Remember the Human: Deploying AI in Your District: Insights from a CoSN Webinar

In this episode, we explore highlights from CoSN’s recent webinar, Remember the Human: Deploying AI in Your District. Four education leaders: Mike Lawrence (ABC Unified), Jerry Almendarez (Santa Ana Unified/Creative Futures), Christopher Hoang (LACOE), and Chad Laines (ABC Unified), share how they’re implementing AI in real K–12 contexts.

From district-wide pilots to county-level training, each speaker emphasizes one guiding principle: AI must enhance, not replace, human intelligence.

We cover how districts can start with small, safe experiments, publish guidelines over rigid policies, and focus on transparency with families and students.

The conversation also touches on budget strategies, governance models, academic integrity, and real-world classroom use cases.

Whether you’re just beginning with AI or refining your district’s approach, this episode provides practical, battle-tested insights for leaders, teachers, and technologists.

Key Takeaways:

• Lead with HI + AI: keep human intelligence at the center.

• Start small with safe pilots—volunteers, not mandates.

• Use guidelines (not rigid policy) to stay agile.

• Put IT leaders at the cabinet table for smarter adoption.

• Engage students and families through roundtables and communication toolkits.

• Reframe academic integrity around culture and trust.

• Leverage existing platforms before buying new tools.