Kelly on Fox at 5:
Craig Garrett’s powerful testimony at the District 14 CEC meeting, January 8, 2026
Craig writes: Last night I delivered the following remarks at the end of District 14’s CEC meeting, a few minutes after Superintendent Cintron glowingly described his forthcoming “AI vision statement”. The first half of the meeting was spent prioritizing urgent funding requests from individual schools (a process one CEC member referred to as “the hunger games”). Mostly of those requests were about fixing problems like inoperable bathrooms and broken PA systems. It really underlined the absurdity of signing multimillion-dollar contracts for unproven ed-tech while our schools can’t afford functioning bathrooms.
His testimony:
Let’s all cast our minds back one year, to early January 2025. At Coney Island, long-shot mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was doing the Polar Bear Plunge in a suit and tie. At movie theaters across the country, kids were flocking to see Moana 2. And from every direction, we were hearing about a revolutionary new technology that was about to transform our lives.
Back then, the tech industry’s story about artificial intelligence was thrilling, provocative, and told entirely in the future tense. Business leaders and elected officials rushed to incorporate AI into their operations. There was a sense of urgency, an eagerness to get on board this magic technology that would solve our most stubborn problems and transport us to a brilliant future.
Well, I’m here with a message from the present. The flourishing we were promised has not arrived. We’re waking up to the fact that this technology is NOT being developed to extend human capacity or expand human knowledge — because those are not the tech industry’s priorities. In 2025 we saw the leading AI companies drop their commitments to democracy and equality, dismantle their safeguards and moderation, and aggressively fight off any form of regulation, no matter how sensible.
And unlike in January 2025, we now have real-world data on how their products are performing. In “AI-enabled” classrooms, students are experiencing isolation, cognitive atrophy, and loss of focus. Outside classrooms, LLMs are endorsing suicide, inducing psychosis, and empowering bullies. This is happening because tech companies have decided to prioritize user engagement over safety, dependence over efficacy. And it turns out those decisions are antithetical to human flourishing.
Just three weeks ago, the Eric Adams administration tried to push four AI ed-tech contracts through the PEP. And they failed, to our great relief, saving NYCPS millions of dollars. Let’s hope 2026 is the year our school leaders wake up to the fact that ed tech in its current form is a not just a waste of money, it’s a direct threat to our values, our humanity, and our children.
New York Society for Ethical Culture Panel and Workshop, 1/4/26
Human-Centered Schools Public Forum 12/6/25
Our forum was a huge success, bringing parents, students, teachers, public officials, and advocates from across the city into conversation around how to keep AI out of schools. This movement is growing—as Liat Olenick from Climate Families NYC, said: “This is the fight of our time. We are not going to subject our children to this experiment which will leave them a world on fire.” Join us, take action, and stay tuned for more events in the new year.
Policy Work
In October 2025, PACES parent Jim Baker spoke in front of the NYC Panel on Education Policy to oppose the adoption of three major AI contracts. Thanks to his advocacy and the work of other parents, teachers, and students, the contracts were narrowly rejected. You can watch his testimony here, and read it here. Feel free to adapt for your own purposes.
Letters to Teachers/Administrators
One of our basic asks is that parents and children have the ability to meaningfully consent to any AI technology they are exposed to. Until that procedure is in place, we are opting our children out of AI—and inviting you to do the same. Here’s sample language:
School board/CEC resolutions
Here are the ways we’re asking school districts to adopt a moratorium—or precautionary approach—to using AI.
Here are two templates, one for more conservative districts and one for districts willing to push the envelope on AI. If you persuade your district to pass one of these, let us know how it goes!
PACES 