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Good morning!
Here to kick off your Wednesday is Makiya Seminera, one of your Chalkbeat Chicago reporters. I hope everyone is staying hydrated and cool with this latest heat wave. For one, my dog, Franklin, is staying on top of his water intake — he makes sure I know by picking up his water bowl and dropping it repeatedly until I refill it.
My colleague Mila Koumpilova has a new update on the Chicago school board races, and this time, it involves an issue some candidates are drawing a line on. Almost half of the candidates running for Chicago Board of Education seats have pledged to adopt a three-year ban on the use of artificial intelligence by CPS students and educators. While some candidates didn’t sign on, that doesn’t mean they aren’t cautious about AI. But the pledge, which also calls for eliminating screen time before third grade, feels too sweeping to some.
What do you think of the pledge to bar AI in CPS schools? Let us know by replying to this email.
Local education coverage is disappearing. Chalkbeat helps families and educators understand what’s changing. We can’t do it without you.
Local News
Chicago school board candidates sign pledge to ban AI use in schools
The nonprofit Illinois Families for Public Schools is calling on candidates to serve on Chicago’s first fully elected school board to sign a pledge that would ban AI use by both students and teachers, limit screen time, and more.
Around Chalkbeat
How Whitney Houston’s funeral director got a $700,000 deal with Newark schools to teach food service
Critics ask why Newark Public Schools awarded a contract for hotel and food-service training to a funeral home director who’s handled services for celebrities like Whitney Houston.
Fresh faces, AI fears: 4,000 new teachers gear up for NYC’s first day of school
More than 4,000 new NYC teachers gathered for orientation as educators await new city guidance on student use of artificial intelligence.
The promise and limits of career and technical education
Research links established CTE programs to better graduation and job outcomes. But new evidence suggests schools may struggle to reproduce those benefits.
What We’re Reading
‘This is your future’: Consortium of top colleges visits south suburbs for the first time, The Chicago Tribune (Paywall)


