Kids Rise savings program, which DOE and the company have made especially complicated.

• Your school is also supposed to provide you with a separate opt-out form for whatever disclosures they intend to make to other organizations and/or purposes, as well as specific information about what data will be disclosed in each case if you do not opt out. If you haven’t received that form, ask your principal or Parent Coordinate for it asap.

• If any of these disclosures are being made to companies or individuals outside of the school community, there must also be a written agreement or contract that protects the confidentiality of your child’s personal data. This is the only significant change that we managed to convince DOE to make to improve their initial proposed regulations.  Ask your principal to provide that written agreement.

Additional questions parents should be asking about their children’s privacy and ed tech at their schools

In any case, it is important to note that  the instructions above only deal with the category of directory information provided to non-school vendors, generally for non-educational purposes.

DOE and individual schools have signed up with more than 500 ed tech companies to provide various types of services and programs, each of which collect and process personal student  data, much of it extremely sensitive.  As a result, NYC students have suffered multiple damaging data breaches over the last few years.

While in most cases, parents cannot opt out of this type of disclosure, they do have the right under NY Ed Law 2D  to be alerted as to which companies have access to their children’s personal info, how it will be protected from breaches and misuse, and how they can check to see if it is accurate and ask for it to be corrected if necessary.  See our Parent Bill of Rights summary here.

So if you are concerned about your child’s privacy, here are some additional questions that you should ask your principal or School Leadership Team about the educational apps or programs employed in your child’s classroom and school:

• Request the names of all the ed tech programs used by your children, their teachers, and/or school administrators that can access your child’s personal information. Be sure to request the names of all the programs that DOE has told them to use, as well as the programs that the administrators or teachers have chosen  that collect or process your child’s personal student data.
• If they seem reluctant, remind them that the state student privacy law, Ed Law 2D, provides parents with the right to see the data collected by outside agencies, companies, organizations or other third parties. Parents cannot do that unless they know the names of these programs or apps.
• Also, ask for a copy of the privacy and security protections for each of these programs, explaining how the data is secured, minimized and deleted when it is no longer necessary to provide the contracted services.

Some of that information is supposed to be on the DOE website but we have too often found that critical information there is missing or incomplete.   As a result, data breaches are all too common, including of the information of students  who have long graduated.

• Be sure to ask specifically which of these programs use Artificial Intelligence, and which additional privacy protections are for these programs, if any. Many AI programs are known to mine personal student data to improve their products, which is illegal under Ed Law 2D and/or its regulations.
• You should also ask how many hours per day or per week your child is spending on computers while in school. Now that there is a school cell phone ban, parents should also be concerned about excessive screen time in schools, which has been shown to be far less effective in terms of  student learning and engagement than classroom debate and discussion, as well as reading, writing and doing math on paper.

Finally, I will be holding a special privacy briefing for parents on Wed. October 22 at 6 PM to go over these and more issues in more depth. 

This  is the same day as the deadline of October 22 to be able to opt out of the disclosure of personal info of 11^th and 12^th graders for the purposes of military and/or college recruitment. 

 You can register for this briefing here or at https://tinyurl.com/specialprivacybriefing 

Or scan the QR code below. 

Diane Ravitch's great new memoirs and book talk on Tuesday October 21!

 

 Diane Ravitch has written a tremendously enthralling  book about her life and career, entitled   An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else. It’s available now for purchase at Columbia Univ Press or Amazon or at your local bookstore.

I’ll be interviewing Diane about her life and what led to the sea change in her views on Tuesday, Oct 21 2025 at 6PM at the Brooklyn Public Library at 286 Cadman Plaza West.  You can find out more and register for a free ticket here.   Buy her book now, read it and get it autographed at the event.  Diane is my hero and as she is so many parents and educators. Please join us!