I received a call one Friday evening in January 2025. My school board leadership was frantic. News surfaced that a local charter school was close to cementing a deal to launch a nursing program at the former Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield.
The concern was immediate: Program expansion by a competing school could lead to declining public enrollment. Yet I saw the challenge differently, and I told my board so. This was a good thing, a forcing function. It presented an opportunity to innovate and strengthen what we offer in Plainfield public schools, especially in career and technical education.
I committed to designing a solution that would expand student opportunity, deepen learning and make our district more competitive — not through marketing, but through better experiences.
Credit: (Rashon K. Hasan)That’s when I stumbled upon spatial computing tools, including the artificial intelligence-driven Apple Vision Pro headset. The more I learned, the more I realized this wasn’t just a Plainfield story — it was a preview of the next education divide.
Students are already encountering generative AI in their daily lives. The question is whether schools will guide them toward ethical, rigorous use — or whether we will treat AI as contraband and leave learning to chance. This is bigger than any one district. It’s a workforce and competitiveness issue for New Jersey.
The World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs Report 2025” points to rapid growth in technology-driven roles and expects AI and information-processing technologies to transform business by 2030. Employers anticipate sweeping change in how work gets done, according to the report. It also warns that skill gaps remain a leading barrier to transformation.
The implication for education is direct: If we don’t build AI fluency at scale, opportunity will concentrate where guidance and access already exist.
AI also isn’t staying on screens. Spatial computing — where digital information is layered into physical space — pushes learning toward immersive simulations, digital twins and 3D environments that mirror modern industries. Universities and employers are moving quickly: Purdue University has launched a Spatial Computing Hub; Stanford Medicine and the University of California San Diego Health have explored clinical applications; and companies such as Nvidia are advancing digital-twin workflows that bring immersive analysis into everyday work.
The pipeline is moving—and K–12 can’t afford to treat immersive technology as optional enrichment.
When I visited Purdue’s hub in April 2026, one design choice stood out: The space is not a closed lab or a showcase for outsiders. It operates more like the computer labs many of us remember from the early internet era — open, staffed and intentionally set up to lower barriers so people can get started. Just as important, it isn’t a centralized “We build it for you” model. Faculty are encouraged to design solutions to problems they identify in their disciplines, supported by an on-ramp that reduces friction and builds capacity.
That lesson applies directly to New Jersey schools.
If we want technology to narrow gaps rather than widen them, we have to shift from seeing educators as passive consumers of packaged products to empowering teachers as creators of learning experiences. In my work leading Plainfield public schools, I’ve seen how quickly vision becomes reality when you pair access with purpose and professional learning — not hype.
This is where the debate often goes sideways. People argue about screen time, distraction and novelty. Those concerns are valid, but they miss the point: Not all screen time is created equally. Creation beats consumption. When students use AI and immersive environments to draft, test, revise, simulate, build and explain, technology becomes a tool for deeper thinking, not a shortcut around it.
So what should New Jersey districts do, especially when budgets are tight and every initiative competes for funding? Start with five moves that are practical and scalable:
- Set clear norms: Teach before you punish. Adopt an “AI for learning” policy with grade-banded expectations, disclosure requirements and guardrails. Include an appeals process so inconsistent enforcement doesn’t become inequitable discipline.
- Guarantee access during the school day. Equity cannot depend on home devices or wi-fi. Use libraries, labs and after-school programs as supervised access points so every student gets guided practice.
- Build teacher-creator pathways. Train educators to design AI-supported lessons and immersive learning experiences aligned to standards — not just “Use the tool.” Start with a small cohort of teacher-leaders and scale through professional learning communities and shared lesson banks.
- Modernize assessment so rigor rises. Require drafts, checkpoints, reflections and brief oral defenses. Grade verification, reasoning and iteration so students demonstrate learning in an AI-rich world.
- Measure equity and impact. Track access, participation, training and student growth. If the data show gaps, adjust quickly.
New Jersey has always competed economically, academically and culturally. The next competition is over skills: who can think analytically, communicate clearly and use technology with judgment.
AI and spatial computing are not “extras.” They are quickly becoming foundational tools of learning and work, and the question is whether we will build access and guidance at scale, or allow opportunity to harden by zip code.
That’s why the state’s current work matters. With AI and information-literacy expectations now before the state Board of Education, New Jersey is signaling that these competencies belong in learning standards, not just in disciplinary codes or device rules. Done well, statewide guidance can help districts move from reactive bans to consistent instruction: teaching students how to verify information, cite and disclose AI use appropriately, and develop the analytical habits required in a world where fakery is easy and judgment is scarce.
Districts don’t have to wait to begin aligning.
Under my leadership, Plainfield schools adopted an artificial intelligence policy that provides a practical framework others can build upon, defining responsible use, setting expectations for transparency and academic integrity and clarifying roles for staff and students. Just as important, it frames AI as a learning issue — a tool that should strengthen thinking, not replace it. That kind of policy foundation, paired with training and equitable access, helps schools implement the state’s direction with clarity and consistency.
New Jersey can lead this moment. We can either let AI and spatial computing become a zip-code advantage — or build the structures that make them literacy for all.
