AI in K-12 and the Struggle for the Future of Education | Jerry Almendarez

The conversation about AI in K-12 education keeps happening in the wrong room. Jerry Almendarez (former superintendent of Santa Ana Unified and founder of the Creative Futures Collaborative) argues that while districts debate classroom policies and homework rules, the real governance gap is sitting one floor up: in the executive cabinet, where the people who set AI policy often don't understand what the platforms can actually do. A K-12 AI conversation that starts with a kindergartner who couldn't sit still and ends with a warning about the future. *********** Jerry Almendarez   / jerry-almendarez   https://www.creative-future.com/ *********** The Human Conversation is powered by Insight Jam Join the human conversation around AI at https://insightjam.com/ Sign up for our newsletter, The Human-AI Ledger: https://bit.ly/HumanAINewsletter *********** Chapters 00:00 Cold Open: She's Taking My Identity Away 00:50 About Jerry Almendarez and Creative Futures Collaborative 01:32 Santa Ana, Covid, and the ChatGPT Moment 06:48 The Governance Gap: AI Is Happening Without Leadership 09:51 Hallucinations, Bias, and Who's Accountable 14:36 Urgency vs. Institutional Caution 17:31 The Equity Dilemma: Who Gets Access First? 21:28 The Teacher in Front of a Classroom Is Medieval 29:32 Human Skills Are the New Competitive Edge 31:22 The Wild Animal Analogy 34:12 What Kids Are Actually Saying About School 44:56 Prescription: What District Leaders Should Do Now 48:47 Agentic AI Is Already at the Doorstep