On Tuesday November 10 at 8 PM EST, we are hosting a special briefing on what privacy rights NYC parents have under state and federal law, what questions you should be asking your principals about screen time, ed tech and AI assigned to your children, and what strategies you can use to opt them out […]
Oct. 26, 2026 Two important events this week and one in the near future: 1- The UFT sent the following message to teachers about class size discussions that are supposed to be happening in every school this week. I asked the UFT if parents are supposed to be included in these discussions, as […]
Oct. 7, 2026 1.There’s an important bill just waiting on Gov. Hochul’s desk to be signed, S.9051/A.10379, that would restrict dangerous AI chatbots for the first time. Chatbots have been shown to undermine student learning, mental health and social development, yet they are still being used in many NYC schools –including Google Search, which acts […]
Below is a memo of support from Class Size Matters, Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and NYC Kids PAC for S.9051/A.10379, an important bill that would regulate the use of dangerous chatbots. This bill passed both the NY State Senate and Assembly last session, but has not yet been signed by Gov. Hochul. As the […]
July 29, 2026 A bill called the College Transparency Act is being considered by the Senate HELP committee. It would overturn the prohibition against the federal government collecting personally identifiable student information and instead would authorize the creation of a new federal database to track all students enrolled in a higher education institution throughout their […]
January 22, 2026 The Brookings Institution released a new report, saying the risks of using AI in schools to student learning, privacy, safety, and social and emotional development currently outweigh the benefits. Check out the one-page summary, the full report here, or this NPE piece. I am interviewing the main author of this report, Rebecca […]
This reso as an editable word doc is here. Draft resolution calling for a moratorium on use of AI in NYC public schools until rigorous guidelines can be enacted to prevent harm to students Whereas, 33 states and Puerto Rico as well as many large districts have released official guidance or guardrails on the use […]
Dec. 22, 2025 The DOE is rapidly expanding the use of AI in our schools, despite the glaring lack of guidelines or guardrails, and despite the growing evidence that AI use may undermine student privacy, cognitive skills, critical thinking, creativity and the health of the local and global environment. I was quoted in this Chalkbeat […]
Daily News article here. UPDATED: Nov. 18, 2025. Here is the DOE FAQ on the planning/application process. UPDATED: Nov. 10, 2025 A source has now provided us with the DOE slides that are otherwise inaccessible to parents, outlining the survey that principals are supposed to fill out by December 3 that will serve as their […]
Our June 7 Parent Action Conference was a great success, with terrific speeches from former principal and Congressman Jamaal Bowman and NYC Council Education Chair Rita Joseph, as well as informative presentations, thought-provoking discussions and a call to action. If your CEC or community group would like a similar presentation on any of the topics […]
Sign the petition asking for a moratorium on the use of AI until rigorous safeguards are established to protect student privacy, learning and the environment.
Talk out of School radio show and podcast airs Sunday night at 7 PM on WBAI 99.5 FM or online at www.wbai.org when Leonie Haimson, Daniel Alicea and Kaliris Salas Ramirez interview guests and discuss issues affecting public schools in NYC, the state level and nationally. You can stream or subscribe to the podcast here at Simplecast; or at iTunes, Spotify or Google.
Sign here to urge NYC to implement a real, multi-year strategy to lower class size, as the law intends, without exempting up to half or more of all students.
