Marin school official to join state AI panel
Kimberly McGrath, superintendent of the Reed Union School District, has been appointed as one of 28 members on a new statewide task force on artificial intelligence in education.
The task force, run by the California School Boards Association, will have its first meeting on Dec. 1 in San Francisco. The appointment is for a one-year term.
“This is the type of shift in technology that will impact all industries,” McGrath said. “We need to start thinking about what could this do to help with efficiency of all school administrators.”
She also sees creative possibilities for classrooms.
For example, a teacher might use AI to create a lesson plan on a complicated topic, and ask the AI chatbot to base it on a soccer game. If students are soccer fans or players, the new framework might make the topic easier to understand.
“The impact could be mindboggling,” said McGrath, who is the only Marin official on the statewide panel.
McGrath is also one of a half-dozen Marin educators working on a team with the
Marin County Office of Education to create a series of forums on AI for school staff countywide. They expect to roll out the series in the spring.
“We are still in the early development stages,” said team member Tara Taupier, superintendent of the Tamalpais Union High School District.
Taupier, McGrath and several teachers and administrators at the San Rafael high school district are the initial team members, said Laura Trahan, assistant superintendent of the Marin County Office of Education.
“We're working to identify the different facets of AI, and then creating each session in the series around each facet,” Trahan said.
Topics could range from the ways artificial intelligence can improve education, to ethical concerns, to how educators can benefit from AI, Trahan said.
“We want to make this series practical and real,” Trahan said.
The Marin education office is also scouting for experts who might be able to be guest speakers. “The experts are the youth,” Trahan said. “They're the natives in this landscape.”
According to John Carroll, Marin superintendent of schools, artificial intelligence options in schools should be