Editor’s note:  On Tuesday March 18, 2025, the New Hanover County Board of Education will meet to discuss the inclusion of artificial intelligence in security systems across the county.  We invited two school board members – Pat Bradford and David Perry  - to give us their views on this discussion.  Mr. Perry's thoughts are here.  Mrs. Bradford's thoughts are below.

Some in New Hanover County may be aware that the school district said yes in 2023; Yes, we’d like to be considered for the NC General Assembly's award of a security camera system pilot grant. 

After all, safety and academic growth are the top two priorities of New Hanover County Schools' (NHCS) strategic plan.

Since then, two school districts out of the state’s 115—New Hanover and Davidson counties—were offered AI safety camera grants as part of a pilot program, which I understood to be for the potential funding of safety cameras in all the public schools.

Davidson acted first, with a vote of its board, and thus, as set out in the terms, Davidson selected a French company as the vendor for both school districts. Personally, I’d prefer an American vendor. 

On Tuesday, I will attend a New Hanover County Board of Education Town Hall on the topic. Soon after, I will be asked to give my thumbs up or thumbs down to accept this GA $3.2 grant for this AI camera pilot.

I and the other six school board members have met with many of our 45 school principals and assistant principals to gather their opinions on this AI camera pilot. There was a strong consensus among those my group spoke with; they immediately characterized this decision, and I quote, “a no-brainer.”

Schools have cameras now. Our principals describe the archaic method they use to review footage of incidents on their campuses. They detail old camera equipment and software, and the lack of funds to hire staff to sit in front of the screens live.  

Out in opinion land, thinking ranges wildly on this. 

It is probably to those in the sky-is-falling crowd that I address my remarks. By a show of hands, how many of you have been to a McDonalds, a Walmart, a hospital, or the airport in the last few years?

How many of you are using Siri or Alexa?

Perform Google or Grok searches?

Use the writing tool Grammarly? 

How many have doorbell cameras?

Smartphones? Smartwatches? Smart televisions? Smart cars with lane assist or backup cameras?

Driven over the Wrightsville Beach draw bridge?

I hate to point out the obvious folks, but you and everyone else are already using AI and being filmed and recorded by AI-empowered cameras. They are here to stay. 

It’s worth pointing out that cameras with artificial intelligence and cameras equipped with generative artificial intelligence—that is, intelligence that learns as it goes—are not the same thing. 

These cameras will not be sentient as HAL 9000 was in the film “2001: A Space Odyssey. “

The proposed AI pilot surveillance camera system is expected to significantly reduce the district’s response time to incidents that may occur in our school buildings, where our children and staff spend their days. These include smoke and fire, the display of weapons, crowds suddenly gathering (a more polite way to say it could be gathering for a fight), or even falling in the stairwell, hallway, or during a medical emergency. 

For me the safety factor is of paramount importance. 

 Principals told us it was a no-brainer. I’m looking forward to what will be shared on Tuesday night, but it must be compelling to override the common-sense approach I heard from our school principals. Many refer to them as subject matter experts. 

While an elected member of the NHC School Board, Pat Bradford's opinions here are her own. She is not speaking for the NHCS Board of Education.