In the hopes of staying current with the evolving technology, Minooka Community Consolidated School District 201 officials have outlined plans for a so-called artificial intelligence “playbook” that will be available to teachers in the upcoming school year.

Adrianne McKerrow, District 201’s chief academic officer, and Hailey Bazan, an instructional coach at Aux Sable Elementary School, outlined plans for a formalized AI rollout at a recent board of education meeting.

The goal, McKerrow and Bazan said, is to acknowledge AI’s existence in society and the workforce and approach it from a proactive stance as its rapid growth continues.

“We’re making sure that we’re being proactive in our approach to AI usage in and out of our classrooms,” McKerrow said.

The recent discussion, which took place at a board of education meeting April 13, was the outgrowth of an AI task force that has been meeting this school year to formulate best practices for teachers and students alike within the classroom setting.

As final pieces of the planning puzzle are assembled, District 201 officials plan to have an official AI launch in August, at the emergence of the 2026-27 school year. District-approved AI practices will be shared with teachers during professional development sessions on an institute day under the plans announced.

McKerrow said any use of AI within Minooka CCSD’s classrooms will be through the lens of a supplementary tool.

“We’re not going to be leveraging AI to replace critical thinking for our kids,” she said. “We want to make sure that we are leveraging AI within our classrooms to make sure that we demonstrate more continuous student growth and achievement and adapt our learning environments, using it as a tool with some of the things we do in the classroom.”

This school year, a group of District 201 teachers has been piloting different education-based AI platforms. The plan unveiled at the recent board meeting is to implement MagicSchool into the Minooka CCSD curriculum.

MagicSchool contains a set of tools tailored toward teachers and students. Teachers could use the MagicSchool tools for lesson planning, as one example, while students could have access to it to quiz themselves on their mastery of a particular lesson.

Concerns about AI have become widespread in recent years as its use has grown. Bringing it into District 201’s buildings is being viewed as a way of drawing clear guardrails around its acceptable use in and out of the classroom, Bazan said.

“Students are already using AI without understanding it,” Bazan added. “If we don’t teach them AI practices in school, we risk creating equity concerns regarding who has access to this knowledge. Most future careers will intersect with AI in some way.”

During deliberations, a number of Minooka CCSD board members spoke up in support of the plans outlined.

“I think that it’s just critically important to start learning and using things like this now,” board member Adam Shainberg said. “It’s only going to become more prevalent.”

Board member Jennifer Monson shared similar sentiments, stating, “This is crucial. I’m really, really happy that this is happening. I’ve dealt with this, with family members. They can’t tell the difference between reality and AI, and it’s really terrifying, so this is awesome.”