At the Feb. 4 meeting the Three Village Central School District Board of Education presented two kinds of changes to be expected in the coming school years: the integration of artificial intelligence focused curriculum and expected staff vacancies because of upcoming retirement eligibility.
AI integration in schools
According to Executive Director of Technology Deidre Rubenstrunk, the district’s technology plan through 2029 will have students and educators “leverage digital tools, including emerging technologies and AI, not as ends in themselves, but as strategic supports.” The guiding goals, she elaborates, will be to have students use technology “purposefully and selectively” with limited screen time, to optimize classroom time for teachers, and to establish “a transparent communication framework” with parents on how the technology is used.
For AI integration specifically, the tentative measures would vary by grade level. Grades Pre-K through 5 would include “AI awareness” lessons where students, without using AI themselves, would learn to distinguish between authentic and false content. Grades 6-8 would include “the integration of appropriate tools but with teacher oversight,” and grades 9-12 would have students work with AI prototypes. The Bloomberg Finance Lab, planned for Ward Melville High School in fall 2026, will have AI built into the terminals to pull in business articles, with students expected to analyze the articles themselves.
The effectiveness of the AI integration, said Rubenstrunk, will be measured through student achievement metrics and through working with teachers to fulfill their specific requests for classroom tools. “All of the tools we procure, that has to be led from a curricular purpose,” she said.
Rubenstrunk also emphasized that “students do not have open access to chatbots” and that the district “blocks every available use of Gemini across all platforms” for students. Staff, however, will have access and training as the district considers future student access at the highest grade levels. “I want to make sure our education professionals are really prepared to be the individuals who are guiding this. A lot of our teachers are nearly there; some of them are not.”
According to Rubenstrunk, the district will be looking for community input as they work to satisfy both those eager for and wary of AI integration. “There is an approach here that satisfies both ends of that spectrum. We just have to build it first.” To leave feedback or ask questions, email the district at [email protected] by March 4.
Expected staff vacancies
According to Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Gary Dabrusky, 59.4% of current Three Village staff will become retirement eligible by 2036, leaving vacancies for the district to fill. The largest department this will impact is elementary teachers, which will see 106 of 136 (78%) educators become eligible over the next 10 years.
The next largest department is Special Education, which will see 48 out of 82 staff eligibilities over the same period. Director of Personnel Matt Wells describes this as “very concerning, because that of course is our most vulnerable population.” Dabrusky and Wells each described science teachers as a key concern as well, with 20 of 35 becoming eligible over the next decade, and 7 by 2027 specifically.
Dabrusky emphasized early recruitment for new staff as a priority. “Where these colleges and universities had triple digits of students graduating, the numbers just aren’t there anymore,” Dabrusky said. “So the sooner the better.” The recruitment process, he elaborated, will include working with unions to create “a strong talent pipeline,” as well as recruiting through digital outreach and job fairs. Superintendent Kevin Scanlon said that while finances are a factor, “we find the best qualified candidates, not the ones that are the cheapest.”
