Whitefish School District classrooms will be able to use the Magic School Inc. artificial intelligence program this school year.
“Magic School is an all-encompassing AI program with a lot of different tools that can be tailored to each grade and each task,” said Jacob Phillips, district director of technology.
On August 13, the Whitefish School Board approved a contract for the program.
Phillips said Magic School was the best option for AI because the contract was relatively affordable and included a signed privacy agreement that no student or staff data would be shared.
The Magic School program provides instant resources and guidance for answering math and writing questions without requiring the student to do the work. The program is used in over 4,000 districts worldwide. Several Whitefish teachers are already familiar with the program after using the free version last year.
“Magic School has guardrails. It can show a student where they made a mistake on a math problem without solving it. It can provide resources to go deeper into a writing topic or provide feedback on grammar, but it won’t write the paper for you,” Phillips said.
Teachers can select and customize different tools for the assignments and receive help with grading, adapting materials to different levels and creating tests.
There is also accountability at Magic School, as teachers can see everything students have asked for and received help with.
School Board Chair Darcy Schellinger praised the move to implement AI in the classroom.
“We need to teach our students to understand and use AI properly. That is what is being taught and companies are integrating it. If we don’t use AI, our students will fall by the wayside and not end up in the job market. That’s why it’s good to have some guardrails with this program,” she said.
The cost of Magic School AI is about $6 per student per year. By comparison, alternative programs like Microsoft Copilot or Gemini cost hundreds of dollars per student per year. The cost of the AI program is paid for out of the technology budget, but Phillips said the district has had to make cuts in upgrading Chromebooks, so “ideally it won’t stop there.”
The English department is currently testing an additional AI program called CoGrader to assist with grading and reduce the time it takes to process teacher feedback by about 80%.
AMONG OTHER THINGS As part of the technology agreements, the district approved a new contract with Photo Video Plus, a Kalispell-based photography and video company. The district will continue to work with Swan Lake Studios but will also “try out” Photo Video Plus, Phillips said.
During the meeting, the Board renewed the annual transportation contracts with Rocky Mountain Transportation Inc. for both regular routes and extracurricular activities with a 4% cost increase to account for inflation.
Also renewed without changes was the annual sublease agreement to rent Memorial Field from the Glacier Twins for use as a football stadium and running track.
Trustee Katie Clarke said subletting is “very limiting” and noted that costs would be reduced if the upcoming sports bond proposal is approved by voters, allowing the district to build its own facilities.
The school district will present two bond proposals to voters in September. One for $26.5 million will expand the school building, the other for $6.1 million will build a sports complex.
In addition, an annual agreement with Logan Health & Fitness was renewed.
Three applications from students from other districts were rejected because admitting those students would have exceeded the cap for their respective grade levels under the Whitefish School District’s strategic plan.
“I can say publicly that fourth and second grades are currently full,” said Superintendent Dave Means.
