We Need Parental Consent For AI In The Classroom

As a mother, advocate, and candidate for the Alabama State School Board, I’ve seen firsthand how the quiet march of artificial intelligence (AI) into our public school classrooms is happening with little public awareness and even less parental consent. While the tech industry touts AI as the future of education, the reality is far more complicated — and in many ways, far more dangerous.

This is not a debate about whether technology belongs in schools. It’s a call to pause, evaluate, and protect children before we hand over their data, emotions, and daily experiences to unregulated machines.

Across the country, AI tools are already embedded in software used in classrooms — often installed by default on school-issued devices without informing parents. These tools don’t just support learning; they track facial expressions, predict emotional states, and collect vast amounts of personal information. When I raised concerns in my local district, even administrators admitted they didn’t know the apps even existed on the machines.

It gets worse. Some AI systems store data on third-party servers, outside the reach of school district oversight. Parents rarely have access to this data, don’t know who can see it, and can’t opt out. In many cases, children are being profiled and emotionally analyzed without ever giving meaningful consent.

And this is happening to minors. Children who legally cannot open a bank account or create a social media profile without parental consent are being subjected to predictive algorithms inside the classroom.

Advocates of classroom AI say it improves safety by detecting potential threats. In tech-heavy communities like Huntsville, Alabama, some districts have adopted facial recognition and behavioral analytics to monitor students. But these programs raise urgent questions: What happens when a system flags a student incorrectly? What emotional harm comes from constant surveillance? And what precedent does this set for future generations?

We are raising children in what author Jonathan Haidt calls The Anxious Generation — a generation already plagued by rising anxiety, isolation, and digital dependence. Normalizing AI surveillance in their learning environments only exacerbates these problems. It teaches kids to perform for machines rather than relate to people. It chips away at trust between students and teachers, families and schools.

The good news? People are starting to take action.

First Lady Melania Trump has championed child protections in the digital age. She recently celebrated the signing of the Take It Down Act, legislation backed by the Trump administration to remove explicit AI-generated content involving minors from the internet. This is a critical step in the right direction.

But classroom AI poses a broader risk. We need transparency, oversight, and parental rights built into the law. I’m advocating for a model policy that any state can adopt:

• A ban on emotion-detecting and behavior-predicting AI systems in schools
• Mandatory parental opt-in before AI tools can be used on students
• Transparency requirements for all EdTech vendors
• Annual AI ethics and data privacy training for school staff
• A statewide or state-level task force to assess AI impact, report findings, and recommend guardrails

Local school boards don’t need to wait for Washington or their state capitol. They can start now:

• Audit every digital tool currently in use
• Inform parents
• Pause new AI adoption until clear guardrails are in place

We must ask ourselves: Are we solving real problems with AI in classrooms, or creating new ones we don’t yet understand?

This isn’t anti-technology. It’s pro-accountability. Pro-parent. Pro-child.

Whether you live in Alabama, California, or anywhere in between, your school district likely has AI embedded in ways you never imagined. It’s time to demand transparency, ask hard questions, and ensure that no child becomes a test subject for Big Tech.

Let’s make this a national conversation. Let’s protect the classroom.

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Emily Jones, a North Alabama native and founder of the state’s first Moms for Liberty chapter, is running for the Alabama State School Board to restore excellence to a system in decline. Like many parents, COVID-era schooling opened her eyes to just how far our public education system has fallen—from slipping academic standards to a breakdown in trust between families and schools. With Alabama ranking 45th in the nation, we must ask: what are we doing to stop the slide? Emily is committed to rebuilding the vital partnership between parents and teachers and restoring classrooms as places where educators are empowered to teach and students are expected to thrive. It’s time to raise the bar for Alabama’s children.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.