PACES Vancouver

Surrey Superintendent Mark Pearmain on Global News June 10, 2026

2026-06-10T09:00:00-07:00

Mark Pearmain, Surrey School District Superintendent was on Global News as part of his recent media tour promoting AI usage in district classrooms.

It's worth watching or reading the transcript because it is a highlight-reel of how school administration are downplaying the risks of generative AI and ignoring the real concerns of parents.

As Global News did not feature the voices of parents or teachers, we have written our counter-points to each of Mark Pearmain's arguments along with the transcript.

Transcript

Jason Pires, Global News Morning BC:

Artificial intelligence has become part of our everyday lives, from streamlining work tasks to simplifying everyday routines. But when it comes to AI use in schools, opinion is still mixed on whether the technology should be embraced or avoided. Surrey Schools Superintendent Mark Pearmain joins us this morning among the speakers in an expert-led information session happening online this Thursday.

Mark Pearmain, Surrey School Superintendent:

Good morning.

Jason Pires:

Morning. Welcome back.

Mark Pearmain:

Thanks for having me.

Jason Pires:

Such a fascinating subject. First off, the difference between healthy AI and toxic AI. How would you describe that difference?

Mark Pearmain:

So we're really excited on Thursday night to be able to have this conversation with Dr. Shimi Kang, who is going to be explaining exactly what that is.

But a nutshell would be to take a think of healthy food, junk food, and toxic food.

That's the same concept that she's going to present.

A very easy way for parents to be able to kind of understand AI and then ultimately have conversations with their kids about what they're using, why they're using it, and what they should be aware of.

Our comments:

The event that they mention is titled "Junk, Toxic & Healthy AI: Helping Families Understand the Difference".

Talking about AI as food is an interesting choice. Everyone needs food to live, it's just a case of choosing the right food. So of course everyone needs to use AI, it's just a case of using the right AI.

The idea of not using AI is not mentioned.

The host of the event is Dr. Shimi Kang, an AI advocate.

Jason Pires:

What's the biggest concerns you're hearing right now so far from parents and teachers?

Mark Pearmain:

Lots of questions, right? I think it's fair to say that there's lots of questions across the country about AI and what's it going to mean for job employment, what does it mean for learning.

All of those are valid questions, which is really why in Surrey we want to have those conversations publicly, open up dialogue so that parents understand what we're thinking, what we're doing, and ensuring that they have voice to be able to ask their questions and we can answer them to the best of our abilities.

Our comments:

Mark Pearmain skillfully rephrases parents' concerns into parents' "questions", as if they do not have concerns.

Parents and teachers do have legitimate concerns about how these AI products will affect their childrens' education.

Will students learn less?
What about mental health effects like psychosis?
Will students become reliant on AI products to think?
Are there any benefits to these products?

Jason Pires:

So what is Surrey doing early on? There's no instruction manual, there's no model to follow.

Our comments:

There may not be an "instruction manual" but there are scientific studies that have been done on the effects of chatbots on students.

They show that students remember less, understand less at a time where they need to learn how to construct arguments and think for themselves.

Jason Pires:

Where are we compared to the rest of North America in terms of education and AI?

Our comments:

Mark Pearmain does not give any information about what is happening with regards to AI in North America. So we will.

In New York City, the a majority of city council members are asking for a pause on AI in schools. This is spurred by a petition from parents an educators that has 4000 signatures.

Nearly 1000 people have signed a petition calling for a pause on AI in British Columbia.

Parents in LA are asking for iPads and laptops to be removed from classrooms.

Mark Pearmain:

So what we're doing in Surrey is that we're really taking an approach which focuses in on privacy of security of students and then ultimately wanting them to understand how to use platforms safely. We have six platforms that we have approved.

They've gone through PIAs, so Privacy Impact Assessments, that we use and they're under the use of teachers so that when kids use them they're actually utilizing them in a classroom environment, usually through a QR code, so the kids aren't putting their personal data in, and they get to the experience of actually using these AI platforms.

Our comments:

Mark Pearmain focuses the conversation on privacy. This is a legitimate concern, but he does not mention other concerns that parents have.

Like AI products that tell children how to commit suicide.

Or how chatbots can lead to delusions and psychosis.

Mark Pearmain:

We also are taking the approach of, you know, really hammering home.

Don't put in your private security data, don't put in personal information, because we know kids are using ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini or whatever it is outside of the classroom.

So for them it's a matter of understanding what the pitfalls are and ensuring that if they're using it, they're using it in a safe way.

Our comments:

Again, focusing on the thin area of privacy moves the conversation away from the real harms that chatbots can cause.

Jason Pires:

What's the grade level are we talking about? Because I know people are surprised to hear, I think when you were here last time, it starts quite early.

Mark Pearmain:

Well you want to talk about safety early, because let's be honest, when a student or a child picks up their parent's phone, even if they're pre-school, they're already actually utilizing AI.

They just don't know it.

Our comments:

This is an insultingly bad-faith argument.

It is unclear what "AI" Mark Pearmain is referring to. Phones can have "AI"-enabled search apps, camera apps that use "AI" to invent details to up-scale photos, and a host of other applications.

Generative AI chatbots being put into classrooms is clearly not the same as an app being available on a parent's phone.

This kind of "gotcha" is trying to tell parents, teachers and students that because their phone might contain a product labelled "AI", they cannot criticise classroom chatbots that have negative effects on learning and mental health

Mark Pearmain:

So you start with the safety conversations and the awareness as early as you can. We certainly are seeing classrooms grade five, six, seven using it.

That's totally under teacher supervision.

Our comments:

In Surrey students as young as 10 are using AI. Even younger than VSB's 13+ rollout.

The issue is not whether it is under teacher supervision, the issue is that it does not aid learning and in fact harms it.

Mark Pearmain:

And then high school students are using it both outside of the classrooms and possibly with classroom environment, classroom supervision as well.

Our comments:

Again, completely unaddressed is that these products harm retention, harm learning and are addictive.

Jason Pires:

Are teachers in Surrey right now using part of their course curriculum as specific as "Go to AI and research this"?

Mark Pearmain:

They could be.

AI is really following under the digital literacy concept of our curriculum.

So we expect our students to be digitally literate when they graduate.

And that's inclusive of all digital literacies that are out there, all platforms, including AI.

So this is just an extension of the curriculum.

Our comments:

When parents think of "digital literacy" they think of students learning how to use multiple sources to fact-check anything online.

Similarly, teaching students about generative AI, chatbots and their risks should be part of a digital literacy curriculum.

Both of these would not take very long to teach.

However them in a few hours is not the same as making chatbots available in every class.

Surrey Schools have 6 different AI products available. The superintendent speaks about AI as a "genie".

Mark Pearmain:

And they could be using it outside to do research, but you could also be having classroom teachers, for example, putting a math calculation into an AI and then using it to show students if it's correct, to break it down into easier ways to understand it, or actually for the students to see what's the bias that's coming out of it and to be able to challenge it.

Our comments:

This gets to the fundamental problem with the "critical thinking" discourse surrounding generative AI and chatbots.

Mathematical problems have a definite, correct answer that can be verified. The risk that comes with chatbots and generative AI is when you ask it questions you don't know the answer to.

Students are in school to learn and do so by asking questions where they do not know the answer.

School administrators like Mark Pearmain admit that generative AI often output incorrect answers, so they say "we want students to fact-check what the AI says".

If you want students to fact-check everything output by the chatbot, then what is the point of using the chatbot?

It does not save time, it only offloads thinking that should be done by the student.

Jason Pires:

Briefly, does AI potentially diminish critical thinking in your mind?

Our comments:

The host leaves this point to last, and reduces its seriousness by prefacing it with "briefly", as if it's barely worth mentioning.

Mark Pearmain:

I actually think it's going to augment it, because one of the things that we really need to focus on is critical thinking cross-analysis to understand if what you're getting from AI is actually true or not.

Our comments:

As we mention above, "critical thinking" is always mentioned by school boards when promoting AI.

If students are supposed to fact-check everything output by the chatbot, then what is the point of the chatbot?

Why is a product that lies convincingly being put into classrooms?

Mark Pearmain:

And so these are skills, ultimately, that our kids need to be just refined and really, really reinforced of how to use.

Ultimately, for us, we recognize that AI is here.

So we can't put the genie back in the bottle.

Our comments:

AI is often framed by its proponents as being "inevitable". That is somehow used by people in education to mean that AI in classrooms as similarly "inevitable".

This framing of inevitability has a number of effects:

It diffuses opposition from parents, teachers and students. If something is inevitable, then it is pointless to resist it.
It removes responsibility from schoolboards and superintendents. It frames them as simply following something that cannot be changed, rather than the reality which is that they are making an active choice to put it into classrooms.

Mark Pearmain used the same "cannot put the genie back in the bottle" line on CBC.

Mark Pearmain:

So now we want to make sure that we prepare our kids, that they have future-ready skills, they know how to collaborate, they know how to be critical thinkers, they know how to analyze, and they know how to cross-reference what they're reading.

Our comments:

In the past, schools taught students fundamental skills. As new technologies emerged, they were able to use those skills and succeed.

Despite not being taught how to use Microsoft Excel in school, we somehow learned how to do it in the workplace.

Fundamentally redesigning the education system to work with a technology that did not exist 3 years ago, will not help students when they graduate in 5 years' time and the technology has already changed.

They need to learn how to think for themselves, without the aid of products like Copilot and Gemini.

Jason Pires:

The online event, Thursday at 6:30, not open just to families of Surrey, open to anyone?

Mark Pearmain:

Open to everybody. We want you to attend.

This is a really important conversation.

But also, just frankly, the Prime Minister came out about AI literacy.

Here's a great opportunity for all to learn.

Jason Pires:

Thanks, Mark.

Mark Pearmain:

Thanks for having me.

Mark Pearmain mentions the federal government's recent document they published on AI as evidence supporting his argument.

When the Minister for AI was asked if the government wanted more kids using AI, as part of its strategy of AI literacy, he responded:

"No, and we're talking about workers and post-secondary have access to this technology. Actually when it comes to kids, sort of 16 and under, that's a different story."

So using the government as a justification for putting chatbots into schools may not work in his favour.

Final remarks

We as parents, guardians, teachers and students, have the power to resist anything that harms students' education.

AI is not inevitable.

Paces on CBC News Early Edition

2026-06-03T09:00:00-07:00

We were able to speak on CBC News BC's Early Edition this morning, in a segment that also featured Vancouver School Board Associate Superintendent Pedro da Silva and Surrey Superintendent Mark Pearmain.

We were so happy that CBC gave time to air the other side of this story. Most of the coverage of AI in schools in Vancouver has only had the voices of people trying to push the technology:

CBC interviewed VSB Digital Literacy Mentor Christina Walker in February 2026
This is Vancouver interviewed Mark Pearmain and Pedro da Silva in January 2026

We were able to speak after the two superintendents. This post will cover what they spoke about.

The plan is… no plan

Parents have repeatedly asked Vancouver School Board how Copilot will be used in classrooms, and Mr da Silva’s comments in the CBC segment made it clear that VSB's plan is that there is no plan. They plan to to let students and teachers figure it out.

I look forward to seeing how students are going to use AI as part of their learning journey.

Pedro da Silva, VSB Associate Superintendent

For us it's now an opportunity for the teachers and the students to work through how to leverage the tool to support the learning environment for both teachers and students.

Pedro da Silva, VSB Associate Superintendent

This thinking is mirrored by comments from a VSB Trustee. We had an opportunity to speak with them and voiced our concerns about the effect of AI on students, the trustee said that they hoped for legislation on a provincial or federal level. We understood that to mean they did not see VSB as responsible.

This same mindset was shown by Mark Pearmain's comment later in the segment. He is excited to see how AI can enhance a student's experience, but does not explain how that might occur.

We’re certainly excited to see the opportunities that AI brings that can enhance a student's experience in school

Mark Pearmain, Surrey School District Superintendent

They are adamant that Microsoft Copilot must must be deployed in schools, but they cannot explain why or how it will be used.

How will students use Copilot?

How students would use Copilot was a key question that host Michelle Eliot asked three times in three different ways before she got an answer. First asking what students would use Copilot for, then what would happen in practical terms, and finally asking for prompts or examples of classes.

For an example of how students could use Microsoft Copilot 13+, this is a screenshot from a VSB student account, asking it to write an essay. The Copilot 13+ guardrails that are often talked about do not include stopping the tool from doing the student's thinking for them.

Screenshot of the Copilot 13+ interface from a VSB student. The student asks "write an essay on espionage during the cold war. 10th grade level. No emojis. Proper formatting." Copilot 13+ replies with a complete essay, written in the style of a 10th grader.

Concerns heard, ignored

Later in the segment, the host Michelle Eliot mentioned the calls from the Manitoba premier to ban AI for children 16 and under, and asked Mark Pearmain what he thought about this and other concerns around AI.

Mark Pearmain avoids the question and responds by talking about valuing transparency and encouraging parents to ask questions. To support that conversation in a clearly unbiased way, Surrey is hosting evening on "healthy AI" with Dr Shimi Kang, an AI advocate.

If you have time, it may be worth registering to attend and seeing if there is any opportunity for questions from attendees.

This tactic of talking about listening to parents concerns, but continuing with AI deployment is the same used by Vancouver School Board in their VSB Voices meeting where parents and guardians were encouraged to air their concerns, and then ignored.

Screenshot from Dr Shimi Kang's website, featuring an article "AI Homework and Critical Thinking: Helping Kids Use AI Without Losing Their Voice"

Inevitability framing

Not mentioned in any of the discussions is the idea of not using AI. “AI is here, the genie is not going to be put back into the bottle.”

This inevitability is a key tactic and framing used by AI advocates. They shift the conversation to “how best to use AI” by cutting off any option of saying “No”.

We are not powerless

Despite this framing, AI is not inevitable.

We have the power to protect students’ learning environment.

One key way we can enact change is through the upcoming elections in October. There are elections for school board trustees in October for both Vancouver and Surrey.

What you can do:

Ask candidates what their position is on AI in schools.
Ask if they would support a two-year pause on AI.
Ask if they have seen the research on how AI makes students learn less.
Sign our petition.

We need a pause on AI in schools

We demand that the British Columbia Ministry of Education and Child Care enact a two-year pause on AI in classrooms.

Sign our petition

Removing AI from schools is still best for students

2026-06-01T09:00:00-07:00

Vancouver School Board hit the big red "On" switch for Microsoft's chatbot Copilot this week.

What we know

There is still a lot that is left unexplained but here's what we know so far.

The main sources for information are VSB's Copilot website, the FAQ sub-section and the most recent episode of the VSB podcast After the Bell.

The website confirms that students 13 years and older will be able to use Copilot through their school account.

Although it seems that 13 is not a hard age-limit, because in subsequent years students Grade 8 students will get access "in second semester, after most Grade 8 students will have turned 13."

The FAQ states:

Copilot 13+ was added to the the District’s license of Microsoft suite at no additional cost.

This is unsurprising. Similar to how Google gave free Chromebooks to schools to get students into the Google ecosystem, Microsoft hopes to get students used to Copilot so they will become paying customers in the future.

Opting Out

According to Christina Walker in Episode 47 of After the Bell, guardians are able to opt-out of their child using Copilot.

We have contacted VSB for confirmation of this.

If you would like to opt-out, feel free to copy-paste the following or use it as inspiration for writing your own email.

Dear {Teacher Name},

I am writing to inform you that I would like for {Student Name} to opt out of using generative AI tools in the classroom.

This includes: – Using AI chatbots like Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT. – Using AI products to come up with ideas. – Using AI products to get feedback. – Using AI products to generate text. – Using AI products to generate images.

I really want to encourage {Student Name} to go through the hard work of learning to express their own ideas, and research shows that using generative AI tools deny them that experience. Studies also show that using generative AI has a negative effect on how much students remember, and it can have negative effects on their mental health.

Thank you for your understanding,

{Parent/Guardian name}

What are you seeing in your school?

We are expecting that the way that each school and each teacher uses Copilot will vary. To know what students are experiencing, we would love to hear from you!

As parents, guardians, educators and students, what are you seeing in your school? We would love to hear from you!

How have you seen Copilot being used in classrooms?
Has using Copilot been part of any homework assignments?
Did your school ask for guardian permission before the student started using Copilot?
Did the school make it clear to you that you are able to opt-out? If you chose to opt-out, how was it received, what did the school do?

The Tyee article "AI Chatbots are Coming to BC Classrooms"

2026-05-28T09:00:00-07:00

"AI Chatbots are Coming to BC Classrooms" was published in The Tyee, covering Vancouver School Board's plan to put Copilot into classrooms.

We are excited to see more people looking at the VSB plans, however there are some things to add that the article misses.

Not just "a few youths" pushing back

The subhead of the article is "Students need to learn to use it responsibly, the school board says. But a few youths are pushing back."

From this subhead and the general tone of the article, one might think that the plans are generally unopposed. This is inaccurate. AI is incredibly unpopular with students, parents and teachers.

At our recent pop-up event at Riley Park Farmers’ Market, we spoke with many students and teachers who were frustrated with AI. The article only interviews a single teacher, and they speak positively about AI. In our experience the majority of teachers do not want AI in classrooms.

This unpopularity is not just limited to local schools. In the US, AI is less popular than ICE. Students have been booing mentions of AI in graduation speeches.

Hundreds of protesters marched against proposed AI data centres in Vancouver. Image: @no.ai.vancouver

Also unmentioned in the article is the hundreds-strong protest on May 23 against proposed AI data centres. Most of the participants were young adults. The associated petition has over 8500 signatures so far. (Update: As of June 2026, it has reached 10,000 signatures)

Our own petition for a two-year pause on AI in schools has 650 signatures at the time of writing this. (Update: As of June 2026, it has reached 750 signatures)

No mention of how Copilot will be used

The article does not cover that Vancouver School Board have not made it clear how Copilot would be used in classrooms. In a recent consultation meeting, parents raised many questions and concerns:

Will students be able to use Copilot to write for them?
Will it give feedback on their writing?
How will students who use Copilot be evaluated against those who choose not to use it?
Will its use be required?
Will it solve problems for them?
What happens when it gives incorrect information?

None of these questions have been answered by Vancouver School Board.

Cognitive offloading still unaddressed

Cognitive offloading is the effect of becoming less skilled, less knowledgeable, the more someone uses AI.

The school board's approach to generative AI is exemplified by da Silva's response to concerns about cognitive offloading. From the Tyee article:

"A lot of the worries about cognitive offloading, academic integrity, are a little bit more heightened," da Silva said. "But there's been strategies in the past to address this, and I think there'll have to be strategies to address this moving forward." Strategies such as talking to a student suspected of using AI to cheat, about the difference between the quality of that work and the skills and learning they have demonstrated in class up to that point. A student may be required to redo an assignment under a teacher's direct supervision.

The strategies mentioned do not address cognitive offloading at all. They are things that are done after the a student is found to "cheat" (something that lacks definition when using AI). Cognitive offloading happens simply by using AI.

The only strategy to avoid cognitive offloading is to not use AI.

Privacy

When dealing with data and students, Canadian law requires that all information be stored on servers within Canada. Microsoft are quick to point out that they comply with this law.

When asked about this, da Silva's replies:

Now who has access to it? I'm assuming that they're a corporation that doesn't let governments have access to it.

Mr da Silva's assumption is incorrect. Microsoft does let the US government access it.

Microsoft is required by the US CLOUD act to provide the United States government access to data stored on any Microsoft-owned server, regardless of what country the server is located.

We are hoping that this is the first article of many from media outlets, and that they will cover the broader antipathy towards AI in future articles.

Final words

Vancouver School Board are not the only school board deploying chatbots into classrooms.

If you are also concerned about how students' education will suffer, please sign our petition to the Ministry of Education and Child Care.

We need a pause on AI in schools

We demand that the British Columbia Ministry of Education and Child Care enact a two-year pause on AI in classrooms.

Sign our petition

Riley Park Farmers' Market Popup

2026-05-24T09:00:00-07:00

Yesterday we hosted our first in-person popup event! After communicating mostly online and through posters, it was wonderful to get to talk to so many people. We spoke to parents, students, teachers and other members of the community.

The vast majority were supportive of a pause and were concerned about AI's effect on students.

They raised many concerns, including students becoming reliant on AI, becoming isolated from their peers and teachers, and falling for false information.

We told people about the Vancouver School Board's plans to make Microsoft Copilot available in classrooms. Only a single person out of the 50+ people we talked to had heard about the plans. Even students who go to a VSB school and parents who have children that go to a VSB school were unaware.

Some of the older students we talked to recounted stories of peers who used ChatGPT to answer even simple questions at university. "How did you feel about this assignment?"-type questions that were not for any marks, were delegate to ChatGPT.

Highschool students told us how some teachers would recommend that students use AI to get ideas, while other teachers would recommend against its use.

A lot of people helped out writing postcards expressing their concerns about AI. We later mailed them to their local politicians.

Results of the Sticker Board

We asked people if they wanted to put sticker-dots on aspects of AI and education that concerned them the most. Most people said "everything" but then put a few dots on particular categories.

Category	Stickers
Harm to brain development / loss of critical thinking	74
Environmental impacts	50
Chatbot addiction and over-reliance/loss of agency	45
Devaluation of creativity	45
Reduced peer interations/weakened teacher relationships	43
Misinformation, disinformation and biases	40
Surveillance and lack of data privacy	39
Mental health impacts	37
Big tech control	31
Impact on systems, what do we lose funding for?	13

Future events

We will definitely be doing this kind of pop-up again. If you are interested in dropping by, check out our events page. Or if you would like to help out, contact us!

Removing AI from schools is still best for students

2026-04-30T09:00:00-07:00

Movement on AI issue

In the last week, there have been a flurry of announcements about banning under-16s from accessing AI chatbots and social media. The premier and education minister of Manitoba announced plans to ban AI chatbots and social media, starting in classrooms. BC's attorney general Niki Sharma followed this by asking the Federal government for stronger legislation on AI companies.

After two years of educators, researchers and parents sounding the alarm on the harmful effects of AI chatbots, it is encouraging to see governments finally talking about taking action. If put into place, age verification for chatbots may help to reduce the harm done to students.

However it is not without its drawbacks.

Solution with a fallout

Any age restriction laws would require that all users prove their age. All users have to upload their ID to the companies that are contracted to provide verification. From a privacy perspective, this is concerning. When a similar age-verification system was implemented for the popular chat application Discord, a cyber attack led to 70,000 users' photo IDs being leaked.

A simpler solution

A directive by the Ministry of Education and Child Care would be far easier to implement than age verification, and would preserve privacy.

When students were distracted by cell phones in classrooms, and their learning suffered, the Ministry of Education and Child Care enacted a policy to restrict cell phones in classrooms. They can and should do the same with AI chatbots.

If you feel the same, please take a minute to sign the petition to the Ministry of Education and Child Care.

We need a pause on AI in schools

We demand that the British Columbia Ministry of Education and Child Care enact a two-year pause on AI in classrooms.

Sign our petition

Vancouver School Board publishes, then ignores parents' AI concerns

2026-04-30T09:00:00-07:00

After engaging with parents, guardians and caregivers, Vancouver School Board have published their Engagement Summary Report on Digital Devices, Digital Tools and AI.

Participants very clearly voiced a number of well-founded concerns, which are documented in the report.

The report ends with VSB confirming they will rollout Copilot anyway.

Feedback received ... will help inform the rollout of Microsoft Copilot 13+ in secondary schools this spring

VSB Voices, Digital Devices, Digital Tools and AI – Engagement Summary Report, May 2026

Concerns voiced

Comments from parents show that they are extremely well-informed and understand the risks associated with AI.

Participants complain at multiple points about a lack of transparency about how AI would be used in classrooms. There is still no clear communication from VSB on how Copilot would be used in classrooms.

Questions still unanswered:

Will students be able to use Copilot to write for them?
Will it give feedback on their writing?
How will students who use Copilot be evaluated against those who choose not to use it?
Will its use be required?
Will it solve problems for them?
What happens when it gives incorrect information?

Many participants were concerned that students using AI would not learn and would instead become reliant on the AI. These concerns are borne out by current research (Anthropic 2025)

Participants highlighted concerns that **AI may reduce productive struggle for students**, which was seen as essential to learning.

VSB Voices, Digital Devices, Digital Tools and AI – Engagement Summary Report, May 2026

The report states that “many underscored that overreliance on AI can change students’ ability to think, write and problem solve.” Research shows that students who use AI perform worse than those who use paper-based notes (Kosmyna 2025, Lehmann 2025, Kreijkes 2025).

Parents raised concerns that students using AI would result in them offloading critical thinking. This is is shown to happen by current research (Lee 2025).

Concerns ignored

Despite all of these concerns, the report concludes with:

Feedback received about digital devices, digital tools and AI engagement sessions will help inform the rollout of Microsoft Copilot 13+ in secondary schools this spring, as well as communications with families moving forward.

We hope that Vancouver School Board will listen to both research and parents’ concerns and cancel their plans to roll out Copilot into classrooms.

We need a pause on AI in schools

2026-04-12T09:00:00-07:00

New stories come out each week of the negative impacts of AI on society. From driving people to psychosis, to students becoming reliant on tools like ChatGPT to write essays for them.

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are being put in classrooms across BC.

We demand that the Ministry of Education and Child Care enact a two-year pause (moratorium) on AI usage in classrooms in British Columbia.

This means that for two years, in schools in BC:

Students will not use generative AI in classrooms.
Students will not use generative AI for homework.

If this is something that you agree with, please take the time to sign the petition on Action Network.

We need a pause on AI in schools

We demand that the British Columbia Ministry of Education and Child Care enact a two-year pause on AI in classrooms.

Sign our petition

CBC interview with Christina Walker

2026-02-03T08:00:00-08:00

CBC released an interview with Christina Walker, the Vancouver School Board's Digital Literacy Mentor.

The interview is relatively short but has many key omissions and mis-truths that are important to correct and clarify.

Avoids mentioning harms of AI

At the end of the piece the interviewer asks: "Have you noticed a decline in students when they're using AI, whether it's those critical thinking skills, whether their grades are going down? Is there any metric for that?"

Christina Walker: "I wouldn't say that there's a metric. There isn't really a metric just yet, other than, of course, having conversations and of course, as teachers, we are working in the classrooms, we are seeing what's happening there."

This is incorrect, there are many different metrics used in research to evaluate the effect of AI on students. Scientific papers that use those metrics show that using generative AI harms learning.

AI-use is correlated with worse learning outcomes (Kosmyna 2025, Lehmann 2025), poorer critical thinking (Lee 2025), and makes users unable to accurately judge their own performance (Fernandes 2025)
Students that use AI perform worse than those that never used it (Bastani 2024) once the AI crutch is taken away.
A report from Microsoft themselves found that students that used LLMs as a study aid performed worse than students that just took notes (Kreijkes 2025).
A recent report from the usually AI-positive Brookings Institution was summarized by NPR as "The risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits".
The majority of students use it to solve problems for them, rather than learn from it (Anthropic 2025).

As part of the BC Ministry of Education and Child Care's Considerations for Using AI Tools in K-12 Schools document, it recommends that school boards "Seek AI tools with a proven track record of effectiveness backed by research or case studies demonstrating that they deepen learning for students." (page 12)

If the VSB is not aware of any metrics to evaluate the AI tools, what "track record of effectiveness backed by research or case studies" are they using to recommend AI use in schools?

No mention of why AI is being deployed

In the interview there is no mention of why VSB is choosing to deploy AI into classrooms.

Does it help with test scores?

Does it help students to retain information?

If it has benefits, why are those benefits not mentioned?

CBC does not ask this question.

No mention of mental health issues

Despite spending the first part of the interview talking about how many guardrails there are in Microsoft Copilot 13+, Christina Walker does not mention the host of problems associated with continued interaction with chatbots in general.

Children are regularly using chat-bots for personal advice (Common Sense Media 2025). Putting a chatbot in the classroom can only increase this reliance on tools for emotional support.

In adults "chat-bot psychosis", caused by prolonged interaction with chat-bots, has affected many and has prompted a class-action lawsuit.

Calculators, but not smart phones

No discussion of AI in schools would be complete without mentioning the calculator. Everyone thought that calculators becoming popular would mean students would not learn how to add and subtract. But students can still do math so there was nothing to worry about.

After bringing up calculators, Christina Walker mentions other technologies that have come out since the calculator: the internet and smartphones.

So if calculators turned out to be not a problem, and we are applying the same logic AI, surely we would apply the same logic to the internet and smart phones? After all, everyone was worried about calculators, but students adapted.

Curiously, the BC Ministry of Education and Child Care currently restricts cellphones in classrooms, with the reasoning that:

By removing the distractions from digital devices, students can focus on their education. This leads to better learning outcomes and helps support their mental health and social connections.

A distraction-causing digital tool that harms mental health and hurts social connections sounds a lot like AI.

Public Delegation Board Meeting Rejection

2026-01-29T08:00:00-08:00

Thank you to everyone who has suggested that we present our views and petition to the School Board in the monthly Public Delegation Board meetings.

We applied to present on January 26, but were rejected with the following letter.

Thank you for your interest in presenting at the January 26, 2026 Public Delegation Board meeting.

Public Delegation Board Meetings are intended to provide members of the community with the opportunity to present to the Board on matters relating to governance and/or budget.

The Board values receiving input and perspectives from community members and understand that the matter you have brought forward is important to you. After careful review by the Board Chair and Vice-Chair, your delegation request was not approved as it does not fall within the established guidelines for delegations to the Board, as outlined in Board Policy 7. The matter you wish to delegate on falls under operations, and your feedback would be better addressed by staff who are actively engaged on preparing an updated Acceptable Use of Technology guidelines to include responsible use of AI in the classrooms.

Your request has been referred to the appropriate District staff for follow-up, and they will reach out to you to gather your input.

We understand that the student-run campaign was also rejected.

We heard back from District staff with an email to direct questions about the planned roll-out. We will collate questions and send them.