The Sweet Home Central school district spends about six hours laying out the route for a single after-school bus run. Because staff maps those routes by hand, students have to sign up two weeks ahead of time.
The district has now built its own routing tool using Claude, an AI model from Anthropic, and hopes to roll it out next week. It can cut the work down to minutes, according to the district’s superintendent, and let students sign up the same morning, while also creating printed turn-by-turn directions for the driver.
Superintendent Mike Ginestre sees that use case as a preview of what’s to come in the district, located just outside Buffalo. He wants AI to absorb other duties, including producing reports and completing data entry tasks that would otherwise keep district staff, including educators, working behind screens, so they can spend more time with students and families.
Sweet Home students already have access to Google’s Gemini, and Ginestre argues that limiting access to the technology would leave them behind.
The school system, which serves about 3,800 students, is working with TechBuffalo, a nonprofit that develops regional tech talent, and Radial Agency, a company that supports local business to bring innovation from concept to reality.
They plan to build “digital coworkers,” AI tools that would handle some paperwork and other administrative tasks for one department, freeing staff members to meet with parents and teachers and do more strategic planning. The district hasn’t picked that department yet, but it is considering transportation, special education, and finance.
Ginestre, a former teacher, spoke with Education Week about his district’s plans for using AI, and about how districts are navigating concerns about the technology. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When did you begin to explore the potential for AI to help with some of your district’s administrative tasks?
Jeffrey Botteron, TechBuffalo’s president and CEO, invited me to a tech advisory council meeting, and I sat with CIOs and CEOs from large corporations in Buffalo. They talked about how AI can reduce burdensome work and free up time for people to interact with people again.
I went up to Jeffrey and said, “Tell me more. How can I use AI to free up time from the stuff that takes us away from human interaction in schools?” We have so many reports to file, and we do all of this work by hand.
Why take such an ambitious approach to AI?
At the end of the day, we’re all here for the students. If we can serve them in a better way because of these tools, then why wouldn’t we use it? I see the benefits, and I see the dangers. But it can reduce the burdensome tasks I have, so I can get out to more buildings, see more people, do more human interactions, and build relationships, which is the key to our success. It’s an obligation for us to figure out how we can make the best student experience possible.
What’s an example of a task in which AI can take over and help your district?
We just piloted something for our transportation department. Students had to sign up for after-school runs in advance. We’d get the names and addresses, and the department would hand-route each run by the minute, because we’re so short on bus drivers. It’s a critical problem in our district and in a lot of districts across the country. So we’re building an AI tool where the student can sign up in the morning. We populate the tool and hit send, and it prints turn-by-turn directions for the driver.
We took a task that took us two weeks to do and six hours of time to build a run, and we’ve reduced it into minutes. It’s just been phenomenal.
Some teachers worry AI will take their jobs. Will it?
Absolutely not. This is only going to enhance their jobs. We got into teaching to be with students and to partner with parents. There are so many tasks that keep us away from them. The research tells us the human relationship is the No. 1 factor in student success. If we can free up that time, teachers can spend more time with students. We think we’re on the cusp of a revolution, where we can do the things we got into this business to do.
New York City paused student AI use through 8th grade. What is it getting right or wrong?
It is our duty and responsibility to teach responsible AI usage. If we put a hold on that, I really believe our students will fall behind and be less competitive. We know that every industry is going to use AI, no matter what you do. So why don’t we teach it responsibly here? I’m not a big fan of restrictions or taking it out of their hands, because they’re going to use it at home anyway.
What about teachers who don’t want to use it?
That’s OK. We give our teachers a lot of autonomy. If they don’t want to use AI, they don’t have to. If they feel comfortable with a more traditional model and they know their students are learning at a high and rigorous rate, that’s great. Our tech coaches are going from teacher to teacher and classroom to classroom for anybody who wants to talk about how to use it. We aren’t force-feeding this.
It is our duty and responsibility to teach responsible AI usage. If we put a hold on that, I really believe our students will fall behind and be less competitive.
A tool can now produce a polished essay in seconds. What do you want students doing?
I don’t want students creating an essay using AI in seconds. I think the students should be creating that essay on their own. What I do see is AI maybe helping the teacher evaluate that essay. Is it addressing the standards? If not, what tools can close those gaps?
AI could even offer suggestions to the student, like, “If you had done this, you would have gotten a better score.” That’s all in conjunction with the teacher, who is spending more time with the student.
Many parents and districts are pushing back on screen time. What guardrails do you have?
Every student here has an iPad. Last year, our teachers told us some tools on them really don’t enhance learning. So this summer, we scrubbed the iPads, and teachers helped us build a list of approved apps.
We’re not going to put games or social media on them. Students can’t add apps, and our tech department tracks their usage. I would rather have districts set responsible screen time use than have the state or federal government dictate it.
What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made with AI?
We’re learning every single day. Sometimes you make a mistake, and you make an adjustment. Maybe I’ve made a mistake with a prompt or with building a tool. What I’m proud of is that we aren’t dictating what people should do with it. We’re giving teachers leeway because they are tried-and-true professionals. I know there’s a lot of learning going on, and when you learn, there are mistakes.
