Pelham Memorial High School Students Represent New York State at AI Policy Meeting

Artificial Intelligence is one of the defining technologies of today and many questions remain about how to manage the development and proliferation of such impactful digital tools. This summer, two Pelham Memorial High School students convened with peers from across the country as the sole representatives from New York as part of a legislative body seeking to define the relationship between AI and education through policy.

Together with Dr. Claire Comerford, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning, Charlie Fanuele and Rafe Goodyear traveled to Boston and Cambridge for a weekend of policy making at a new AI Fellowship supported by Day of AI, MIT RAISE, AASA & Edward M. Kennedy Institute. In an event covered by NPR, the “student senators” aimed to propose regulations for AI in education. regulate AI in education.

“This was a great opportunity for students to widen their perspectives by working with their peers from across the country,” said Dr. Comerford. “By bringing our collective intelligence together and making compromises, they created a policy that served everyone.”

The event, which took place in a replica of the U.S. Senate chamber, included all the hallmarks of statecraft – impassioned speeches, difficult compromises and frantic, last minute amendments. Students were divided into various subcommittees, they each worked on their own sections of the ”Safe Technology Use, Data Privacy, and Ethical Norms for Teaching—Fostering Integrity and Responsible Systems in Teaching (STUDENT FIRST) Act” of 2026 before reconvening on the floor to vote on the final version. Opinions varied and many compromises were made, but students were unified in their commitment to create something that served to improve the dichotomy between education and AI across the country.

Fanuele’s interest centered around the craft of policy-making, while Goodyear, having started a robotics team at PMHS, approached the event from the perspective of an engineer. In working with their peers from across the country, the Pelham students found that the political realities of their generation are nuanced.

“It was very interesting to see our generation’s perspective on politics and parties,” said Fanuele. “I think that, growing up, your political beliefs reflect those of your parents. We were at an interesting point where people were really starting to come up with their own beliefs. They had a lot of their own ideas about AI and the bill.”

The student representatives were forced to work together to come up with actionable policy that would subsequently be shared with over 10,000 school district leaders across the country. However, in working with their peers from other states, they found that they agreed on a lot more than they expected.

“I was struck by how many of the talking points I agreed with, even with representatives from states with very different political beliefs on paper,” said Goodyear. “I remember debating for an hour each day with a representative from Mississippi. We went back and forth, but it was really civil and informative. I feel like I understand the perspective of a more conservative approach to education and education policy a lot better now.”

Some student representatives believed that it was better to restrict the use of AI in schools as much as possible, while others believed that schools should teach AI literacy from an early age. After hours of work, deliberation and last minute amendments, the students came up with a policy for AI in schools which represented a middle ground between the representatives. It is a model of AI policy that was made based on the experiences of students and with an emphasis on student outcomes.

“I think that if we want to have meaningful change that results in an AI integration that is beneficial for students I think it has to start with the teachers and how curriculum is designed,” said Goodyear. “If you give students menial tasks like filling out a worksheet or copying down answers, it’s incredibly difficult for students, even the ones who don’t want to use AI, not to use it to cheat. They could be saving hours every week and they’re going to fall behind their peers if they don’t. There needs to be a curriculum shift toward things AI can’t do and a greater emphasis on learning itself, rather than grades.”

The STUDENTS FIRST Act is now on the desks of superintendents across the country and will help guide administrators in developing their own policies governing the use of this critical technology in education.