Vancouver School Board publishes, then ignores parents' AI concerns
After engaging with parents, guardians and caregivers, Vancouver School Board have published their Engagement Summary Report on Digital Devices, Digital Tools and AI.
Participants very clearly voiced a number of well-founded concerns, which are documented in the report.
The report ends with VSB confirming they will rollout Copilot anyway.
Feedback received ... will help inform the rollout of Microsoft Copilot 13+ in secondary schools this spring
Concerns voiced
Comments from parents show that they are extremely well-informed and understand the risks associated with AI.
Participants complain at multiple points about a lack of transparency about how AI would be used in classrooms. There is still no clear communication from VSB on how Copilot would be used in classrooms.
Questions still unanswered:
- Will students be able to use Copilot to write for them?
- Will it give feedback on their writing?
- How will students who use Copilot be evaluated against those who choose not to use it?
- Will its use be required?
- Will it solve problems for them?
- What happens when it gives incorrect information?
Many participants were concerned that students using AI would not learn and would instead become reliant on the AI. These concerns are borne out by current research (Anthropic 2025)
Participants highlighted concerns that **AI may reduce productive struggle for students**, which was seen as essential to learning.
The report states that “many underscored that overreliance on AI can change students’ ability to think, write and problem solve.” Research shows that students who use AI perform worse than those who use paper-based notes (Kosmyna 2025, Lehmann 2025, Kreijkes 2025).
Parents raised concerns that students using AI would result in them offloading critical thinking. This is is shown to happen by current research (Lee 2025).
Concerns ignored
Despite all of these concerns, the report concludes with:
Feedback received about digital devices, digital tools and AI engagement sessions will help inform the rollout of Microsoft Copilot 13+ in secondary schools this spring, as well as communications with families moving forward.
We hope that Vancouver School Board will listen to both research and parents’ concerns and cancel their plans to roll out Copilot into classrooms.