By May 8, 2026, the New York City Department of Education's inbox contained over six thousand comments from parents and teachers. All of them concerned a single document: new guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in the city's public schools. The 45-day public comment period had ended, and Chancellor Camille Samuels had to hear a lot of criticism. From accusations of a «sham feedback process» to direct demands for a two-year moratorium on any AI implementation in classrooms.
This discussion is far from local. What is happening now in New York will be on the agenda of school districts in Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto in six months. For Russian-speaking families with bilingual children in the US and Canada, this is a situation where it's worth understanding in advance.
The New York City Department of Education proposed
The document is structured on the principle of a traffic light. This is a curious metaphor for educational policy, which usually shies away from outright permissions and prohibitions. Here, however, all three colors are explicitly stated.
On a green light, teachers are allowed to use AI for lesson brainstorming, scheduling, drafting parent emails, and translating school newsletters into languages other than English. This means anything that does not directly involve a child's assessment.
It's more complicated with the yellow zone. This includes analyzing student data, translating materials for bilingual children, and adapting assignments for students with special educational needs. This means «allowed, but with mandatory adult supervision.» Students can also use AI in the yellow zone for research and creative projects, but only under the teacher's supervision.
In the red zone, there are seven areas where AI is completely prohibited. These include decisions about transferring a child to another class, discipline, grades, individualized education plans for children with special needs, behavioral monitoring, psychological counseling, and any use of student personal data in unapproved tools.
Chancellor Samuels emphasized at the document's launch that «AI is here, and our responsibility is to put strong systemwide safeguards in place.» The final version of the guide, which DOE is already calling the «Playbook,» is promised to be published in June 2026.
What do parents and teachers fear
The main concern is not with the system of prohibitions itself, but with the fact that little has been included in it. Most situations where a child will encounter AI fall into the yellow zone and leave the decision to the discretion of the specific teacher.
The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy is the most vocal opponent. Its co-chair, Leonie Haimson, a member of the DOE's AI task force, is directly demanding a two-year moratorium on any further expansion of AI use in schools. Her coalition's arguments are as follows: AI spreads misinformation, suffers from hallucinations, and is prone to the phenomenon of sycophancy. This means the chatbot adapts to the interlocutor's opinion and confirms any of their conclusions, even dangerous ones. In current lawsuits in the US, chatbots are already being linked to the deaths of teenagers.
The group Parents for AI Caution, led by Kelly Clancy, is demanding proof from the DOE. «The city has accepted AI will be in schools without first proving its benefits and safety for students,» says Clancy.
Jennifer Weber, an education researcher from the Manhattan Institute, adds a third argument. All guides focus on teachers, not children. Meanwhile, it is children whose brains are developing, and reliance on AI at school age could leave a child without basic critical thinking skills, without the ability to ask questions, and without creativity.
DOE responds that the document is only the first phase, and feedback will be taken into account. Department representative Ayla Gething wrote to parents that «AI can never replace the care, love, and dedication that defines exceptional teaching.».
What does this mean for Russian-speaking families in the US
New York City is home to a large Russian-speaking diaspora, and bilingual children enter schools with their own linguistic peculiarities. AI translation of parent letters, AI translation of assignments, and AI adaptation of materials for non-native English speakers. All of this is already operational in the city's public schools and falls squarely into the yellow zone of the traffic light.
What a Russian-speaking parent can do right now. First, find out from the child's school which AI tools are being used in their classroom. Under new regulations, parents have the right to ask this question directly. Contact information for inquiries is also available on the DOE website at StudentPrivacy@schools.nyc.gov. Second, pay attention to how the child is using AI at home. bilingual children The temptation to translate assignments through ChatGPT is often stronger than for monolingual peers, especially when it comes to Russian homework. Third, talk to the child separately about the fact that AI makes mistakes and teach them to fact-check.
Similar discussions are already underway in other cities. Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Toronto are all discussing their own versions of school AI policies. New York's traffic light is likely to become a model that other districts will build upon.
What's next
The final «Playbook» will be released in June 2026. All six thousand comments will be reviewed and considered, as promised by the DOE. It is unclear whether there will still be room for a two-year moratorium in the final version. Most likely not. However, the DOE has a chance to hear the demand for more restrictions in the red zone.
Based on the materials NY Post, Chalkbeat New York, and the official NYC Public Schools publication from March 2026.
