Wednesday, September 17, 2025
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Vol. 55, No. 12
Milford (574) 658-4111 • Warsaw (574) 269-2932 • Syracuse (574) 457-3666
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
Local schools see a future with
AI
TECHNOLOGY By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer Times have changed since the first computer labs started appearing in schools in the 1980s . As digital technology has proliferated into more industries and aspects of daily life, many schools took it upon themselves to prepare students for the future by moving to 1:1 tech, by providing a laptop or iPad for each student . Warsaw, Wawasee, Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko and Fairfield school districts all implemented such policies in the past 15 years . Now, school officials are taking the same tack with artificial intelligence . In the 2023-2024 school year, Warsaw Community Schools introduced Skill Struck AI to its staff, with support from an Indiana Department of Education grant . The program has since been rolled out for students in grades 4-12 . “We’re preparing students for tools and jobs that maybe don’t even exist yet,” said Kyle Carter, chief accountability officer . “We recognized students and staff were utilizing those tools, so we wanted to partner with the state, utilize grant funds to unify around a platform that allowed responsible use of AI, active monitoring of how students were implementing the tool, so that we can ensure students were using it safely and responsibly,” said Carter . Indeed, Warsaw found, in initial conversations with staff, physical education teachers at Lakeview Middle School had created an AI tutor to put together workout routines for students . They had modeled the tutor after Captain America . The technology was already finding a place in classrooms . Whitko said in an email several of the online-based curricula it
uses are AI-assisted . For other districts, official AI implementation is still a work in progress . Wawasee Schools piloted the Magic School model for all its staff last spring . With a $10,000 technology grant from IDOE, the district decided to invest more heavily in AI . Magic School has not yet been rolled our for student use . Fairfield Community Schools’ Communication Director Dean Huppert said the district is “still in the planning stages of our AI technology .” Tippecanoe Valley and Wa-Nee Schools had not responded to request for comment by press time . Applying AI To Academics When schools like Warsaw and Wawasee get a technology grant and are looking for an AI vendor, they pick from those that meet IDOE’s requirements to receive state dollars . At time of writing, IDOE had not yet responded to questions on how vendors are vetted or what research it has to suggest AI will improve learning outcomes for students . IDOE’s remarks will be featured in a follow-up article . Locally, school officials report AI is used to save time, improve efficiency and generate ideas, as well as scale assignments for students of different learning levels . As Wawasee’s Assistant Superintendent Dr . Shelly Wilfong explained, teachers can feed lessons plans into Magic School and the AI will suggest quizzes and additional activities, like a “Jeopardy”-style game, to supplement lessons . Wawasee’s social studies teacher, Jenna Meyers, said she finds the technology useful for coming up with test questions . She also uses it to scale documents to an easier reading level for her special education students .
STUDENT TIME — Emma Berry, left, Katie Sigsbee and Piper Kern review driver’s ed questions on a school laptop during their student resource time in Jenna Meyers’ social studies classroom at Wawasee High School. Meyers reported she uses AI for creating test questions and scaling assignments. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.
TECH IN THE CLASSROOM — Seventh graders at Edgewood Middle School work on a lesson in Hayden Mullett’s social studies class. Warsaw implemented 1:1 tech in 2013 and has rolled out use of AI program, Skill Struck, for staff and students in grades 4-12. Officials cite efficiency and scaling assignments for different students as benefits of using AI in the classroom. Photo provided by Warsaw Community Schools. With Magic School, students will be submitting their writing assignments to the program and receiving “instant feedback,” said Wilfong . “That allows teachers time to conference one-on-one with students .” Carter argued that AI users must still use their brains to come up with effective prompts . “I personally, as a parent, used the tutoring tools last year for my algebra student . . . . It was rewarding to step back and help him facilitate and lean into a tutor . . . . You are still developing thinking skills and problem skills for the
students, because you still have to ask the right questions to get the guidance and support that you need,” he explained . Both Warsaw and Wawasee schools said AI can be used to develop behavioral plans . “You wouldn’t give it student information, but you might put in prompts about a behavior and ask it for different strategies,” said Warsaw Communications Director Krista Polston . A New Form Of Digital Literacy With AI freely available online, schools feel the need to start
teaching kids how to be responsible users early on . At Warsaw schools, students have to complete “detailed lessons” on how to use AI before gaining access to Skill Struck’s main functions . Teachers can monitor the prompts students put in, and are able to flag inappropriate use . Something Wawasee’s teaching will emphasize is “what AI is and isn’t .” “AI is not a human; it’s not your best friend, it’s not your therapist,” said Wilfong . “Don’t give it personal information . AI is not inContinued on page 2