Rochester Community Schools families will encounter new AI tools this school year as Oakland Schools deploys ChatGPT EDU and Gemini across the county.

Justin Bruno, director of AI Strategy and Innovation at Oakland Schools, was hired in September 2025 to lead the countywide effort. He has since brought on Shana Ramin of Royal Oak as an AI consultant to work directly with districts on planning and implementation, The Oakland Press reported.

Oakland Schools, the county's intermediate school district based in Waterford, serves all local districts including RCS. The ISD adopted ChatGPT EDU, an education-focused version of OpenAI's ChatGPT, and staff also have access to Gemini through Google Workspace. A monthly webinar series helps employees learn how the tools fit into daily work.

"I think that was evidence of Oakland Schools making this a priority," Bruno said. "Trying to figure out what sorts of strategies we need to be setting internally around AI, and how that's going to fit into our operations, and how we do things."

Districts have also been requesting AI training during professional development days.

RCS builds its own framework

Rochester Community Schools opened the 2026-27 school year with teachers returning Aug. 18 and students starting a half day on Monday, Aug. 24. The district has been building its own AI guardrails alongside the county effort.

A team of 26 RCS educators spent the past year developing generative AI guidelines and a list of approved tools, according to the district's news page. Approved tools for teachers include SchoolAI, Gemini, NotebookLM and Canva Code.

Students are not allowed to use AI tools to generate content. Instead, the tools analyze student work and offer suggestions to help refine it.

Sarah Millard, a Stoney Creek High School teacher, described the policy in a district update earlier this year: "At RCS, we don't allow students to use AI tools to generate content … Instead, the tools analyze the work a student submits, then AI can make suggestions and prompt the creator to refine it."

Pasquale Cusumano, assistant superintendent of secondary and adult education at RCS, said in the same update that the district aims to foster AI literacy while upholding academic integrity.

National survey shows teens already using AI

The county and district efforts come as national data shows teen AI use is widespread. A Common Sense Media survey released in August 2026 found that 70% of U.S. students ages 13 to 17 use AI for schoolwork. The survey of 1,017 teens, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago from April 30 through May 14, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

Among those students, 63% said they get an answer from AI in some form. Only 27% said a teacher had ever discussed AI literacy with them.

Blocking the tools has not stopped students. Forty-four percent said an AI tool had been blocked on a school network or device. Of those, 59% said they used a personal device instead.

Oakland Schools' webinar series is ongoing, but specific dates for upcoming countywide AI conferences have not been published.