Hundreds convene for NYSUT's Unplugged conference

Albany, NY - Today New York State United Teachers brought together more than 500 educators, parents, lawmakers, medical experts and advocates for "Unplugged: Reclaiming Human-Centered Education," a full day conference delving into the growing role of technology in classrooms and how schools can harness technology while keeping teaching, learning and human connection at the forefront.

View highlights here.

"This is not an anti-technology conference," said NYSUT President Melinda Person. "Technology can be incredibly useful. It can open doors, provide access, and help educators do things that wouldn't have been imaginable a decade ago. But there's a big difference between teaching children how to use technology, or using technology as a tool, and designing education around technology. We need this conversation, but I hope we can all agree on where this conversation should begin - with children and what is best for them."

"Education is fundamentally a human endeavor," said New York State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa. "All of us bear responsibility for protecting our young minds. At the end of the day, let us prepare our students without surrendering curiosity, creativity, problem-solving, relationship building, and the joy of learning."

"We all know that laws and lawsuits are only part of the work," said New York State Attorney General Letitia James. "Teachers are the people seeing how this technology actually impacts the classroom. You see what students learn, what distracts them, what gets in the way of the relationships that make education possible. As the debate around how AI is used in schools continues, we want you at the table, because no one is better equipped to decide what is best for our kids than teachers."

The conference featured keynote speaker Jared Cooney Horvath, Ph.D., M.Ed., a neuroscientist, educator and best-selling author, who explored what research tells us about how technology affects the brain and student development.

"Tech will never be a learning tool," said Horvath. "It is there for experts to get work done; it's not there for kids to learn to become experts. We don't need more tech training; we need more understanding and literacy. Tech is not an equity tool. If you want genuine equity, make sure every kid has a good teacher and a good school."

The day's discussions continued with three panels examining the lessons learned from the last decade of increasing technology use schools, the role of artificial intelligence in supporting - or undermining - student learning, and the future of technology in education. Panelists included American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and New York State Senator Shelley Mayer.

"When there is no federal guidance or guidelines, it makes all this worse. There is a potential for good with this technology, but it is also so big and - given what researchers have said - so dangerous, that the guardrails are really important. Do you think we had seatbelts in cars when we started driving? We have to advocate for guardrails so that we keep people safe. Humans have to be in charge of the technology; the technology cannot be in charge of us," said Weingarten.

"This conversation is front and center in the Legislature and we want to be in the lead nationally and take on what we think are companies taking advantage of our kids for their own profit," said Mayer.

During the lunch program, Megan Garcia Esq., a mother, attorney and child safety advocate, shared the poignant story of her son, Sewell, and how an AI chatbot companion contributed to his untimely death. Garcia spoke about how her son was being manipulated at a sophisticated level and had signaled various times to the AI bots that he was having suicidal ideations. Since his passing in 2024, she has become the first person in the United States to file a wrongful death lawsuit against an AI company.

"As parents and teachers and people who love and care about children and have the privilege of nurturing them through life, if we all know about this danger, we can all find a solution together - while the law gets caught up to where it needs to be - to protect our beautiful children," said Garcia.

Background: "Unplugged" builds on NYSUT's 2024 "Disconnected" conference, which brought together nearly 500 educators, parents, students, lawmakers and other stakeholders to discuss the effects of cellphones and social media on children, schools and learning, and resulted in the state's bell-to-bell policy for distraction-free classrooms.

NYSUT has advocated for developmentally appropriate limits on educational technology, including restrictions on student-facing AI and one-to-one devices for younger students. The statewide union has emphasized the importance of ensuring educators, parents and students have a voice in decisions about how technology is used in schools. "Unplugged" continues these efforts that put the best interest of students ahead of big technology corporations.