Parents, lawmakers and county leaders across HawaiÊ»i have made a recurring request to the education department in recent years: open up school playgrounds and fields for the public when classes aren’t in session.

The ask seemed to be gaining traction at the start of this year, with lawmakers introducing multiple proposals to require the Department of Education to make recreational facilities available to communities. Halfway through the session, however, the Legislature is moving in the opposite direction with a bill to crack down on school trespassing that may also criminalize parents.

Under Senate Bill 2611, families who set foot on school grounds on weekends or holidays could face  without even receiving a warning from police or school administrators. Consequences could include up to a year in jail and $2,000 in fines. The bill passed through the Senate and is now awaiting a hearing in the House. 

Not all after-hours visitors intend to vandalize school campuses, said parent Maya Childress. School playgrounds can be a weekend gathering place for families, especially in communities without city parks in walking distance.

“People are just trying to get their kids out of the house and into a safe and controlled environment,” Childress said. “It’s just making it more difficult.” 

Some school districts on the mainland have gone the other way, opening up their campuses for more public use. For example, in the San Diego Unified School District, people can use many school fields and playgrounds on the weekends as well as in the afternoons. In exchange, the city helps upkeep the campuses.

But two bills to expand the public’s weekend access to HawaiÊ»i schools died in the House and Senate Education Committees last month. Rep. Trish La Chica, who authored one of them, said she’s determined to find a compromise that allows families to use campus facilities for recreation, while still addressing schools’ concerns about liability and safety. 

“The perception is that there’s nothing we can do to promote recreation and physical activity,” La Chica said. “I feel like we should be willing to work through the logistics of that to grant more access to our community.” 

Changing Families’ Behavior? 

In recent legislative hearings, principals have raised concerns about worsening vandalism, homelessness and unsanitary conditions on their campuses. Property damage and trash left on campuses put an additional burden on teachers and custodians, and principals say schools need to hold trespassers accountable for damaging school spaces on the weekends.  

“Every Monday morning, my staff is forced to deal with a staggering array of vandalism and biohazards before students can safely step onto campus,” Kaimukī High School Principal Lorelei Aiwohi said in written testimony to the Legislature.

Under the current law, individuals can be charged for trespassing on campuses on the weekends or holidays, but they need to have first received a warning from administrators or law enforcement. No warning is required to charge people trespassing on school campuses at night, between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

DOE doesn’t track the number of calls to the police regarding trespassing after school hours, Communications Director Nanea Ching said.  

If passed, Superintendent Keith Hayashi said in his written testimony, Senate Bill 2611 could protect against harassment and violence against school employees — a growing problem that gained  after a parent assaulted a high school athletic director last year.

Eliminating the warning requirement for trespassers could help schools more effectively address aggressive or unsafe behavior on campus, said KāneÊ»ohe Elementary Principal Derek Minakami. 

While schools may have cameras and alarm systems installed on campus, Minakami said they don’t always have the 24/7 security needed to catch intruders and call the police. In some cases, he noted, things don’t have to go that far because written warnings to families and community members about trespassing on campus have been enough to deter unwanted behavior. 

At Holomua Elementary in Ê»Ewa Beach, Principal Christopher Bonilla said he’s hopeful that changing the state trespassing law will discourage the public from entering school campuses on the weekends. If the bill passes, he said, schools and lawmakers would need to clearly communicate the change to their communities to impact people’s behavior.  

“If the public is more aware of this, they’ll think twice,” he said.

But Childress said she’s skeptical that changing the trespassing law will deter families from visiting school playgrounds on the weekends, especially in communities with limited alternatives. Families are drawn to local elementary schools that can offer safe spaces for their kids to play and socialize, she said, and are willing to chance a rare encounter with the police. 

“People are going to still go. They’re going to chance it,” Childress said, adding that she has actually never been approached by police or school administrators when taking her three children to play at ʻAikahi Elementary’s playground on the weekends.

Limited Outdoor Options

Some lawmakers and county leaders have argued that the solution to improving campus safety and community well-being is more public access to schools, not less.

 proposed a four-year pilot program that would have required schools to make their outdoor facilities available for public use on the weekends without fees or permitting applications. It required schools to post signs notifying visitors that the DOE is not responsible for injuries that occur on the weekends.

While DOE already  for vetting public requests to use their campuses, the approval process can be inconsistent across schools, the bill said,  on the issue. Community members also need to have insurance and pay hourly fees covering the costs of utilities, custodial staff and facility rentals.

“The current system for granting access is highly principal-driven, discretionary, and inconsistent across campuses,” the bill said. The measure died in the House Education Committee. 

 can range from $2 for an unlit parking lot to more than $230 for a large, air-conditioned auditorium. Renting a school playfield costs $5 an hour, according to the DOE. 

Opening up campuses to the public for free would remove the bureaucracy communities currently face when trying to access schools, La Chica said, adding that city parks are often overcrowded with sports leagues’ practices and games. 

But Minakami said the application process for facilities ensures that outside activities aren’t overlapping with school events while helping schools hold people accountable if they damage facilities or bring tobacco or alcohol on campus. 

DOE leaders raised similar concerns in their testimony against that bill, arguing that allowing public use of playgrounds and fields could lead to costly repairs. Schools have faced significant damage to their campuses, including vandalism at Ê»Aikahi Elementary’s playground in 2021 and a fire intentionally set at  in 2023. 

“That’s like managing a park,” said Deputy Superintendent Jesse Souki in a recent legislative hearing about the bill. “That’s a huge amount of energy and resources.” 

La Chica said opening campuses to the public could in fact encourage community members to take better care of campuses. 

“There’s always going to be risk attached to it, but if we open spaces for families, for youth, for neighbors to use responsibly, I feel like we see the opposite of vandalism,” she said. “When the community feels that a space belongs to them, they take care of it.”

More than 20 years ago, state leaders advocated for a similar change — and found a solution at Farrington High School. 

A pilot program in 2005 allowed the City and County of Honolulu to run free exercise programs on Farrington High School’s campus several times a week, inviting students and community members to take free classes such as volleyball, hula and aerobics. 

Under the agreement between the city and DOE, the Kalihi campus was open for community activities after school as well as Saturday mornings. The city provided staff to run the classes, while the school offered the recreational space at no charge. During the pilot, the school did not report any cases of vandalism, Department of Health Administrator Lola Irvin said in a recent legislative hearing. 

Researchers at the University of HawaiÊ»i labeled the , with more than 80% of participants reporting they found a safe space to exercise during the pilot and increased their physical activity. But the initiative was short-lived after funding for the city’s exercise classes ran out. 

The Honolulu parks department and DOE have not entered any similar partnerships since the Farrington pilot, although city leaders have pushed for more cooperation between the agencies in recent years. Earlier this year, lawmakers  on behalf of the HawaiÊ»i State Association of Counties asking DOE to open its outdoor campus facilities to the public when classes aren’t in session.

Those resolutions have not yet been scheduled for hearings in the House or Senate.

Childress, a mom of three, remains skeptical that state and county agencies will be able to come to an agreement in the near future.  

“If they could get some kind of agreement on paper and expand access to playgrounds on weekends or off school hours, that would be amazing,” she said. “Then we wouldn’t have to jump a fence.” 

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues its rapid growth throughout industries and culture, educators and leaders in AI gathered at the , part of the College of Education at North Carolina State University, on Nov. 15 for its AI in K-12 Convening to discuss the implementations and potentials of AI in classrooms.

“The things that we are able to do now because of AI is amazing,” said Amanda Moore, district innovation coach for . “And if we can help our students and our teachers envision the things that are possible and use those ideas in classrooms now, just imagine what our classrooms could look like.”

AI relates to technology that can learn and perform intelligent tasks such as data analysis, machine learning, problem solving, and more. Generative AI involves content creation such as language, graphics, or audio.

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AI adoption has grown quickly in schools and across various industries, especially since the launch of ChatGPT, a popular AI language chatbot, in late 2022. Schools have frequently grappled with finding the best course of action with AI, which presenters at the convening agreed is here to stay.

AI carries the potential of many benefits for educators, said Pati Ruiz, senior learning sciences and emerging technologies researcher at . AI can reduce educators’ workloads and cognitive effort, and it allows educators to create interactive and responsive learning material to meet individual students’ needs, she said.

Students may also see benefits, Ruiz said, with features like assisted learning frameworks and personalized learning, though she added it’s important for teachers to maintain control of the automation their students use, remembering they ultimately know what is best for their students.

“We should integrate AI and there are a lot of opportunities for us there, but again, it’s the educator’s professional judgment that needs to be centered and the student and family voices that also need to be considered when we’re making these decisions,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz said it can be helpful to envision AI like an electric bicycle — the human riding the bike maintains control, but they receive technical support from the machine to lessen the burden.

Educators, students, and their families can benefit from promotion of AI literacy, which will help users engage with AI in a productive and responsible manner, Ruiz said.

AI in action in the classroom

AI in the classroom goes so much further than ChatGPT, with many more possibilities for students to learn and grow and explore future career opportunities as well, Moore said.

Moore helped co-create , a game-based curriculum for upper elementary students featuring AI and robotics. The game centers around the task of solving problems related to a decreased population of a penguin species in New Zealand. Moore said using the game, students employ AI to collect and analyze data.

“In that unit, students are not only learning about science, but they’re also learning about how AI works and they’re also building AI models,” Moore said. “So I think what’s really powerful about that is that they’re not just using AI tools, they’re building that AI literacy.”

Moore said lots of advancements in AI are being made in various disciplines, such as utilizing the technology to identify cancer or to identify endangered species. Moore said these strides should excite teachers as they encourage students toward their futures.

“The potential to inspire our students for what they can do — every student should have the ability to imagine their potential and their place in the AI landscape,” Moore said. “They should have that opportunity. And it’s our responsibility to give them that opportunity.”

Ethics as a part of AI literacy

Ruiz discussed the importance of the human using AI maintaining control of what is produced through AI tools, keeping in mind that AI content is synthetic.

“We need to continue valuing the human aspect and the human input that go into the development of this content,” Ruiz said.

Valuing ethics and accessibility remain important parts of developing AI literacy, Ruiz said. Those without access to technology like AI may get left behind. It’s also essential to ensure AI can be accessible to students with disabilities, she said.

Considering biases is important when developing AI literacy for students and educators, as Ruiz said many may view machines as neutral, though the data machines have access to is man-made and may contain biases. It’s important to consider who the technology was made by and why, she said.

“There is bias in the data inherently, and we need to be aware of those biases,” Ruiz said.

Ethics and consideration of who is impacted by technology is also a big player in AI literacy, Ruiz said, as the technology can cause environmental effects from the energy required to run the systems. Human labor is also something for educators and students to consider when using AI as well, Ruiz said, such as those responsible for maintaining data sets.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Countless words have been written about the tragedy of COVID-19: the millions of lives lost, the steep declines in student learning, the trauma of extended isolation, and much more. All true. 

But equally true is that the pandemic had at least one silver lining. If nothing else, it taught us that long-intractable institutions—like universities and public school systems—can change. Immediately, if necessary. 

For years, advocates have been begging institutions to do things differently. The invariable response: “We can’t. It’s too hard. Be patient. Give us time.” Then came COVID-19, and within 24 hours, everything changed. For example, online learning and work, long deemed challenging, became ubiquitous. 

The secret was out. Even the most tradition-bound institutions could change when they had to. Let’s make sure to take advantage of the best of these emergency measures and make them the new normal. It is a choice. 

From a deficit model to an asset model

Consider my institution, New York University. By listening to the disability community, we are working to change how we educate autistic and other neurodivergent students. We are trying to move from a deficit model to an asset-based model that is neurodiversity-affirming. We have a new Office of Disability Inclusive Culture that now works closely with our Moses Center for Student Accessibility, which provides accommodations and works to provide equal access to learning for students. The office is charged with looking beyond medical- or accommodations-based models toward faculty development, pedagogy, and organizational culture. 

“Disability-inclusive culture” means that the work is community work. How do we impact and shift the attitudes of faculty, staff, and students? Instead of organizing our work around what students cannot do, we are working closely with staff and student self-advocates to show what students can do if we design universally for access and reduce stigma. We are collaborating so that our neurodivergent students can use their strengths and abilities on a path to future employment. 

No one builds lives on their remediated weaknesses. We build our lives based on passions and strengths. Our job as educators is to make those journeys as joyous and productive as possible. 

The old, and often still current, approach assumed autistic students needed to be “fixed.” Students registered with offices of disability services for accommodations deemed reasonable. Often these accommodations were implemented universally during the pandemic. Lectures were taped or recorded for all. Students had to have these reasonable accommodations to succeed in the classroom, but that was the minimum. 

Looking ahead, how can universities go beyond the minimum to make access universal? How can they see students for who they are, work with them to identify their strengths, and use those as the foundation for continued learning? What if universities adopted a posture that said, “You don’t have to change. This is who you are. You are more than enough. How can we best support what you need to continue growing?”

A systemic approach

To that end, a group of NYU students, faculty, and staff from units across the university—from IT to instruction to campus safety—is meeting to systematically solve problems facing students, faculty, and staff. A starting place is making physical spaces more accessible, so our libraries now have sensory rooms that ensure quiet environments for studying. We are intentionally focusing on inclusive pedagogy and, in my former role as vice dean of academic affairs at NYU Steinhardt, have added mini-sessions at each monthly schoolwide meeting to reach as many faculty as possible. 

I teach a course on inclusion and access for undergraduates that gives students the option to attend in person, online, or fully asynchronously. Many neurodiverse students preferred learning online during the pandemic; we must respect that, even if hybrid teaching is much more challenging for educators. It won’t be easy to figure out how to increase access, but the pandemic has taught us that it is possible. I can’t very well teach my radical inclusion and disability justice course and insist that all my students show up in person. 

In addition to having multiple means to engage with the material, students in this course have myriad ways to show what they know, including written assignments, oral presentations or works, artistic and musical expression, and multimedia demonstrations. These universally designed assignments capitalize on students’ strengths and interests. 

Small steps can make an impact

Many faculty members are thinking about access and their own teaching and policies. Even the simplest fixes can have a major impact. For instance, faculty wonder why few students show up when we post a notice: “Office hours, 9-10 a.m., Mondays and Thursdays.” Not surprisingly, many students would ask, “What’s an office hour? Am I in trouble?” Now, I’m careful to reframe the offer: “I care about you. I want to understand you better. What issues is this class bringing up for you? 

Please come see me. I’m in my office from 9:00-10:00 every Monday and Thursday. Or set up an appointment online.” I use this language in my syllabus, the contract I have with students. I also start each class by letting students know they can move and do what they need to do to regulate their own attention. 

We are taking advantage of more autistic peer-to-peer mentoring and support, which research finds is more valid and valuable (; ). This includes a new where I serve as co-principal investigator, through which several of our autistic college students at NYU are mentoring their autistic high school peers on STEM interests and pathways to college. This project just started, but already our autistic university mentors are enjoying being in leadership positions. They are using their strengths and abilities to guide their autistic peers and have indicated how they would have benefited from this type of mentorship as they struggled in the transition to college.

All of this work at NYU began a few years before COVID-19. But it gained momentum in the past few years and will continue to evolve. There is much work to do as universities think about access as well as student development. What it takes is the willingness to center the voice and expertise of students. Advocates can partner with institutions to identify innovative solutions and should be in more leadership positions to impact the change that needs to happen. But we must listen—students are the real experts in their own learning. 

And universities must be bold. If COVID-19 taught higher education anything, it’s that we must be willing to take risks and do what was once considered unthinkable. The payoff is worth it: students will thrive and flourish as institutions make these changes. 

See more from the Center on Reinventing Public Education and its .