Wake schools weigh AI policy as parents raise concerns

Cary parent Thomas Hege, a father of four who works in tech, said he wants his children as far from artificial intelligence as possible in school. His worry is not abstract. It is about whether AI will dull creative thinking and let machines do work students should be doing themselves, a fear that now sits at the center of Wake County’s search for rules.

Wake County Public School System leaders are moving toward an AI policy, but the biggest questions remain unsettled: how students may use the technology, how teachers may use it, whether it can factor into grading, and how much AI should shape curriculum design. The district has said it wants human oversight and sees AI as a tool for students and educators, not a replacement for teachers. That leaves families asking where the guardrails will be drawn before the technology becomes routine in classrooms from Cary to Raleigh.

Wake County School Board member Chris Heagarty has pushed for a more comprehensive policy that would address AI grading student work and developing curriculum. Those are the kinds of decisions that shape daily school life, not just theory. They also show why the issue has moved beyond student misuse and into the responsibilities of adults inside the system, including teachers, administrators and the board itself.

The board’s own policy structure gives the debate real weight. Board-adopted policies guide how the district makes decisions and supports students, and official board meetings are where those policies are adopted. ABC11 reported that the school board held the first in a series of meetings on AI policy development in September 2025, signaling months of work before any final rules are in place.

Wake is not starting from zero. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools already has an AI policy, and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released a guidebook for generative AI in public schools on January 16, 2024, saying it was the fourth state education department in the nation to issue such guidance. In 2026, NCDPI also launched AI resources, including a webinar series, to help guide responsible implementation and AI literacy in North Carolina’s PK-13 public schools.

There is also a broader educational argument at play. North Carolina’s computer science and technology education page says students should learn to create and contribute, not just use and consume, in a digital economy. Laura Tierney of The Social Institute argued that AI is becoming unavoidable and can help students and teachers prepare for the future, including lesson planning. But in Wake County, the immediate question is simpler and more urgent: who sets the rules first, and how much trust families should be asked to place in a tool that is already moving into school work before the district has finished writing its policy.