Parent Groups Renew Call for a Student AI Moratorium After Google’s Search Change: Joint Statement

A coalition of parent advocacy groups from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia, including Schools Beyond Screens Montgomery County, issued the joint statement below on Nov. 6, 2026. It renews the coalition’s call for school districts, including Montgomery County Public Schools, to adopt a moratorium on student-facing AI after Google said districts that opt out of its AI tools would lose Google Search. The statement is published in full as the coalition released it. Moderately MOCO will follow up with more on where MCPS stands.

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Joint Statement: DMV Parent Advocacy Coalition

Released November 6, 2026, and emailed to Moderately MOCO. Reproduced in full and unedited; the links are the coalition’s own.

Coalition of Parent Advocacy Groups in the DMV Renew Calls for School Districts to Issue an AI Moratorium in the Wake of Google’s Decision to Turn Off Search for Schools that Reject Google AI

JOINT STATEMENT | NOVEMBER 6, 2026

We represent thousands of concerned parents, educators, students, and community members in Washington DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia, including in the following 12 school districts:

DC Public Schools (DCPS) ♦ Anne Arundel Public Schools (AAPS) ♦ Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) ♦ Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) ♦ Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) ♦ Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) ♦ Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) ♦ Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) ♦ Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) ♦ Arlington Public Schools (APS) ♦ Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) ♦ Falls Church City Public Schools (FCCPS)

We join our partners at Schools Beyond Screens, Fairplay, AI Moratorium in NYC Schools (AIM), and others in observing that Google’s decision to take away Google Search for school districts who choose not to opt into Google’s embedded AI tools, is an illustration of its monopolistic corporate power in our nation’s schools. In its subsequent response to the immediate backlash that ensued, Google explained that “search and A.I. are deeply integrated” and continued to push AI on students, stating that “AI Mode and AI Overviews will offer step-by-step guided learning through problems, so that students don’t get quick answers to schoolwork.” This “deep integration” is a corporate decision, not an inevitability.

This move follows a recent Wall Street Journal article on Gemini, which features a special education student from Montgomery County whose school-based use of chatbots led to her hospitalization. This piece was cited in a bipartisan letter from Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley to Google’s CEO expressing concern about Google’s aggressive AI integration into multiple educational products on school-issued Chromebooks and its impact on kids. Just yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against Google alleging that Gemini hooked a teenage girl into chatting with it for months and led her to plan her own suicide, all on her school Chromebook.

Meanwhile, Google’s legal strategy in lawsuits has been to shift blame and legal liability to school districts, as outlined in an Open Letter to School Districts from 13 leading organizations. By turning off AI and search, but allowing school districts to turn them back on, Google is doubling down on this blame-shifting approach and will no doubt seek to avoid legal liability for AI harms by pointing to a school district’s control over these harmful products.

We must adopt a “do no harm” approach. Products used in education must earn their place in our classrooms and center children’s well-being and educational outcomes.

What We Ask of Our School Districts

FIRST, follow the recent example set by Frederick County Public Schools and immediately adopt the only responsible AI policy based on available evidence: an immediate moratorium on student-facing AI for all grades except for specific educational purposes, such as the teaching of critical computing and tech civics in independent, non-corporate sponsored curricula, or for students with special educational needs. The petition we launched over the summer has over 1000 signatures of parents calling for a moratorium.

SECOND, invest in librarians and credible, privacy-protected research materials. Take this maneuver by Google as an opportunity to guard against over-reliance on one company’s products, and over-reliance on internet search engines to conduct research. In the age of AI, search engines are far less reliable at elevating credible sources of information. Schools should teach students how to research using primary sources, trusted sites like JSTOR, and libraries.

THIRD, refuse to turn AI and Search back on. Heed the warning signs that schools are exposing students to harm and themselves to legal liability, as big tech is leaving schools to bear the responsibility. Even if school districts aren’t on the hook for damages yet, they stand to lose an even more important currency – trust – at a time when trust in public education is at record lows.

We won’t allow tech companies to use our kids to serve their bottom line. In the words of a former Google researcher, “[w]e’re doing this experiment on an entire generation on cognitive development, with no control group.” Although Google is telling you to continue the experiment, families and educators are imploring you to stop. Our public schools must protect students’ ability to gain the necessary skills and breadth of knowledge to defend themselves against exploitative technology in their future.

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For more information about this statement, contact distractionfreeschoolsmd@gmail.com.

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