Nassau school superintendents share thoughts on AI

In preparation for the 2026-27 school year, Newsday invited Long Island’s school superintendents to share their thoughts on the following: “What are your thoughts on AI and its role in education — particularly in how teachers are using it to teach, and how much AI students should be taught while still placing an emphasis on decreasing screen use?”

Below is a sampling of their responses, condensed for publication.

 

Danielle M. Bartolo-Gately,
East Williston School District

The conversation about artificial intelligence in education is often framed as a choice between embracing new technology and limiting students' screen time. I don't believe those goals are in conflict. In fact, I believe they go hand in hand.

AI is already part of our students' daily lives, but learning to use technology well also means learning when to step away from it. Schools have a responsibility to teach both. AI has tremendous potential to help teachers personalize instruction, create engaging learning experiences and spend more time working directly with students. It also gives students another tool for brainstorming ideas, organizing information and exploring new concepts. At the same time, it should never replace the kind of thinking meaningful learning requires. Students still need to write, solve problems, collaborate and learn from making mistakes.

In East Williston, we introduced AI learning experiences while also implementing our distraction-free schools initiative because we believe those efforts complement one another. Our responsibility is not simply to teach students how to use technology. It is also to teach them when they don't need it. Technology will continue to evolve, but education will always be built on relationships. No innovation will ever replace the value of a great teacher or the connections that inspire students to learn, grow and thrive.

 

Alexa Doeschner, Glen Cove School District

In Glen Cove, we do not approach AI as a screen problem. We treat it as a thinking problem, and thinking is the whole point of school. The focus is not whether a screen is on, but whether AI helps students think for themselves or does it think for them.
The research draws an important distinction. The apps built to keep children scrolling are not the same as tools designed to help them learn. Time on a screen matters, and there should be limits to a child's daily screen time. Just as important is the purpose behind it. A few minutes with the right tool can deepen learning, while hours on the wrong app will crowd out understanding and retention.
We ask our teachers two questions. When is it irresponsible to use AI, and when is it irresponsible not to? AI can remove the barriers that frustrate learning, like language, access and slow feedback. It should never remove the productive struggle where real growth happens.

 

Dina Anzalone, Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools

I believe AI holds tremendous promise for education, but only when implemented with intentionality and balance. We must design the lens through which AI will be viewed and be deliberate about how much AI we introduce, ensuring it never comes at the expense of protecting the developmental need for human cognition.

History reminds us that new technologies are often feared simply because they are unknown. Parents and educators once feared calculators would erode students' ability to do basic math, yet in time we learned to teach the foundational skills alongside the tool rather than reject it outright. AI now sits at that same crossroads. It is our job to revise and adapt to meet the needs of our students.

Districts must first gauge where parents, staff and students fall on the spectrum of AI acceptance through multiple stakeholder meetings, culling that data into a clear mission and vision that provides concrete parameters for appropriate AI use. Our goal is not to supplant what we currently do with AI, but to supplement it.

 

Theodore Fulton, Hicksville Public Schools

Artificial intelligence can be a powerful educational tool when used to enhance the teaching and learning process.
Teachers can use AI to differentiate instruction, generate examples, translate text into multiple languages and provide feedback.

However, teachers, as the instructional experts, must review AI-generated content and its use for accuracy, appropriateness and alignment with learning goals. Effective implementation requires ongoing professional development.

Teachers and staff need training in AI literacy, ethical use, data privacy, academic integrity, bias identification and instructional design. They must understand not only how to use AI tools, but when their use truly enhances learning or when traditional approaches are more effective.
Students need to learn how AI works, its limitations, and how to use it responsibly while continuing to develop foundational academic and independent cognitive thinking skills. Increased AI use should not automatically mean increased screen time. Schools must balance technology with discussion, printed texts, in-class writing prompts, hands-on learning and face-to-face collaboration.

 

Mary O’Meara, Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District

Artificial intelligence is one of the most relevant and timely conversations taking place in education today. At Plainview-Old Bethpage Schools, we believe our responsibility is twofold: to thoughtfully embrace innovations that strengthen teaching and learning while remaining diligent in following the evolving research on AI's impact on student achievement and well-being. Our decisions should be guided by evidence and what is in the best interest of children.

Our teachers are incredible professionals who have approached AI with curiosity and care. Through ongoing professional development, they are using AI to reduce time spent on routine tasks so they can devote more time to working directly with students, while also teaching students to use these tools responsibly and ethically.

Our educational leaders are equally thoughtful about technology use in our schools. We recognize that educational technology is different from recreational screen time and have developed a dashboard to monitor how and why digital tools are used. We will continue partnering with families through Parent Universities and webinars because helping children develop healthy technology habits is a shared responsibility.

 

Gaurav Passi, Port Washington Union Free School District

Artificial intelligence will reshape nearly every industry, but its value will ultimately depend on how thoughtfully we use it. I view AI as a powerful tool to enhance teaching and learning. For educators, it can support lesson design, generate differentiated learning experiences and surface patterns in student performance, freeing teachers to spend less time on routine tasks and more time building relationships, cultivating curiosity and responding to students' individual needs.

We must be just as intentional about how students engage with AI. Our job is to develop discerning thinkers who can evaluate AI's outputs, recognize its limitations and know when to rely on technology versus their own judgment. Writing an essay or wrestling with a hard problem builds cognitive muscle that shortcuts don't.

The same intentionality applies to screen time. In the elementary grades, where learning is built through conversation, play and direct interaction, screens should play a deliberate role: brief, teacher-guided moments tied to a specific purpose. Used well, technology can expand what's possible without replacing the judgment and relationships real learning depends on.

 

Daniel Rehman, West Hempstead Union Free School District

In West Hempstead, we are using Khanmigo [an AI-powered teaching assistant] for lesson planning, researching and leveling texts for different readers: real-time savings that let teachers focus on students. But how much AI our students use is a different question, and timing matters most.

Elementary and middle school years are formative for brain development, a period when foundational cognitive and academic skills are still taking shape. The risk with AI at this age is that AI can do the thinking for a student before that student has learned to think for themselves. Shortcuts taken too early can undercut the skills students need later. So in grades K to 5, we want to protect core literacy, handwriting and math fundamentals, and make sure students are doing the cognitive work themselves before AI enters the picture. In secondary school, we want to introduce AI as a research and brainstorming tool, requiring students to fact-check outputs and think for themselves. By the high school years, we intend to have students use AI for complex projects, always with attention to ethics and bias.

Every graduate should be able to think, analyze and create without AI, then use it to go further. That order is not optional. It is the whole point.