Artificial Intelligence Comes to Superior Schools
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic in just about every industry, including public education. For the last two years, the School District of Superior’s Technology Department has met to discuss ways to incorporate AI into the classroom. From spell check to Google Gemini, there are several options students and staff can use to help with their everyday assignments.
School District of Superior Policy 7540.08: Artificial Intelligence
The Board recognizes the positive impact that artificial intelligence (AI) technology may have in the District’s educational program and operations. The District Administrator is authorized to support the use of artificial intelligence technology when its use is consistent with the District’s mission, goals and operational integrity.
Any use of artificial intelligence technology in the District’s educational program or operations must be in accordance with State and Federal law as well as Board policies.
Violation of this policy may result in disciplinary consequences. Students may be disciplined for violations, up to and including suspension or expulsion. Staff may be disciplined for violations, up to and including suspension or termination of employment. The Administration will refer any illegal acts to law enforcement.
What Does AI Look Like In Superior?
Most AI tools have already been integrated into many everyday applications. Apps like Canva and Adobe all have some form of generative AI component. However, not all applications are available at the School District of Superior, meaning that, as a Google school district, Superior uses Google Gemini and doesn’t use ChatGPT or OpenAI. Since the district primarily uses Gemini, Superior ensures that the AI doesn’t keep or use private information.
“We’ve been very mindful of how we have established everything,” said Dan Widiker, Director of Technology. “We did some pilot programs with select groups of teachers. Once we received feedback, we were more confident in launching and formed the current policy.”
One of the main concerns is academic integrity with generative AI. Some argue that essays, projects, pictures, or videos can be created with a single click. In reality, the concept of “cheating” has always been in schools, it’s now the speed at which it happens.
“It goes back to how we teach our students,” said Widiker. “We need to rethink how we provide and present the information. The reasons come down to students not feeling prepared, not seeing the value of the project, or tremendous pressure on grading. We need to reframe everything, including AI. We should use it as a tool to support learning, a partner to help generate content, while still retaining human components, and then the reasons for cheating dissolve. In short, if we are proactive and require kids to use AI as a tool in their kit, it makes things a lot easier.”
How Is AI Being Used In The Classroom?
As the new AI policy began rolling out at the start of 2026, more and more staff began using the new applications to streamline their classes.
“What I’m excited about most is saving time,” said Jodi Wright, Superior High School Teacher-Librarian. “As we get more students into more complex tasks or lessons, the time it takes to prepare is so intensive. There are tons of tools that can help. For example, working on resumes with students. A teacher can generate multiple resumes using Google Gemini. Students can then compare. This would have taken hours in the past.”
Additionally, essays can now be evaluated by an AI program, which can provide feedback to the student. Students can offer the rubric or the assignment to the program, submit the content and within seconds they will have suggestions to make the essay better. They may use this tool multiple times to write the best paper before even turning it in.
“Communication to students and families is crucial,” said Wright. “When students receive feedback from these programs, it’s important that the students are aware that they can speak with their teacher if something doesn’t make sense. The teacher component is still there, and it’s important to still talk about everything.”
Data Privacy
It’s the school district’s responsibility to ensure students’ personal information is safe. Once certain details are submitted to AI, you can never get them back. The school district has vetted all the AI tools and models that the students use, and none of them use information to train those programs.
“We have learned that you can get the same results from AI tools without giving personal identifiable information,” said Kasie Smith, Superior Technology Support Specialist. “The results are real without names, ID numbers or anything. We teach staff that AI tools are for the process and never put students’ privacy at risk for speed. We were drawn to Google Gemini because part of the license makes it so we are the owners of the student and staff data. Google cannot go in and use our information. Chat GPT does not allow us to guard our data, they would use it to train their model and would put our information at risk.”
AI Literacy
The process of teaching Artificial Intelligence literally is challenging because AI evolves almost daily. Superior staff are developing lessons at every level so that each student has a basic understanding.
“I am a firm believer that training AI information won’t sink in for kids if we don’t continue to educate,” said Wright. “We talk in our teacher-librarian group about point of need instruction. When the kid needs to use an AI tool, they can talk about what they need to look for and the strengths vs. weaknesses. Students need to evaluate the sources and accuracy of the information. It’s a matter of tweaking what we are already teaching.”
LEARN MORE FROM LISTENING TO OUR PODCAST
AI can be a great tool for many things, like writing an email or clearing the clutter of paperwork. If you would like to learn more, take a listen to episode 3 of the school district’s new podcast, “Spartan Strong with the Mic On.” The podcast can be listened to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean.
David Coy is Communications/PR Specialist for the School District of Superior
