From Dana Bedden’s viewpoint, most people in education are just scratching the surface on artificial intelligence.
“AI has been here—it’s just forward-facing now and it’s here to stay,” says Bedden, who is wrapping up a five-year superintendency at Centennial School District in Pennsylvania. “There is uncertainty and a lack of awareness, and trepidation based on fear. But, for lack of a better term, it’s not the boogeyman.”
At the Networking Lunch and Panel Discussion at Tech & Learning’s EdExec Summit in Atlanta on August 19, Bedden will share the impacts of going big on strategic AI implementation in Centennial schools.
“We’re doing students a disservice if we don’t require [AI], and include work about responsible use,” says Bedden, who will be more than a month into his new role leading Village Charter School in New Jersey by conference week.
Bedden notes that before long, AI literacy will be as fundamental as traditional literacy. Such a statement “is absolutely controversial, but it’s our prediction,” he says. At college and in the workforce, AI will be part of students’ world, so talking through how to prepare students is educators’ responsibility.
Centennial’s AI implementation, launched in 2023, reflects leaders’ recognition that it’s far more than just another tech trend. Priorities include:
- Equipping educators and staff to safely and effectively leverage AI for innovative teaching, personalized learning, and efficiency.
- Establishing clear parameters and expectations for student use on generative AI in assignments.
- Building a foundation of responsible AI use that emphasizes transparency, accountability, and safety (including a mandatory district-developed AI Ethics Course for students in grades 7 to 12).
- Assessing AI tools continuously for age-appropriateness, potential bias, privacy protections, accessibility, and data security.
- Adhering to regulations (FERPA, IDEA, ADA, CIPA, COPPA) and district policies to ensure a safe, legally sound environment.
Centennial served as a model for this work when hosting the recent 2025 AI Symposium for Philadelphia region education leaders. In addition, through his consulting work Bedden is promoting how AI can create a more efficient, effective, and supportive learning environment, plus help schools reduce operational costs by optimizing budgets and minimizing waste while also meeting regulatory compliance requirements.
AI Efficiencies for Leaders and Staff
Technology implementations saving resources sounds like a budgetary win, yet one that could cost jobs. At Centennial, Bedden says, “We deployed without the intent to replace staff. If anything, it helped our staff be more efficient and effective, and in some cases we haven’t had to add staff.”
In his own work, using AI has been invaluable—resulting in colleagues being “in awe of how fast I’ve been able to deliver a response or product that has been requested,” Bedden says.
For example, recently he had to update the board on a school incident and got an assist from AI, with goals and guardrails. He asked for a summary of the incident and an email response that doesn’t violate privacy. “It gave me a succinct response and removed student names for me,” he shares. Then he asked for wording to show how the incident response adhered to a specific board policy.
When a colleague asks for assistance with a project, Bedden might share various AI-produced actions to consider, plus the iterative process he used for fine tuning the ideas. It doesn’t take long and he can quickly continue with his own to-dos.
Parents and other constituents interacting with Centennial’s website can now use an AI chatbot to get questions answered. “We call that a closed AI tool because it only pulls from our website,” Bedden says. “We didn’t want it pulling from outside. But if it doesn’t exist on the website, then people can’t give us feedback. It’s helping us improve transparency and service.”
AI for Teaching and Learning
Teachers and parents have had mixed reactions to the AI focus. “One thing we did from the get-go was communicate to parents, trying to get everyone on the same playing field,” Bedden says. “We wrote newsletters explaining what AI was and that we were going to be strategic. … Some people were hungry and excited about it, and a lot of people were like, ‘No, kids are going to cheat.’”
A video featuring three students sharing they already use AI—such as to get an explanation of a topic that’s different from a confusing one presented in class—helped show the need for educators to learn more.
Employee surveys made clear the need to address the technology’s human aspect. “You’ve got to be mindful of the false information, what they call hallucinations. They do exist,” Bedden says. “I always ask for evidence on a statement.”
Teachers get the final say on whether students use AI or not, and any cheating is handled like plagiarism. In their ethics course, students learn about properly referencing AI use and to “never look at it as the final say,” he explains. “As long as we do that, then we own the outcome.”
Bedden’s hope for AI is that educators accept it as part of our world. “But we also embrace our responsibility of keeping the human in the loop, and making sure users use it with a code of ethics,” he says.