Northville board approves $106,155 in AI tool licenses and adopts student‑driven AI guidance
June 24, 2026 | Northville Public Schools, School Boards, Michigan
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The Northville Public Schools board approved district purchases of AI and interactive video tools and heard details of a student‑informed framework to guide classroom use.
Administrators presented the AI task force’s recommendations and asked the board to approve licenses totaling $106,155 for the 2026–27 school year. Jim Lawson, who coordinated the task force, emphasized that student voices shaped tool selection and the guidance document. "Our task force wasn't complete without them," he said, describing how students helped refine an integration scale that distinguishes roles such as editor, collaborator, brainstormer and tutor.
The district also must meet Department of Justice accessibility requirements for video captions. Staff recommended retaining Screencastify (which already supports editable captions) and Edpuzzle for the coming year and phasing out Camtasia after a current multi‑year contract expires — an approach administrators said would save roughly $8,000 over time while ensuring ADA compliance.
Superintendent Dr. Webber and staff described the proposed longer‑term model: keep both Screencastify and Edpuzzle next year (so teachers can both edit captions and use interactive features), discontinue Camtasia when its contract ends, and provide professional development so teachers use the tools effectively.
Student representative Malik described the integration scale and urged clarity for classroom use: the tool should teach students not only whether they may use AI but how — for example, using it to brainstorm versus to complete graded work. "We came up with the editor so that students know they can edit; the collaborator so they can bounce ideas off it," Malik said.
The board unanimously approved motion 128 to fund the recommended set of licenses for 2026–27. Administrators said next steps include professional development for teachers, publishing the AI guidance publicly, and piloting classroom instructional rounds to show AI in practice.
Administrators presented the AI task force’s recommendations and asked the board to approve licenses totaling $106,155 for the 2026–27 school year. Jim Lawson, who coordinated the task force, emphasized that student voices shaped tool selection and the guidance document. "Our task force wasn't complete without them," he said, describing how students helped refine an integration scale that distinguishes roles such as editor, collaborator, brainstormer and tutor.
The district also must meet Department of Justice accessibility requirements for video captions. Staff recommended retaining Screencastify (which already supports editable captions) and Edpuzzle for the coming year and phasing out Camtasia after a current multi‑year contract expires — an approach administrators said would save roughly $8,000 over time while ensuring ADA compliance.
Superintendent Dr. Webber and staff described the proposed longer‑term model: keep both Screencastify and Edpuzzle next year (so teachers can both edit captions and use interactive features), discontinue Camtasia when its contract ends, and provide professional development so teachers use the tools effectively.
Student representative Malik described the integration scale and urged clarity for classroom use: the tool should teach students not only whether they may use AI but how — for example, using it to brainstorm versus to complete graded work. "We came up with the editor so that students know they can edit; the collaborator so they can bounce ideas off it," Malik said.
The board unanimously approved motion 128 to fund the recommended set of licenses for 2026–27. Administrators said next steps include professional development for teachers, publishing the AI guidance publicly, and piloting classroom instructional rounds to show AI in practice.
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