Wednesday, June 24, 2026, 1 p.m. (New York City time), Council Chambers - City Hall
Committee: Committee on Education
0:06 Already the no good afternoon
0:06 .welcome today's New York City
0:28 council hearing for the
0:29 committee on education join
0:30 with the committee on
0:32 technology, please. Science,
0:33 all cell phone electronic
0:35 devices and as a friendly
0:36 reminded do not approach today
0:37 is if you wish to testify
0:39 today. Please fill out an
0:40 appearance car when the
0:41 sergeant at arms.
0:42 No further do with chairs.
0:43 We are ready to begin. Thank
0:48 you. Good afternoon, everyone.
0:48 I'm Council Member Eric
0:50 Dinowitz, York City public
0:51 school alum, although with a
0:53 different signature on my
0:56 diploma, public school special
0:57 education teacher and chair of
0:58 the committee on education and
1:00 I am excited to be joined by
1:02 my friend from the south chair
1:04 of the committee on technology
1:07 Council Member delarosa for
1:08 today's hearing on artificial
1:09 intelligence students data and
1:11 privacy in New York City
1:14 public schools. Today's
1:15 hearing will examine the
1:16 landscape of a I use in New
1:17 York City public schools,
1:19 particularly as it relates to
1:22 academic integrity and student
1:23 data and privacy. The rapid
1:27 proliferation of has sparked
1:29 intense citywide debate about
1:30 the role of and use of a I in
1:33 schools in we issued
1:35 preliminary guidelines for a I
1:36 in public schools, but the
1:39 guidance has faced strong
1:41 opposition from parents and
1:42 advocacy groups alike, many
1:45 council members, including
1:46 myself and numerous community
1:48 education councils have gone
1:50 as far as calling for a two
1:51 year moratorium on the use of
1:53 student facing a I in schools.
1:56 They point ongoing worries
1:57 about data privacy breaches
1:58 and lack of transparency and
2:01 very troublingly for me as a
2:04 former teacher cognitive
2:06 offloading an algorithmic bia
2:09 s
2:09 . Others, however, argue that
2:10 the question of allowing a in
2:11 schools is no lgeron relevant
2:14 national survey data show that
2:16 related activities. Instead,
2:23 they argue the question should
2:23 be. How do we harness it
2:26 safely equitably and
2:27 effectively for our students.
2:30 Underlying this debate is the
2:31 issue of data collection by
2:34 third party vendors. My mother
2:36 deweese policy aligns with
2:38 national standards, a 20 26
2:39 audit by the state comptroller
2:41 found that dewey does not have
2:43 a documented data
2:47 classification policy and does
2:47 not maintain a comprehensive
2:49 list of all application used
2:50 by each school with a number
2:54 of high profile data breaches,
2:55 including the power school
2:57 breach that exposed personally
3:00 identifiable information for
3:01 tens of millions of students
3:03 and educators nationwide,
3:05 questions remain around. What
3:06 information is being collected
3:08 about students and who has
3:10 access to this information now
3:13 as someone who doesn't even
3:14 believe calculators should be
3:16 used in elementary school
3:17 classrooms. I look forward to
3:19 hearing today about how do we
3:20 is planning to protect student
3:24 data plans for updated
3:25 guidelines and a I and how do
3:27 we plans to ensure academic
3:30 integrity and rigor in light
3:31 of a I I now like to turn it
3:35 to chair delarosa for opening
3:38 remarks. Thank you so much.
3:39 Good afternoon, everyone and
3:40 welcome to our hearing, I'm
3:42 council Carmen, and I'm the
3:43 chair of the committee on
3:44 technology. I'm happy to join
3:45 my neighbor to the north
3:48 chaired Eric Dinowitz to
3:49 discuss an issue that I care
3:51 about deeply, not only as a
3:52 chair of this committee, but
3:54 also as a public school parent
3:56 who was concerned about the
3:57 future we are building for the
4:00 next generation technology has
4:01 become an unavoidable part of
4:02 our lives with artificial
4:04 intelligence, changing the way
4:05 we work, learn and mak
4:07 edecisions. This is why we have
4:09 an obligation to ensure that
4:11 innovation serves people and
4:13 that technological progress is
4:14 guided by accountability,
4:17 transparency, safety and
4:20 public interest, artificial
4:21 intelligent tools, artificial
4:22 intelligence tools are used b
4:23 ythe department of education
4:24 and its daily operations as
4:26 well as in claroomsss. The use
4:28 of a an education has raised
4:30 concerns that it affect
4:32 students critical thinking and
4:34 compromise the traditional
4:35 learning process, another
4:38 concern.
4:38 That people have related to
4:39 digit is related to digital
4:41 privacy safety and inequality.
4:43 Some my tools used personal
4:45 data as training data that
4:47 data could include students
4:49 information such as names,
4:50 dates of birth behavioral
4:53 analytics medical history,
4:55 family income, ethnicity and
4:58 even facial geometry without
5:00 proper safeguards could could
5:01 be used to profile students
5:03 predict or surveil their
5:05 behavior or make assumptions
5:06 about their abilities and
5:09 future opportunities.
5:10 This information can also be
5:11 breached. In fact, based on a
5:13 recent New York state come,
5:15 children report between
5:17 January 2023 in February 2025
5:19 dele experienced 141 data
5:23 breaches incidents based on
5:24 our conversations and public
5:26 reporting some tools used by
5:27 the dea we make a collect data
5:30 without parents, knowledge or
5:34 consent while a I offer
5:34 potential benefits in
5:35 education, it's ethical use
5:37 must be must be carefully
5:39 considered many tools have
5:41 bias and as a result
5:43 discriminate against certain
5:44 students or communities
5:47 . From the technology
5:47 committee's perspective
5:49 safeguards against bias in a
5:51 algorithms and protecting
5:53 student privacy are
5:54 fundamental issues that must
5:57 be addressed.
5:58 Today we wish to discuss
5:58 both how a I should fit into
6:00 the curriculum and how the
6:02 department of education uses
6:04 in its operations. We need to
6:06 make sure that a I support
6:08 students and teachers rathe
6:09 rthan undermining the quality
6:12 of education. We must ensure
6:12 that we are preparing the next
6:14 generation to thrive in this
6:16 technological error while also
6:18 protecting the rights and
6:20 future opportunities, lecture
6:21 inuits. I also joined my
6:23 colleagues and signing on to a
6:24 letter from our school
6:26 communities and we've heard
6:27 from our
6:28 . Calling on a two year
6:31 moratorium
6:31 . We look forward to hearing
6:32 testimonies from the
6:33 department of education and ot
6:36 to gain inside and clary
6:37 around the many questions
6:38 about in the classroom and the
6:40 use of in the education system
6:44 . We also look forward t
6:44 ohearing from members of the
6:46 public students, families,
6:48 educators and advocates.
6:50 Unfortunately, neither the
6:51 chief privacy officer under
6:52 the representatives of the
6:53 newly established office of al
6:56 accountability are here today.
6:58 However we look forward to
6:59 receiving their testimony,
7:00 which we've received and
7:03 responses in writing as the
7:05 school year is ending. I also
7:06 wish to congratulate every
7:08 student and teacher on
7:09 completing another academic
7:11 academic year. Now I'll turn
7:13 and now I'd like to thank
7:15 committee technology committee
7:18 staff, legislative councilor
7:20 council irene, but by
7:21 . Wolski. I am, I am learning.
7:23 I'm going to get it right? I
7:25 promise and policy analyst
7:26 Eric brown for putting
7:27 together this hearing. I'd
7:28 also like to recognize a
7:31 members of the council, who
7:32 are here of the technology
7:35 committee council members
7:39 showman Hanif and Gutiérrez
7:40 and we have swung and Wong
7:42 here as well. Thank you for
7:43 being here and I missing?
7:45 Anybody know? Okay, um, and
7:47 now we'll turn it back to
7:48 chair. Thank you. Thank you
7:52 chair. Additionally, today the
7:53 committee will also consider
7:55 the following legislation t
7:57 obill sponsored by council
7:59 member Susan. These include
8:00 introduction 684 in relation
8:02 to requiring a study on how
8:03 language access needs and
8:05 geographic location affect
8:06 access to early elementary,
8:07 gifted and talented programs.
8:11 An introduction 8 53 I
8:11 nrelation to requiring a study
8:13 on how language access needs
8:15 income and geographic location
8:17 affect access to special
8:18 education programs and
8:19 services I'd like to invit
8:21 ecouncil members you want to
8:23 make opening remarks about
8:25 these bills. Thank you. Cheer
8:28 . I'm here today. Asked if leo
8:29 support for my education
8:32 access for all the package in
8:34 2600 and David and the intro
8:36 853. I'm proud to put it this
8:38 pair of bills that together we
8:41 would go a long way towards
8:45 expanding education access for
8:47 all students, every child
8:49 deserves the education that me
8:52 meets
8:52 . Them where they are and help
8:53 them grow. Let's like
8:57 everything else in this City.
8:58 Children, you other borrows
8:59 have less access to
9:02 specialized programs than
9:04 others
9:04 . Children from lower income
9:06 families have less access and
9:07 the children for whom english
9:11 is the second language have
9:12 less access to, I believe that
9:16 all students deserve access to
9:18 rlimited due to wear the lived
9:24 what's their parent's income
9:25 or language they speak at hom
9:27 e. Both of these bills, ask a
9:29 to do a study. How language
9:32 access needs income and the
9:34 geographic location affect
9:36 access to education in 2604 I
9:38 nfolks on access to gift and
9:41 talented program while in show
9:44 8 53. It's about access to
9:47 spatial education program gap
9:47 seeing access to affects both
9:50 type of specialized, for
9:53 example, in sadly well known,
9:54 not enough black and the brown
9:56 students in specialized high
9:59 schools. But how can we? How
10:02 can brilliant black and the
10:03 students have the same chance
10:05 to get in when their
10:08 elementary's and the junio
10:08 rhigh school do not have gifted
10:10 and talented program that
10:13 other students have. We are
10:15 denying black and the students
10:18 opportunities and that must be
10:21 aunt. We should not be
10:22 thinking about him. Middle.
10:24 Eliminate those programs, we
10:26 should be extending them so
10:28 every child who can benefit
10:30 from them can getting into one
10:32 . We need to create a more
10:35 opportunity, not less
10:36 opportunity as another example
10:37 . It's also sadly really known
10:39 some children you out.
10:41 Boroughs need to travel alone
10:44 bus rights to get to the
10:46 school offers the spatial
10:48 education they need. It's a
10:50 yes, extremely burden for bot
10:51 hstudents and that there,
10:53 especially in the bad weather.
10:56 I still remember they have
10:57 parents call my office
10:59 . In the snow day, the school
11:01 is open. They have to trave
11:03 lthe kids have to travel more
11:04 than two hour to get into
11:06 school and the spend to 1 2
11:10 hours later and this school
11:11 have to end early and the
11:14 travel another two hours t
11:17 oget home. Parents. Those first
11:19 language is not english, also
11:21 struggled to learn about
11:23 opportunities available to
11:24 their children and how to get
11:25 to their children into those
11:28 programs reason only a few
11:30 examples we asked you to joi
11:32 nus in supporting both of these
11:34 both and those issues and the
11:36 other gaps.
11:37 And and I also want to thank
11:39 all of you who have already
11:41 cosponsored, and at the gates
11:43 came to testify and the rally
11:44 do with me today. Thank you
11:49 .thank you, councilmember
11:52 . Finally, the committee will
11:53 hear two bills sponsored by
11:55 myself pre considered into a
11:58 21 29 in relation to annual
12:00 reporting on algorithmic tools
12:01 approved for use in schools
12:04 and pre consider introduction
12:05 21 30 in relation to quarterly
12:07 reporting on data breaches of
12:10 algorithmicools t in schools
12:12 as we will discuss today ay ay
12:14 is already entering schools in
12:16 ways that are meaningful, e u
12:18 h, and perhaps detrimentally
12:19 shaping the educational
12:22 experiences of students as
12:23 well as the professional
12:25 experiences of teachers,
12:27 counselors, administrators and
12:27 everyone in between that makes
12:31 transparency critical.
12:32 Families and educators
12:32 should know what tools are
12:34 being used. What data they
12:35 collect, whether they have
12:37 been tested for bias and
12:40 accuracy and what happens when
12:42 sensitive student data is
12:45 exposed
12:45 . By requiring regular public
12:46 reporting on approved tools
12:48 and related data breaches
12:50 these bills will help turn a
12:52 oversight from a matter of
12:55 trust into a matter of
12:58 accountability I look forward
12:58 to hearing testimony from the
12:59 administration about these
13:00 pieces of legislation. Thank
13:01 you to all the members who are
13:03 here that have been named by
13:07 chaired. I would also like to
13:08 thank my chief of staff john a
13:09 . Klaus and my legislative and
13:10 budget director thea salter
13:14 education committee staff,
13:16 including counsel alejandro
13:18 carbaj senalior policy analyst
13:20 chloe rivera, policy analyst
13:22 katie selena, principal
13:23 financial analysts andrew lane
13:25 lawless and financial analyst
13:26 analyst grace amado for their
13:27 work on today's hearing, I
13:31 would like to remind everyone
13:32 who wishes to testified in in
13:33 person today that you must
13:34 fill out a witness slip, which
13:35 you can find on the desk of
13:37 the sergeant at arms near the
13:38 entrance of this room, please
13:42 fill out to slip even if you
13:43 have already registered in
13:44 advance that you will be
13:46 testifying in person today. I
13:49 also want to point out that we
13:50 will not be voting on any
13:55 legislation today to allow a
13:55 smany people as possible to
13:57 testify testimony would be
13:58 limited to two minutes per
14:00 person, whether you are
14:02 testifying in person or on
14:04 zoom. I am also going to as
14:05 kmy colleagues to limit their
14:07 questions and comments to fiv
14:10 eminutes. Please note that
14:11 generally witnesses who are
14:12 here in person will testify
14:14 before those who are signed
14:16 into the webinar, I would also
14:17 like to note that we've been
14:20 joined by council members
14:21 Linda Lee Kevin Riley him oka