State leaders teach AI basics to Wake County middle school students, urge parent involvement

State officials led a series of classroom presentations at Dillard Drive Middle School on December 11 that reached roughly 2,000 middle school students from Wake and Durham counties. The sessions introduced age appropriate AI tools for classroom use, including examples of music creation, and focused on practical safety steps such as verifying information and protecting personal data when using apps.

Presenters stressed that Wake County schools currently encourage classroom use of AI while noting the absence of a comprehensive district wide AI policy. Officials described existing privacy arrangements with some vendors, including Google’s Gemini, but said those agreements do not substitute for a unified framework governing classroom use procurement privacy and teacher training.

For families and educators the immediate impact was twofold. Students received hands on exposure to creative and research uses of AI that teachers can build into lessons, while parents were urged to engage with children about the apps they use and the personal data those apps may collect. That guidance is especially relevant in Wake County where administrators must balance innovation with privacy protections as more classrooms adopt AI tools.

The event underscored broader fiscal and market implications for local education. District officials will face choices about vendor selection contract language and staff training budgets as demand for AI enabled educational products grows. EdTech companies that can demonstrate strong privacy controls and clear age appropriate learning outcomes may gain traction with school buyers. At the same time families and taxpayers may press for transparency on vendor agreements and possible opt out mechanisms.

Looking ahead the school system will need to translate the presentations into policy and operational steps. Community leaders can expect conversations about a district wide AI strategy that covers classroom guidance procurement standards and data governance. In the near term parents are advised to ask schools about the specific tools their children use and the privacy arrangements that protect student information.