‘The whole world seems to be chasing the same things we have been chasing’

Not that school board members necessarily needed confirmation that the Whitehall School District was heading in the right direction by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), but they got it anyway last Wednesday when hearing a report that came from a summit held in San Diego.

District Superintendent Mike Beighley attended the summit along with a group of other educators from CESA 4 — with expenses paid by the Ronald and Joyce Wanek Foundation. He also gave board members a copy of a report published by the World Economic Forum which said there will be 170 million new jobs by 2030, replacing 92 million other jobs. 

Beighley said the report shows the volatility of the job markets, but also that the district is preparing its students for that future. The report highlighted skillsets that will be necessary for the future job market. 

“None of which are measured by a standardized test,” Beighley said. “I think that is a significant piece and validates even more that we have been on the right track with the things that we are working on and have been for the better part of the last seven years.”

Beighley told the board there were 140 countries represented by 8,000 people at the Arizona State University-Global Silicon Valley summit held in early April. 

“It sounds a bit cliché, but we have had this thing pegged right from the beginning,” Beighley said. “The whole world seems to be chasing the same things we have been chasing.”

What impressed others at the summit, Beighley said, was how the local educators are operating.

“When folks heard that we were rural public schools, it was like a floodgate opened,” Beighley said. “Folks were there trying to figure out how we were doing this in a public setting. Especially in a rural public setting. So, I think that was powerful.”

Beighley said attending the conference was a “profound experience,” though admitted he was concerned “at multiple levels” when he heard United States Secretary of Education Linda McMahon refer to AI as A-One “not once, not twice, but three times.” 

“I don’t say that lightly. I think it shows how careful we have to be and, at the same time, how aggressively careful we have to be because this is significant,” Beighley said. 

But after hearing reports from China, India, and other parts of Europe, “I think we have chosen the right path, now the trick is to get it done.” 

While there has been a transition period, district administrators said increasing the use of AI has gone well. 

Elementary school principal Luke Eide said he was in a classroom earlier that day and saw staff members implementing a new program and the impact it had on students. 

“The growth among students has been really good, both in English Language Arts and math,” Eide said.

High school principal Damon Lisowski said that staff members have been working on how to implement AI programs with grading. Both said that teachers have been communicating with one another more and are helping each other.

Kayla Rudy, the district director of social and emotional learning, said that utilizing more technology has changed what social and emotional needs are and made “the human side even more important” in terms of social and emotional learning. She said the district is looking to be proactive with students.

Board member Emily Herness said utilizing technology could help students because the focus is on personalized education and not necessarily on grades and comparisons to other students. 

“I’m hopeful that some of the social/emotional stuff is going to continue to improve with this transition,” Herness said. “If all of a sudden we aren’t just chasing A’s and playing games anymore… If we’re improving competency and pushing our own capacity for each student there is going to be a lot more intrinsic value that I think is really going to help. I was that student chasing A’s, that’s really hard on you emotionally.”

Beighley said the district has already begun seeing some of those benefits. 

“If you make this about learning and growth and not about playing school, that’s a significant, impactful scenario we’ve seen already,” Beighley said. “It doesn’t take weeks. In days, it starts to transition. It’s no longer ‘I have to feel bad because I’m not doing as well as my neighbor’ when they have a whole different reality.” 

Beighley relayed a story about a Whitehall student who “wouldn’t talk two weeks ago and is teaching other kids what to do and has a vision for his future.” 

“We make it about growth, make it about improving yourself, maximizing your capacity. That’s really what this work is,” Beighley said. “We just now have the tools to be able to do that.” 

In other matters, the board approved eliminating Project Circuit, the CESA 10 program that has been utilized to allow students to remotely attend classes in other districts. That program used a two-way television system that Beighley said wasn’t necessary anymore because of technological advancements. 

Eliminating the program, which Beighley said was the first of its kind in the country, was the result of a lengthy conversation, but will save the district $15,000 annually. 

The board approved leasing Apple devices for the 2025-26 school year. The district previously used Chromebooks, but Beighley said they weren’t as durable as the Apple devices. 

The board approved the hiring of Mara Gerndt, originally for seventh- and eighth-grade science, but Beighley said she will have a different title that has already been communicated to her. Also hired was Allison Koepke, a WHS graduate, to teach kindergarten.