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Education Quiet since Sep 16 Updated Sep 16, 2026

The fight over school tech and AI

Mayor Mamdani's Education Department is canceling the roughly $200 million T-Mobile internet portion of Eric Adams' Chromebook contract, telling principals to shift students who need service to a cheaper Verizon program before Sept. 10. The cancellation lands amid growing parent and advocate pressure for the city to set a clear AI policy in classrooms and for state legislation capping screen time and regulating ed-tech companies.

The story so far

  1. Sep 16, 2026 Latest

    The Education Department told a City Council hearing it has blocked YouTube on school Chromebooks and iPads, both at school and at home, after Council members pushed for a ban, and some members said screen-time limits in schools should go further, Spectrum News NY1 and Chalkbeat reported.

    Chalkbeat Politics | Spectrum News NY1 Politics | Spectrum News NY1

  2. Sep 10, 2026

    New York City's public schools opened Thursday under the one-year ban on student-facing generative AI through eighth grade, and Chancellor Kamar Samuels acknowledged more AI tools may already be in schools beyond the 38 disabled programs because vendors keep adding features in updates; the Education Department said AI cheating will carry the same consequences as plagiarism, Gothamist reported.

    Gothamist

  3. Sep 3, 2026

    Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Kamar Samuels detailed the AI moratorium covering roughly 600,000 students, disabling AI features in 38 already-contracted programs including the Amira reading tutor and the digital Houghton Mifflin Harcourt curriculum, and banning companion chatbots at every grade. About 50,000 high schoolers, 17% of enrollment, remain eligible for five vetted AI pilots, and UFT President Michael Mulgrew said the ban should start at the software source rather than leaving compliance to individual schools.

    6sqft Bronx Times Chalkbeat News NBC New York

  4. Sep 2, 2026

    NYC Public Schools said it will ban student-facing generative AI tools from 2-K through eighth grade and bar individual devices in pre-K through second grade, days before the Sept. 10 first day of school.

    Chalkbeat Gothamist

  5. Aug 28, 2026

    New York City's Education Department told principals Thursday it is ending the T-Mobile data plans attached to Eric Adams' Chromebooks on Aug. 31, cutting the roughly $200 million internet portion of a $330 million contract, and directed schools to identify students who need service and buy it through a Verizon program at $10 per student per month before Sept. 10.

    Chalkbeat

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