MSD Pike Township expands use of "Magic School" AI after DOE grant; officials cite large teacher and student uptake

MSD Pike Township officials on the board's agenda outlined a districtwide expansion of classroom AI tools Friday, saying a 2025–26 digital learning grant from the Indiana Department of Education funded a rollout of a platform called Magic School and that many teachers and students are already using it.

"We started this journey in 2024," Mr. Hec told the board as he summarized the district's AI goals and governance. He said the district wants students to be "AI literate" and to use tools to boost instruction efficiency while protecting student data.

Audrey Cop, the district's technology integration lead for the grant, said the district currently has 645 teachers using Magic School across K–12 and about 5,322 students enrolled in teacher-created "student rooms." "So far across the district we were able to use the grant to use Magic School across K through 12," she said, and reported that students have made 126,667 "generations" with the tool this year.

Teachers described classroom benefits. Patty Hammerly, the high school's CTE instructional coach, said the tool can rapidly produce assessments and lesson scaffolds for new teachers and urged staff to adopt AI: "They will not be replaced by AI, but they will be replaced by teachers that don't use AI," she said. New Augusta North resource teacher Hannah Ster Henshaw reported that targeted use of Magic School's writing feedback has raised some students' final writing scores "by 30 to 50 points," helping struggling students reach passing grades.

District staff emphasized safety and privacy safeguards. Cop said the platforms the district adopted include safety filters and that Magic School "does not" use district student data to train large language models. She also described a required AI‑literacy module students must complete before using Magic School and teacher alerts the system sends when student inputs suggest potential harm.

Board members pressed staff on risks. In one exchange Mr. Hec recounted finding a fabricated legal citation returned by an AI tool during evaluation, underscoring the need for critical vetting: "I put it into a reputable legal database. And that case was not there. It was completely made up," he said. Staff reiterated the district's approach: train students to verify AI outputs and provide adult supervision and a reporting pathway for problematic responses.

Next steps the district described include deeper professional development, planned integration of Magic School into the Canvas learning management system, possible use of other AI tools such as Canva for certain tasks, continued family engagement nights, and applying additional DOE funds for targeted CTE expansions if awarded. Officials said they will continue to emphasize parental outreach so families understand safety and privacy settings when students use AI at school and at home.

The board did not take a formal action on the AI presentation; staff said they will return with follow‑up reports and implementation updates.