If AI and cybersecurity are two of your biggest IT concerns, the good news is that those topics will dominate a lot of discussions on FETC 2025’s IT Leader Track.
Featured speaker José González, the chief technology officer for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, recently led his agency—with the help of students, parents, administrators, teachers and community organizations—in developing artificial intelligence guidelines for the 80 districts in the region.
A big takeaway for AI in K12 is that “we have to embrace it.”
“I hate to dumb it down like this but in essence, AI is a very, very advanced calculator,” he explains. “It makes you more efficient, but you want to use it responsibly.”
González notes the most edtech products now contain AI. He observes that this technology is being integrated into instruction more quickly than management tasks such as procurement and scheduling.
A big key to helping students adopt AI is bringing parents on board. “If the parents are not able to understand how AI works and the importance of digital responsibility, it makes it a lot harder to ensure that our students are ready to participate,” he points out.
González’s agency is hosting workshops for educators to train parents to limit students’ device-time. The Los Angeles County Office of Education is also working with the University of Southern California to survey teachers about the challenges they are facing with AI. As part of the effort, educators will work with vendors on product design.
“What we’re hearing is some fearfulness around plagiarism and then some fearfulness around this is going to take my job,” González concludes. “But I think that’s been a little bit more relaxed as people are starting to see that AI is going to save them time. It’s going to allow them to focus on the individual students.”
José González’s FETC 2025 sessions
Here are some of the key topics González will cover at FETC 2025:
- Leading Through a Cybersecurity Crisis: Executive Tabletop Incident Response
- Using Data and AI for Community Engagement
- Promise or Peril: What do Educators Really Think About AI in Education?
