MSBSD Superintendent apologizes after citing wrong school district in report

The ever-increasing utilization of AI as a tool for reporting has been under scrutiny as it becomes more popular.

AI proved fallible, on the local level, when used as a source for a report about homeschool and correspondence program spending data, presented by Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani, during the Feb. 4 Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) school board meeting

The report was critical of how Alaska funds homeschool and correspondence programs, which currently allows students to enroll in any Alaska correspondence school, no matter where the families reside. Trani referenced the Galena City School District homeschool program in his report. But his report included information that was actually about a similarly named district, Galena Unit School District #120 in Illinois.

Trani addressed the error, posting a statement to the MSBSD website, writing that the error was based on “misattributed public source.” He went on to say that the record has been corrected publicly and will be addressed at the next board meeting.

He said that the screenshot he used was clearly labeled as relating to “Galena City School District, Alaska,” and that the information was included in good faith.

“To be clear: the project details and financial figures shown in that slide do not apply to the Galena City School District or the Galena Interior Learning Academy. No actions, decisions, or funding referenced in that slide involve Galena’s schools.”

Trani also wrote that he regrets the confusion and has reached out to other elected officials as well as leadership of Galena City Schools.

While the error may seem innocuous, Galena City School District Superintendent Dr. Jason Johnson addressed and identified the errors on a Feb. 9 letter shared on Facebook, saying that is was disheartening that Dr. Trani was advocating for major changes to State policy while using falsehoods that also “incited significant angst…towards statewide correspondence programs.”

“To be clear, he is advocating for the State to restrict school choice by limiting the ability of students to enroll outside of district boundaries, and otherwise to take away the freedom you currently have to choose a statewide program that honors your family and your children’s needs,” Dr. Johnson wrote.

In the letter, Dr. Johnson clarified that Galena’s swimming pool was constructed around 1999-2000, and that it was “nearly fully funded through grants, partnerships, and infrastructure from prior military presence in the community.” He added that the buildings identified by Dr. Trani that were renovated into modern educational spaces, were actually funded by Alaska Department of Education CIP grants and the GCSD Capital Projects Fund, all between 2010 and 2019.

Trani has long taken issue with homeschool and correspondence program spending, saying that the current rules take education funding away that could instead remain in the school districts where the students live.

Trani pointed to a report he had received from the Alaska Department of Elementary and Early Development (DEED), detailing how much those programs have grown since last year, with 229 students now enrolled in homeschool programs offered in the MSBSD. Overall, nearly 3,900 students in the Mat-Su are enrolled in homeschool programs, up from the 3,646 students enrolled last school year.

Trani turned the conversation to Galena City School District (GCSD), and some recent improvements made to the school buildings.

“I’m not faulting them for doing this. I am trying to point to a problem that I think is bigger in a statewide issue around homeschool.”

He then asked AI about local control in school boards around the state.

“So I read it, and this is what it said,” he stated, directing the board and audience to a slide with a bulleted list of the role that local school boards play in the management and authority those boards have.

He said he thought AI had done a pretty good job of answering his question.

Trani then spoke about a conversation he had with an unnamed elected official said that none of the “Big Five” school districts—MSBSD, Anchorage, Fairbanks North Star, Kenai Peninsula, and Lower Kuskokwim School Districts—should have built a swimming pool for Galena. He then referred to a slide that seemed to have a photo of a water polo team practicing in a swimming pool, dated September 2023. He said that the Galena residents and school board must be happy with the decision to utilize funds to build a pool and renovations of former military facilities into modern educational spaces.

He then says that the GCSD voted to approve a $31M high school project. The story he referred to was cited to Citizens Portal, which turns out to be an AI information website founded by Paul Allen dedicated to focusing and sharing federal, state, and local civic governments and meeting information.

However, the problem is that the information about the Galena swimming pool and multi-million dollar high school project that was gathered from AI was incorrect. It was not referring to the Interior Alaska Galena City School District, but the similarly named district, Galena Unit School District #120 in Illinois.

Trani’s statement does not address the inaccuracies Dr. Johnson identified and the MSBSD has not responded to a request for comment about the issue.

The next meeting of the MSBSD school board is set for February 18 at 6 pm at the MSBSD Administration Building in Palmer.