Artificial Intelligence policies in Lee schools | Opinion letters

Artificial Intelligence policies in Lee schools | Opinion letters

Letters to the editor for Saturday, September 19, 2026

Artificial Intelligence in schools

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing education, and the School District of Lee County is preparing policies to ensure these powerful tools are used responsibly, transparently and appropriately in our K–12 classrooms. Our policies will be built around the new rules adopted by the Florida State Board of Education. These rules establish clear protections for parental rights, student privacy, academic integrity and age-appropriate technology use.

Parents must be informed when an AI instructional tool is approved, including the tool’s name, the courses in which it will be used and how students will interact with it. Parents will also have the choice to opt their child into the AI tool or select a non-AI alternative.

Additional safeguards will apply to students in VPK through fifth grade. AI designed to simulate friendship, companionship or emotional relationships will be prohibited. Vendors will not be permitted to sell student data or use it to train AI models. Our policies will also establish clear expectations regarding cheating, plagiarism and the responsible use of AI-generated work.

AI can support teachers, personalize instruction and help prepare students for the modern workforce. However, it must never replace teachers, independent thinking or meaningful human interaction. As we develop our local policies, our priorities will remain clear: protect students, respect parents, support teachers and preserve academic integrity. Innovation should strengthen learning — not replace the effort, judgment and critical-thinking skills every student needs. Lee County will move forward carefully and responsibly, ensuring AI serves education while keeping teachers and parents at the center of every child’s learning.

Armor Persons, Chair Lee County School Board D-5

I-75 expansion must not come at the expense of Estero’s quality of life. Estero residents recognize that I-75 must be expanded to accommodate Southwest Florida’s growth. However, neighboring communities are firm in their stance: Improving regional mobility should not unnecessarily diminish local quality of life.

The proposed expansion from Golden Gate Parkway to Alico Road will increase traffic volume and noise for established neighborhoods. Yet, at a recent public meeting, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) signaled that computer modeling showed many Estero locations — including The Brooks — do not qualify for continuous noise barriers.

Residents strongly question relying solely on theoretical models over real-world data. Key unanswered questions include: Were sound measurements taken inside affected neighborhoods? How did models account for local berms, lakes, elevation changes, and reflected sound? Why do comparable sites in Collier County receive greater protection than those in Lee County?

Intrusive highway noise threatens resident health, sleep, and property values. In response, thousands of residents across The Brooks — backed by the Village of Estero and the Lee County MPO — have requested a continuous 22-foot noise-abatement wall. Tidewater residents have similarly requested field testing near the Estero Parkway overpass.

Before final plans are locked in, FDOT must meet directly with communities, disclose its modeling inputs, conduct transparent field measurements, and evaluate continuous barriers over segmented walls. Engage Estero is not asking FDOT to halt progress, but to expand I-75 in partnership with the communities it serves. Traffic mobility and noise protection are not mutually exclusive.

Allan Bowditch & Terry Flanagan, Estero

Conditions at Alligator Alcatraz

It’s pretty clear why congressional leaders were barred from touring the infamous Alligator Alcatraz: Detainees were living in inhumane conditions, as now confirmed by the Republican administration’s Home Security’s Office of Inspector General.The report said its surprise inspection found “disturbing” and “cruel” living conditions, including a shorting of medical care, food service, recreation and personal hygiene. Among the discovery was 4x4-foot metal cage the Inspector General called “inhumane.”Did anyone admit fault? On the contrary, the governor’s chief spokesman Alex Lanfranconi blamed the media, thus missing the point that the media was simply the messenger. He denied the state did anything wrong and added that officials would make the cage even smaller if it could. This is the ilk running this state into the ground: ignorant appointees who need a time-out in a 4x4-foot cage.

It has become a serious issue seen throughout the area where I travel: Dark color clothing while bicycling, walking and E-bike travel. Most times when a person I notice appears suddenly next to me or waiting at a traffic light to cross, biking or walking, the attire is consistently dark. It's a dark shirt, dark shorts, even dark helmets if worn at all. This habit completely eliminates even the most attentive driver to miss them. Spouses, parents and grandparents and even caring neighbors, please, for the sake of those you love and care about, remind that person to wear something noticeable that sets them apart from traffic. This small effort could possibly stop another hit and run or catastrophic accident.

It’s past time for our 80-year-old president to stop using the word “hoax” to describe everything he doesn’t like or want to hear. You know how tiresome some people are because they can’t stop harping on the same thing over and over? Well, that’s what he’s doing. Climate change? It’s a “hoax” because he doesn’t want to admit we’re all suffering extreme weather this year. The war on Iran has turned into another never-ending American war; the economy is so bad we can’t afford basics; AI can be a danger to us; measles is killing people in the U.S − they’re all “hoaxes” perpetuated by the media. "Hoax" has become a lame copout for not doing anything to fix the problems that impact us all.

At the GOP midterm convention last week, President Trump told the crowd to pretend he’s on the ballot. What a good idea! When it’s time to vote in the midterms for governor and representative in Congress, just imagine what Trump and Byron Donalds and Ashley Moody and Rick Scott have brought us: $6 diesel, trade war with Canada, tariffs, armed agents snatching people off the streets, DOGE cuts to essential government functions, a forever war in Iran, withholding of Epstein files, selling off our national parks and public lands, White House ballroom, unregulated data centers, weakening of our food and drug and health inspections, and corruption at the highest levels of government. Byron Donalds is one of the biggest supporters of these policies.

These are not my priorities. Instead, I’m looking for a congressman and governor who support clean air and water, ending of wars of choice, regulation of AI and data centers, rational trade policy, competent leadership, an immigration policy that makes sense, control of inflation, support of public schools, full release of the Epstein files and support for NATO allies. I’m looking for health policy based on science. I’m looking for a social safety net that lends a helping hand and treats people with dignity and kindness. This is not Byron Donalds. This is not Trump’s Republican Party. Let’s put the grown-ups back in charge of our state and country.

At the hastily convened midterm Republican plea for conservative votes, Trump requested that we consider that he is on the ballot in November. We heartily agree, along with the illegally brought, no end in sight, "war" with Iran costing us more than $35 billion, to date, being on the ballot; the closure of the Strait of Hormuz being on the ballot; the dangerous decrease in our armaments being on the ballot; the high, and rising, gas prices being on the ballot; unaffordable groceries being on the ballot; our taxes being used for his "vanity projects" in Washington being on the ballot; lies about who suffers from punishing tariffs being on the ballot; the insults and trade war with our closest friend and ally, Canada, being on the ballot; using the presidency to make him a billionaire being on the ballot; dramatic cuts to health and human services being on the ballot; unaffordable health care being on the ballot; the inhumane rounding up of illegals by ICE agents and their killing of American citizens being on the ballot; the $5,000 bribe to voters being on the ballot; the idiocy of denying the reported dangers of AI being on the ballot. Need I continue? Hope there's room on the ballot.

In our current and unique American moment, we have an administration in DC more reminiscent of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" than a smooth running operation led by a "business genius." These clowns can't hire a decent pool service on the micro scale or adequately supply their war machine on the macro. What they can do is throw our money at both and get nothing but trouble in return. And by the way, how can their "Department of War" run out of high-tech weapons systems with this year's budget verging on a trillion dollars? Talk about a bad return on investment. They have been, however, quite adept at running up the debt. Credit where credit is due. And of course, our former fiscal responsibility hawks in the Republican Party have managed not to notice this comedy of errors, at least not out loud. Do you really need to know any more when you go to the polls in November? Do you? Really?

JD Vance: "Give us another chance." I swear JD must stand for Just Dumb! Two more years of SCOTUS illegally ruled tariffs, a war in Iran with no apparent end, a Cabinet of self-dealing enriching billionaires, highest gas prices in history, a president's son gets married and he doesn't attend but substantially funded by a Russian oligarch, a ballroom for a presidential bunker when one was already created by Obama, turning vaccinations into some crazed policy, and health care ruined by the Big Ugly Bill. And attacking our neighbor Canada by changing Lake Ontario and tariffs costing American consumers.

Even immigration has been ill planned causing even American citizens' deaths, separating babies and toddlers from mothers, taking hard-working fathers of Marines and untrained thugs wearing ICE.

"Give us a chance." Give us a break from this insane old man and his administration.

It is obvious that our president is an 80-year-old man and exhibiting the thinking of an elderly man! The recent weeks are examples of confused thinking! Kennedy Center − he wants his name on it or he will try to tear it down! Canada − our closest and best neighbor is being harassed with tariffs and insults. Supreme Court − he chose some of them, but he now degrades them all. Lake Ontario not America − what foolish logic!

Messing with the upcoming mid-term elections. He lost but he still won't admit it, and he is going to lose again! A $5,000 bribe to me and every sensible voter in the country.

I could go on and on but the examples above are enough! We have a worn out, tired, man as our president and change can't come soon enough.

After Trump promised to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, he walked away empty-handed and Kim Jong-un increased missile production. The same thing is happening with Iran as the Strait of Hormuz clouds closure on Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

His next failure will come with nuclear power. He strongly supports nuclear power, viewing it as a vital component of American energy independence, economic growth, and modern power demands like artificial intelligence infrastructure. His administration has actively pursued a "nuclear renaissance" by streamlining regulations, fast-tracking advanced reactor testing, and financing plant restarts. When his streamlined regulations and fast track testing lead to problems, our people will suffer.

Building a new nuclear power plant costs billions of dollars. It takes a very long time — often a decade or more — to design, approve, and build a single plant. Nuclear projects regularly go over budget and face long delays. Nuclear plants create radioactive waste that stays dangerous for thousands of years, and scientists are still looking for a perfect permanent place to put it. Past accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima damaged the environment and forced thousands of people from their homes. Nuclear power plants could be targeted by terrorists or by cyberattacks. And getting uranium out of the ground can harm local water supplies and ecosystems if not done carefully.

Lots of opportunities for flunking and Donald Trump has a record of flunking. But he has had one major accomplishment: As the leader of the Republican Party he has removed conservativism from the party. Witness the national debt as it balloons out of control.

The Democrat Socialists and many other Democrats are running on a platform of "free" stuff. Free health care with Medicare for all, free childcare, free college, just to name a few. Let's talk about Medicare for all. Total US health care spending today is estimated at around $5.5 trillion annually. These costs almost always increase faster than inflation. Younger people do not realize that Medicare does not cover all health care for free. Medicare covers about 80%. You also have to pay a premium and you have to get coverage for drugs which also have some significant copays. Medicare for all will shift costs from employers and individuals who currently pay premiums and deductibles and copays to the government. An estimate of the premiums, copays and deductibles would be maybe around $3 trillion. This would stop if Medicare for all was adopted. You would assume that this would be paid for by requiring premiums from everyone either by paying Medicare premiums as seniors now do or by increasing taxes. If you assume that 350,000,000 people in the US have to cover the $3 trillion, that is about $9,000 per person in revenue that would have to be raised to pay for Medicare for all. We know that the current Medicare program for seniors is not far from going bankrupt so increasing this exposure to all citizens would be problematic. Adding to this issue, it is hard to find any program run by a government entity that operates well. Consider the post office for example, as well as all the fraud we are finding in multiple government programs. Medicare for all will just open more opportunities for fraud as well as create a tremendous financial crisis for not only the government, but individuals as well.

Ever try talking to cult members; ever try explaining to them that not everything out of the mouth of their exalted leader is the truth? I keep wanting to ask MAGA voters how their lives are materially better under the Trump administration, but that’s missing the point; it’s not a question of their material lives getting better; they feel better about themselves. Telling a pollster you’re concerned about high gas prices and are struggling to pay your grocery bills is not the same as saying you’re going to vote for Democrats in November.

Many South Carolina Republican voters probably never saw the video clip of Darline Graham being asked about Taiwan and its strategic importance to the U.S. going forward. Graham was completely thrown by the question, obviously knowing nothing about Taiwan. She finally stammered that foreign policy is “not her thing.” She’s running for the U.S. Senate, not for a seat on her town council. She has no experience, is completely unqualified, and discerning voters ought to ask why vote for her? But she has the endorsement of Donald Trump. That’s what matters.

Many commentators wonder why Trump is pursuing deeply unpopular policies, such as his shooting war with Iran and his trade war with Canada, with the midterms just around the corner. Well, Trump has no respect for Congress; he rules by executive order and is confident SCOTUS will back him up. Anyway, no one would be surprised if he declares some sort of election emergency, either before or after the ballots are counted, and throws the election into chaos.

Trump is theoretically a lame duck president, but does anyone really believe he will anoint a successor next year and bow out gracefully. How many exalted leaders ever do that? He’s not building that ballroom for another president, especially not a Democrat, to enjoy. He thinks of the White House as his house and doesn’t plan to see a moving van pull up in January 2029.