When Dr. Corey Smith, Superintendent of South Putnam Schools in Indiana, saw the online demo of GPT-4 in 2023, he knew it would be a paradigm shift for K-12 leadership. “Speaking personally, and from a central office perspective, this has really streamlined my work, and honestly, it’s done wonders for my well-being. In a small district where we all wear a lot of hats and don’t have much extra help, the AI has been a total game-changer,” Smith explains. “It’s allowed me to get so much more done in less time, and it’s helped me look really good to my school board, too. The summaries and reports I can now provide give them clear, useful information that I just didn’t have time to put together before."

Like leaders, communicators are also infamous for “wearing lots of hats,” or having more work than any one person can reasonably be expected to do. So it’s no wonder that both school leaders and communicators are starting to recognize AI’s potential to save time and refocus on the most fulfilling parts of their jobs. After all, what educator moved into school leadership to stay up late reading RFPs? What comms pro dreamt of rewriting the same message over and over again for multiple platforms and audiences? But while opportunity beckons, AI’s inherent risks—from ethical quandaries to concerns about safety, security and privacy—are enough to give many K-12 professionals pause.

There’s no doubt that AI’s rapid advance comes at a pivotal time for public schools. As a result of school choice and budget cuts, districts have to change lives and share their stories with very few resources. And thanks to families’ experiences with the private sector, schools are expected to dole out communication that is both highly personalized and instantaneous. For school leaders and communicators, the work has never been harder and the stakes have never been higher.

So how is AI reshaping the work of school leaders and communicators at such an important juncture? And what could that mean for the future of both roles? To start answering those questions, we gathered data and insights from school leaders and communicators well versed in AI. Our goal was to move past the hype and headlines to better understand what AI’s rise really means for the central office. This is what we dig into in our newest original research study, Signaling Change: AI in School Leadership and Communication, which you can read here.

One question for you

1. What is the prompt or AI use case that has most changed your work?

Email us at editor@schoolceo.com or book a time on our calendar and let us know.

Two resources to help

1. Want to find out what this research means for you? RSVP here to join our upcoming webinar! We’ll explore the opportunities AI presents for streamlining tedious tasks, personalizing communications and refocusing school leaders' time on impactful work. We'll also suggest security measures you can take, starting with staff training. Learn how to foster thoughtful and empowering AI adoption, prioritize people over platforms and engage skeptics transparently to navigate an AI-driven future in education.

2. Meeting families’ expectations of instant but personalized communication sounds daunting, but some districts are rising to the challenge. Through the Digital Doorway shows how Heather Daniel and Edison Township Public Schools rebuilt communications as infrastructure—a unifying website, app, and a 24/7 multilingual chatbot to deliver fast, consistent answers with measurable results (3.2M+ page views; 98% chatbot success). “Treat communication as infrastructure,” Daniel writes—and then proves it with a practical playbook any district can adapt for clarity, speed and trust.

Three ideas (from the research) to get you thinking

1. “I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I can tell you—change is hard in schools. Getting people to shift how they think and work is never easy. A lot of it comes down to fear—and to the excuses people make because of that fear. With AI, you hear things like, What about privacy? What about copyright? What about the environment? And yes, those concerns are real, but they’re also being worked out—and they will continue to be. The problem is, the longer you drag your feet, the farther behind you fall, and catching up becomes even harder.” -Kris Hagel, Peninsula School District, WA

2. “As a profession, we must think about how to use AI strategically and not just tactically.”- Dr. Gustavo Balderas, Beaverton School District, OR

3. “Our kids are growing up in a world where AI is powering nearly everything. So we have to up our game as educators and leaders.”-Kristin Deichler, South Fayette Township School District PA