NEW YORK — New York families sounded off at a public hearing Tuesday night over a plan to launch the city’s first public high school focused on artificial intelligence ahead of a key vote later this month.

The school, Next Generation Technology High School, is expected to open this fall in Lower Manhattan, pending approval by the city’s Panel for Educational Policy on April 29. Before then, education officials are asking the public to weigh in on the proposal, which hinges on the PEP authorizing the closure of another school in the same building, the Urban Assembly School of Business for Young Women — the smallest public high school in the city.

The plan comes at an especially fraught time in the city, as a growing coalition of parents are pushing back against AI in education. Last month, Chancellor Kamar Samuels issued long-overdue guidance on the use of the tool in local schools. But while the report offered practical advice for teachers and principals, it said little about how to prevent students from using AI to replace critical thinking, with a full policy due in June. Meanwhile, parents are set to rally for an AI “moratorium” on Thursday near City Hall.

Some at Tuesday’s virtual hearing had similar misgivings about the potential for AI to undermine young people’s critical thinking skills, put student data at risk, or reinforce biases. But most of the criticism came from families at Lower Manhattan Community Middle School (LMC), another school at 26 Broadway, the proposed location of Next Generation Technology.

With support from Assemblywoman Grace Lee and Councilman Christopher Marte, who spoke at the hearing, they’re asking for a delay to the April 29 PEP vote.

Education officials have no plans to close Lower Manhattan Community, whose parents were not made aware of the Next Generation Technology proposal until February. But LMC families — who had differing views on AI — said the panel should reject the plan for a new AI-focused high school in their building and instead grow their middle school program to a high school grade levels.

“Next Gen Tech seems to want to roll out in a similar fashion to Big Tech platforms: move fast and break things,” said Gili Warsett, a Lower Manhattan Community parent of a seventh grader and a school librarian. “Let’s expand LMC and build on what’s working.”

Supporters of Next Generation Technology said the school would help young people interested in technology explore those topics and prepare for the jobs of the future, as the workforce increasingly embraces artificial intelligence and youth employment struggles to rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If a school like this had existed when I was applying to high school, I would have chosen it in a heartbeat,” said Nawer Nuha, a 12th grader who co-founded a Girls Who Code club, but whose school offered few opportunities to study technology beyond one AP computer science class.

“Our students deserve schools that prepare them to be creators of technology, not just consumers of it. I strongly encourage the panel to support the opening of Next Generation Technology High School, so future students can have the opportunities many of us have to create ourselves.”

Gary Beidleman, the superintendent of Manhattan high schools, said his vision for Next Generation Technology came in response to “demand for more academically accelerated high school options, and the need to innovate how schools prepare students for emerging technology.”

“The growth of generative artificial intelligence is impacting society in unprecedented ways, transforming professional practice and the necessary skillsets required for an evolving job market,” he added. “Next Generation Technology is committed to engaging students in learning that will allow them to be builders as well as ethical users of AI and other modern technologies.”

Plans call for Next Generation Technology to partner with Carnegie Mellon University, giving students priority for their summer program and access to college-level courses and research. The school would also offer industry credentials.

The new high school is set to be a screened admissions program, meaning students would be placed in admissions groups based on their GPAs, then selected by lottery. Some parents at the hearing were excited about the prospect, while others condemned the selective admissions process since Samuels has named school integration as a top priority.

Though it hasn’t been approved yet, Next Generation Technology is currently accepting applications, with a deadline of this Friday and offers to be released in early May. School officials expect to enroll up to 100 ninth graders this fall, phasing in one grade level per year until it’s a full high school with up to 450 students, according to planning documents.

Alexa Segovia, a first-generation college student, said most of her technology skills have been “self-taught,” and that she did not receive much guidance in high school.

“Having a school like this would have made a real difference for me,” Segovia said. “Students should get to learn about evolving technology, rather than be shielded from it.”

But even some proponents of AI think an expanded Lower Manhattan Community Middle School would be a better use of the space than Next Generation Technology.

“Artificial intelligence is a great idea, but I think it takes away from students actually learning,” said Tyjae Harris, 18, a graduate of the middle school. “We’re kind of losing the big picture of school.”

“AI is an important thing for us to have in our curriculum overall,” said a parent of a current LMC seventh grader. “But I can tell you, I have over 20 years of experience recruiting and in technology: If you’re going to teach high school kids this, it will become obsolete by the time they are able to practically use this in the world.”

“There will be something else, and there always will be a need for well-rounded education.”

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