Next Sharon Springs CSD Technology Plan will Include AI

SHARON SPRINGS — Artificial Intelligence is moving fast and furious into so many aspects of life, and school districts are working to deal with it.

At the Monday, Jan. 12 Sharon Springs School Board meeting, Superintendent Thomas Yorke told board members sections on AI will be included in the school district's next instructional/technology plan that must be submitted to the state by July.

"Our current tech plan is from 2022 and since then AI has taken a front seat," Yorke said. "It's integrated into everything."

Yorke continued that the ultimate goal is to work out a "thoughtful policy" on AI and that a new board policy on it would dovetail with development of the new instructional/technology plan. He and other school district officials will be working on the plan. Yorke mentioned that among the people he has spoken to about developing an AI policy is Middleburgh Central School District Superintendent Mark Place. That district is also working on an AI policy.

There will also be talks with Sharon Springs teachers to get their input on an AI policy, Yorke added.

In other news from the Jan. 12 meeting, Business Manager Tony DiPace reported that he and others are working on the 2026-27 budget and awaiting word from the state level on what its contributions to schools for next school year might be.

"We won't have the revenue picture for another week or two," he said. DiPace added in his report to the board that there was recently a bus accident caused by two wild turkeys that did heavy damage to the windshield of the bus involved.

He said there were no children on board at the time and the driver was not injured. The bus did have to be towed, DiPace noted.

Fourth-grade teacher and Assistant Principal Stephanie Fuller told the board in her report that the elementary grades were busy in the time right before Christmas, holding a Spirit Week, making Christmas trees and doing relay races, among other activities.

Student Representative to the School Board Kaylee Crewell said that a recent alumni basketball game raised a lot of money for the school's Varsity Club. She added that she and other students are thinking of fundraising events for the spring, but also what they might be able to do before then.

The board approved a merger of the spring sports of modified and varsity baseball and softball with the neighboring Cherry Valley-Springfield School District, meaning that the two districts will field combined teams in those sports in the spring.

In addition, Yorke explained that CVS will again allow Sharon Springs athletes to compete on the CVS boys and girls track and field teams in the spring, both modified and varsity. Sharon Springs does not have its own track teams, he added.

In personnel actions at the end of the Jan. 12 meeting, the school board approved Tammy Sielaff as a full-time equivalent bus driver and George Truszkowski-Young as a non-certified substitute.