Why School Psychologists Should Be Part of the AI Conversation

I'll be honest: when AI first started becoming part of professional conversations, I was skeptical.

As a school psychologist and later as a leader overseeing evaluation teams, my first questions were probably the same questions many practitioners have today:

Can it be trusted?

Will it create inaccuracies?

What about ethics?

What about student privacy?

Those concerns are valid, and they're exactly why I believe school psychologists need to be actively involved in shaping how AI is used in our profession.

The reality is that AI isn't going away. The question isn't whether AI will enter education. The question is whether school psychologists will help define responsible ways to use it.

When we developed LilyAssist, we intentionally focused on supporting—not replacing—professional expertise.

We built guardrails around the platform because I understand the responsibility school psychologists carry. I know what it's like to sign evaluation reports, defend recommendations, explain findings to families, and ensure every report accurately reflects a student's needs.

That's why LilyAssist was designed to assist with drafting and organization while leaving interpretation and analysis where they belong—with the trained professional.

As someone who has worked as both a school psychologist and a supervisor, I don't see AI as a replacement for expertise.

I see it as an opportunity to reduce administrative burden and allow practitioners to spend more time doing the work that only humans can do: building relationships, understanding context, and making thoughtful decisions about students.

School psychologists have too much expertise to sit out this conversation.

We should be leading it.