Shifting Schools: Conversations for K12 Educators

School districts are reaching a turning point in how they manage classroom technology. After years of rapid device adoption and policies that often responded to one risk at a time, leaders are asking a harder question: How can schools protect students from cyberbullying, data theft, AI-enabled scams, distraction and online harm without cutting them off from the learning, creativity and connection technology can provide? In this episode, Tricia speaks with Harrison Parker, Executive Vice President at Linewize, about the shift from reactive restrictions toward a more coordinated approach to student digital safety and well-being. Harrison explains why this work cannot sit solely with a district's technology department. Effective digital safety connects IT leaders, educators, safeguarding teams, administrators, students and families. It also brings together prevention, early detection, intervention and education rather than treating each new platform or threat as a separate problem. Their conversation examines three changes taking place across K–12 education: • Moving beyond screen-time bans toward digital-health strategies that address distraction and burnout while preserving useful learning • Replacing panic-driven AI bans with practical guardrails for privacy, safety and classroom use • Managing the "3 PM hand-off" by helping families understand and supervise what happens on school-issued devices after students leave campus Harrison also discusses how districts can identify concerning online behavior earlier, understand which applications students are actually using and give families greater visibility into children's digital experiences. In this episode: • Why banning the latest technology rarely provides a lasting solution • What schools need to know about student screen time and app use • How AI is changing online risks for students and districts • Why data privacy must be part of classroom AI decisions • How schools can distinguish productive technology use from distraction • What early detection and intervention can look like • Why digital safety should not belong exclusively to the IT department • How responsibility shifts when students take school-issued devices home • Ways schools and families can develop a more coordinated approach • How districts can protect students without abandoning technology-supported learning Questions for your leadership team: • Who owns digital safety in our school or district right now? • How well connected are our technology, safeguarding, instructional and family-engagement teams? • Do we know which digital tools students are using and how they are using them? • Are our policies teaching students to navigate digital environments, or only restricting access? • What happens to our duty of care when a school-issued device goes home? • Are our AI policies based on specific risks, or on a general fear of the technology? • How quickly could our current approach respond to a new digital threat? About Harrison Parker Harrison Parker is Executive Vice President at Linewize, the K–12 online safety division of Qoria. He works with district leaders across North America on digital safety, student well-being, technology management and family engagement. Learn more: Linewize: https://www.linewize.com/ Harrison Parker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrison-parker-02951921 Subscribe to Shifting Schools for more conversations about AI, technology and the changing needs of learners. Topics: student digital safety, screen time in schools, AI in education, cyberbullying, student mental health, online safety, data privacy, school-issued devices, digital citizenship, family engagement, educational technology and K–12 leadership #StudentSafety #AIinEducation #DigitalCitizenship #SchoolLeadership #EdTech

Uncle John's All-Knowing Bathroom Reader, Curiosity, and the Weirdness of Human History Brian Boone joins the show to talk about why the world has always been weird—not just now. The conversation ranges from animal history and television oddities to fact-checking, collaboration, and why curiosity is the engine behind good stories and human wisdom. In this episode, Tricia and Brian Boone discuss how access to information can make the present feel stranger than the past, even though human behavior has always been full of surprises. They also explore the storytelling and editorial work behind Uncle John's All-Knowing Bathroom Reader, including how the team verifies claims, chooses topics, and turns obscure facts into accessible reading. Key topics Why the world has always been weird, even if modern media makes us more aware of it Why dogs have so many breeds while cats have comparatively few How horses helped shape agriculture, travel, trade, language exchange, and city states Why fact-checking is more important—and more difficult—in an age of copied information The story of J. Fred Muggs, the chimp who co-hosted Today in the early days of television How risk-taking and strange ideas contribute to human innovation Why fads are much older than mass media How writers, editors, designers, and marketers collaborate on the bathroom reader How colleagues' different passions can make unfamiliar subjects fascinating Why curiosity may be the engine behind wisdom and connection Timestamps 00:00 — Why the world feels weirder now than it used to 00:42 — The case for "the world has always been weird" 01:55 — Why cats have far fewer breeds than dogs 03:18 — How horses helped shape the modern era 05:23 — Why fact-checking is harder in an age of copied information 06:41 — The strange story of J. Fred Muggs on Today 08:42 — Why risk-taking and weird ideas are part of human progress 10:23 — Fads are older than mass media 12:51 — How the bathroom reader team collaborates 14:21 — Learning from coworkers with radically different interests 15:46 — Curiosity as the engine of wisdom Learn more https://bathroomreader.com/    

What if readers and writers received the same attention, celebration, and investment as star athletes? In this episode, Tricia speaks with Super Bowl champion, children's author, and literacy advocate Malcolm Mitchell about his new picture book, My Super Duper Me. They discuss the lasting effect of a few encouraging words, the role librarians can play in helping children see their own possibilities, and why adults should never underestimate the power of simply showing up with a positive message. Malcolm shares his own journey from struggling reader to member of the Silverleaf Book Club, published author, and founder of Share the Magic Foundation. He explains why reading is not only an academic skill, but also a source of confidence, community, opportunity, and belonging. The conversation also considers what schools and communities could learn from the cultural power of sports. If young people see athletes celebrated everywhere, how might their aspirations change if readers, writers, books, and libraries were made just as visible? Malcolm also offers a candid look at his writing practice and the connection between athletic and creative training: show up, make the most of each repetition, and be willing to try again tomorrow. In this episode: • Why brief words of encouragement can stay with a young person • The librarian at the heart of My Super Duper Me • Malcolm's journey from struggling reader to passionate literacy advocate • How a welcoming book club helped change his life • Why reading can build confidence, connection, and belonging • What it would mean to celebrate literacy as loudly as sports • How educators can participate in free Share the Magic reading challenges • What football taught Malcolm about writing, practice, and persistence Learn more about Malcolm Mitchell, Share the Magic Foundation, and its free reading programs at readwithmalcolm.com. We also talk about: 📚 Librarians as guides, bridges, and heroes 📚 Reading as a source of confidence, community, and belonging 📚 What schools can learn from the visibility and cultural power of sports 📚 Why creative practice is not so different from athletic training 📚 The willingness to show up and try again

What do young people understand that adults mistakenly believe they have hidden from them? Award-winning author Tiffany D. Jackson returns to the podcast to discuss Ghost in the Night, her haunting middle-grade novel set against the ghost tours, buried histories, and complicated beauty of Savannah, Georgia. Tiffany invites educators to take young readers—and their capacity to confront difficult subjects—seriously. We explore why children sometimes attach themselves intensely to a particular interest while processing grief, and what educators might discover if they look beyond the fascination and ask what need it may be meeting. We also discuss the importance of grief literacy, the trust created when adults acknowledge what children already know, and the difference between protecting young people and underestimating them. The conversation moves beyond the ghosts of Savannah to examine whose histories become tourist attractions, whose stories remain untold, and how literature can inspire students to investigate the overlooked histories of their own communities. Tiffany also shares why young characters need opportunities to form friendships without constant adult choreography, how she calibrates horror for middle-grade readers, and the deceptively simple practice she recommends to every aspiring writer: read closely enough to notice how a story works. This episode explores: Why educators need to take children's inner lives seriously How intense interests can sometimes help young people process grief The role of grief literacy in schools and classrooms How honest conversations can build trust between adults and children Why young people need agency in friendship and problem-solving Whose histories are preserved, promoted, ignored, or buried How place can function as a character in a novel What horror offers middle-grade readers How students can learn the craft of writing by reading like writers At its heart, this conversation asks educators to consider what becomes possible when we stop assuming young people cannot handle the truth—and begin giving them stories that honour their intelligence, curiosity, and humanity.

When Salamanca City Central School District announced plans to bring a humanoid robot into its robotics program, the story quickly became something else entirely: "A school is replacing teachers with robots." That was never the plan. In this episode, Jeff Utecht speaks with Superintendent Mark Beehler about what the district was actually trying to build—and what happened when an AI-generated image, alarming headlines, and social media outrage overtook the facts. Mark explains how students helped shape the project, why the district saw the robot as an opportunity to explore emerging technology, and how a locally controlled AI platform could give students in an underserved rural community greater access to personalized academic support. The conversation also examines a harder question: What does it cost a school leader to pursue responsible innovation when public fear moves faster than the truth? You'll hear about: Why Salamanca invested in a humanoid robot for its advanced robotics students How students influenced its appearance, identity, purpose, and safeguards The difference between the physical robot and the district's customized AI learning platform How the technology was designed to scaffold learning—not provide answers or replace teachers What happened when an AI-generated image distorted the story Why even some edtech leaders helped spread the misinformation How students who initially wanted AI banned became some of the project's most thoughtful contributors The leadership lessons Mark learned about communication, control, and public trust How the backlash gave him a new understanding of what young people experience when social media turns against them This is not simply an episode about a robot. It is a candid conversation about educational risk-taking, media literacy, rural equity, and what it means to prepare students for a future that many adults are still struggling to imagine.