AI - I Urge Parents to be Aware of Issues Related to Public Schools

Today I heard a report on the Today Show about Discovery Elementary School in Loudoun County, Virginia. It's a school with over 600 students, a third of them free/reduced lunch level. Minorities make up the majority of the school.

Want to know a fun fact about this school?

Discovery Elementary School in Loudoun County, Virginia, is nearly surrounded by 11 data centers within a half-mile radius, with two more currently under construction

State-issued permits show well over 200 backup diesel generators near the school. In the story, moms are concerned about air quality. One mom says when her daughter comes out of school, she always thinks it smells like smoke. And it's not just air quality, it's also a buzzing noise that has been reported coming from multiple data centers.

Environmental calculations indicate that a single backup generator running at full capacity can emit pollutants equivalent to over 100 semi-trucks (18-wheelers). 

Many data centers use diesel back-up generators, which would be like “a bunch of semi trucks idling right next to the school,” said Jessica Owens, the director of data at Science for Georgia, a nonprofit. “Would you want your child in a facility next to a place that’s emitting pollutants, especially in the South when we have heat waves that exacerbate those pollutants?”

From The 74:

Nearly 1,900 U.S. Public Schools Within a Mile of a Data Center
Research shows lower math scores among students attending schools nearby.

Nationally, 1,878 public schools sit within a mile of at least one data center or a future facility that is approved for construction, according to researchers at Brown University. Shared exclusively with The 74, the analysis of Business Insider and National Center for Education Statistics data shows that California has by far the largest number of schools close to data centers or buildings-in-progress: 602, representing 32% of the nation’s total.

Washington State has 12 data centers.

In one town in Georgia, their county commission approved rezoning 832 rural acres for a data center that is going to take 10 YEARS to build. Parents are suing.

The battle is one of several nationwide in which the rapid expansion of these “hyperscale” centers is colliding with the daily lives of public school families and staff. Americans depend on data centers to work, shop and learn. Despite the recent backlash to ed tech, one research firm estimates that the global market for AI in education will grow to over $136 billion by 2035.

What does a data center group say?

“The closer data is stored to the people and systems relying on it, the faster it loads — a benefit that touches everything from healthcare to the classroom technology students and teachers use every day,” said Dan Diorio, executive vice president of state policy and government affairs at the Data Center Coalition, a membership organization. 

But keep the following in mind:

Ahmed Saeed, an assistant professor in computer science at Georgia Tech, explained that the infrastructure data centers rely on is more widely available near “population centers.” But because dense urban areas don’t have enough affordable land, developers often gravitate to suburban and exurban areas.

“As the number of data centers continues to grow, it becomes increasingly likely that some will be located near schools and residential neighborhoods,” he said.

Folks, is it fair to tell rural or suburban residents to take all this on the chin? I don't think so.  

In a forthcoming paper, Brown University researchers will show that students who attend school within a mile of a data center have lower math scores than those who are farther away.

“You can rule out all other factors,” said Samantha Kane, a research associate and part of the university’s Sustainable Education Research Initiative. “It’s actually the proximity to the data center and the potential pollution coming from the data center that is having the impact on achievement and not other things about the region.”

Oh and there's the traffic: 

Schools in the vicinity of these facilities can feel the effects even before sites are operational. An elementary school in northeast Louisiana shut down its playground last year to protect students from the thousands of cement trucks and 18-wheelers traveling every day to what is expected to be Meta’s largest data center. There were at least three truck crashes last year, and one smashed into the school’s gate.

Fight back:

But with concerns about energy use and environmental impacts, local governments — and New York state — have placed moratoriums on new data centers, and opponents say officials should restrict building near schools and residential neighborhoods.