Superintendent plans to address AI, technology use

Superintendent Amy Hartley-Matteson wants to tackle early literacy and limit technology use.

Her hefty improvement plan for the 2026-27 school year, presented to the School Committee at its Oct. 2 meeting, has a range of goals for improving student performance on assessments.

Hartley-Matteson said she is committed to equity. She wants to identify which students the district’s current practices aren’t working well for and figure out what needs to change to make learning more equitable.

She wants to tackle early literacy through creating a new program for teaching reading and writing, which was discussed at a previous School Committee meeting.

“If there are particular practices that impact student learning, we lean into those practices,” said Hartley-Matteson.

She also plans to create guidelines for artificial intelligence, technology and cell phone usage. This will include conducting a technology use study and creating a team to recommend guidelines by grade level.

District leaders and principals will meet three times over the school year to reflect on progress. School-based teams will similarly reflect on school-wide goals.

School Committee member Joyce Bacchiocchi said she is looking forward to the technology use study. She questioned if increased screen time is what students need for better learning.

“”You’ve been here for three months, and in those three months, you’ve put together this plan that is more relevant to students and our district than our previous plan,” Bacchiocchi said.