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• Lucid Motors plans to lay off around 18% of the company to align “production plans with anticipated demand.”
• The cost-cutting push also reached the C-suite: Lucid has eliminated the COO role entirely.
• Lucid has experienced a year and a half of exec upheaval since former Tesla engineer Peter Rawlinson stepped down as CEO.

In the era of leaner companies, even the C-suite isn’t insulated from downsizing. Just look at Lucid.

The luxury EV maker filed an 8-K to the SEC on Monday detailing plans to cut about 18% of its US workforce — including full-time employees, contractors, and hourly manufacturing workers at its AMP-1 factory in Arizona.

But the restructuring is also notably impacting its C-Suite, with Lucid announcing “the elimination of the Chief Operating Officer position.” As a result, Marc Winterhoff, Lucid’s COO who had served as interim CEO earlier this year before resuming the chief operating role when a new CEO was announced, has departed. Winterhoff did not respond to a request for additional comment from Business Insider.

Lucid is looking to “simplify the company” and “sharpen execution,” a spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement.

“These are difficult decisions taken to align production with demand, reduce inventory, and adapt to declining market conditions,” a company spokesperson. “They are part of a broader effort to simplify the company, sharpen execution, and position Lucid to become more competitive over time.”

Lucid expects the cuts to generate about $158 million in annualized cost savings. Lucid will eliminate the second shift at the plant to align “production plans with anticipated demand,” the filing said.

The move comes during a year and a half of upheaval at Lucid.

Longtime CEO Peter Rawlinson abruptly resigned in February 2025, prompting Winterhoff to serve as interim CEO.

Several leaders have since left the automaker: SVP of engineering and software Emad Dlala and SVP of strategy Claudia Gast both left earlier this year. Chief engineer Eric Bach was fired in November after 10 years at the company and has since filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Lucid. The EV maker previously called Bach’s legal claims “absurd” in a statement on the lawsuit.

The company also cut 12% of its US workforce in February.

On June 1, Lucid officially installed Silvio Napoli — the former boss of The Schindler Group, an elevator maker — as the permanent CEO.

Napoli inherits a long to-do list. The Saudi Arabia-backed automaker is hoping to launch the Cosmos, its first sub-$50,000 mass-market SUV, later this year to challenge the Tesla Model Y and Rivian R2. It also has robotaxi ambitions after inking a partnership with Uber and Nuro.

In the first quarter, Lucid faced a supplier issue that delayed delivery times on its Gravity SUV, while some owners have openly complained about software issues. Lucid continues to receive praise for the engineering of its vehicles, including the Lucid Air sedan, which remains among the most efficient EVs on the market.

For Winterhoff, the elimination of the COO role doesn’t mean that he’ll be leaving empty handed. In addition to severance, Lucid said it “agreed to provide certain continued security support and have him keep his company vehicle.”

• Brandon Webb left the Navy after 13 years to focus on fatherhood.
• He taught his kids to ignore negative talk, including from adults.
• He didn’t over-advocate and allowed them to make mistakes, he says.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Brandon Webb, author of Puddle Jumpers. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My parents were hippies who gave me a lot of freedom.

I was homeschooled, and we traveled frequently. At 10 or 11, I was making friends in dusty Mexican streets. At 16, in Tahiti, my dad kicked me off the boat during a family sailing trip in the South Pacific (that’s another story).

While it wasn’t traditional, the way my parents raised me gave me a lot of confidence.

The Navy was my ticket to something different. I joined when I was 18, and four years later, I met Gretchen. Back then, the Navy paid you more once you were married. We were in love, and with the financial incentive, the decision was easy.

I’d already been on deployment to the Middle East with the Navy SEALs, but on September 11, 2001, I knew everything had changed for Gretchen and me. By the time our first child was born in November 2001, I was in Afghanistan.

My ex-wife and I did counseling to become good coparents

Gretchen and I had two more children, and like many military couples, we struggled. I looked around me and realized that the guys who had been in the Navy for 20 or 30 years hardly had any family relationships. Their family was the SEAL team, and I didn’t want that. After 13 years, six months, and six days, I left the Navy.

I’d been investing in real estate while enlisted, so we were OK financially. I was also able to work on lucrative defense contracts. Unfortunately, being out of the military didn’t solve my relationship issues, and Gretchen asked for a divorce.

We were in couples counseling when that happened, and we continued working with a psychologist so that we could be the best coparents. Gretchen and the kids moved to her parents’ ranch, and soon her parents were inviting me to stay at the guest house. Even today, Gretchen and I have a great relationship.

I used visualization in sniper school and Little League

The first time I realized that military principles could apply to parenting, I was coaching Little League. In the SEALs, we use mental management: visualization, mantras, and positive self-talk that can improve performance.

One day on the field, I realized that the same thing that helped my sniper students could now help the 8-year-olds I was coaching. I started implementing it with my kids at home. I helped my oldest visualize a school presentation, over and over again. At the end, he wasn’t as nervous — and I had identified an important parenting tool.

I taught my kids to reframe negative talk, even from adults

Part of mental management is noticing negative self-talk: the little things we tell ourselves, like “I’m a klutz,” or “I’m bad with numbers.” I wanted my kids to identify their own negative self-talk and also recognize when teachers, coaches, or other adults were unintentionally leading them to focus on the negative.

As a sniper trainer, I’d seen that pointing out problems wasn’t helpful. If I told a SEAL not to flinch, flinching was all they’d think about. Instead, I’d tell them to take a deep breath and focus on a smooth trigger pull. That was much more productive. I taught my kids to reframe criticism to focus on what they should be doing — now the habits they should leave behind.

I gave my kids lots of independence and MetroCards

I saw what my own upbringing did for me, so I wanted to give my kids plenty of independence to build their confidence. My oldest son and daughter both got New York City MetroCards when they were 16: my son for an internship, and my daughter for a job.

Both looked like deer in headlights when I handed them the card and sent them out into the city. But I could see immediately the impact it had, especially for my daughter. Because my kids knew I trusted them, they stepped confidently into their adult roles.

I let my kids cope with their consequences

Today, parents often want to do everything for their kids. That’s a way that even very successful people mess up their kids. It’s why I’ve always focused on not over-advocating for my children.

My youngest made the basketball team as a freshman and was thrilled. A few weeks later, he got kicked off for having a bad attitude. A lot of parents might have spoken to the coach on his behalf, but I didn’t.

Instead, I made sure he knew this was an important life lesson: no matter how talented you are, no one wants to work with a jerk. Knowing that will be much more impactful in his life than a missed season of basketball.

• Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” debuted on Friday.
• “Toy Story 5” has earned an estimated $312 million globally so far.
• Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and other celebrities have reprised their beloved roles.

The toys are back in town.

Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” has dominated the worldwide box office since its theatrical debut on Friday. The film, directed by Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, grossed an estimated $160 million domestically and another $152 million internationally.

The initial domestic box office numbers surpassed Universal Pictures’ “Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which earned $131 million when it opened in April. “Toy Story 5” has also topped the franchise, surpassing the $120 million “Toy Story 4” earned during its opening weekend in 2019.

In total, “Toy Story 5” has so far amassed an estimated $312 million globally. Disney said “Toy Story 5” had the second-highest animated opening weekend of all time, behind only “Incredibles 2.”

Since the first installment in 1995, “Toy Story” has remained one of Disney and Pixar’s most beloved franchises. The films have earned over $1.3 billion at the box office across three decades, in addition to revenue from video games, toys, merchandise, books, apparel, and in-real-life experiences.

“Toy Story 5” may feel like a reunion for lifelong fans. Many of the original cast members have reprised their roles, including Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, and Joan Cusack as Jessie. John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, and Annie Potts are also making their franchise return.

While the gang has faced off against humans, other toys, and even each other, they encounter a new challenge in “Toy Story 5” — technology.

“Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and the rest of the gang’s jobs are challenged when they come face-to-face with Lilypad, a brand-new tablet device that arrives with her own disruptive ideas about what is best for their kid, Bonnie. Will playtime ever be the same?” a synopsis of the film says.

Greta Lee plays Lilypad, while Keanu Reeves, Bad Bunny, Conan O’Brien, and other actors bring new characters to life.

Disney and Pixar’s decision to make technology the crux of “Toy Story 5” will likely resonate with parents raising children in the iPad era. Screen time has become a major discussion as devices like tablets become more accessible and further integrated into everyday life.

A 2024 survey by Common Sense Media found that 4 in 10 children have their own tablet by age 2. By age 4, more than half of children do. “Tablets have the highest proportion of ownership among children compared to any other mobile device,” the report said.

Parents often worry about how extended screen time can impact children’s development.

“Among parents, 75% to 80% express consistent concerns about screen media, including worries about excessive use, effects on mental health, and the amount of inappropriate content,” the report said.

In response, some parents have made a conscious effort to limit their children’s screentime, including Business Insider’s Conz Preti.

“I want my kids playing with each other and leaning into imagination, creating worlds together, instead of being zombiefied in front of an app,” she wrote after seeing “Toy Story 5” last week.

• Vice President JD Vance, President Donald Trump’s second-in-command, is a former Ohio senator.
• JD Vance met his wife, Usha Vance, while they were both students at Yale Law School.
• They wed in Christian and Hindu ceremonies in 2014 and are expecting their fourth child in July.

When Fox News asked Usha Vance in June 2024 how she felt about her husband, JD Vance, being considered as Donald Trump’s running mate, she told host Lawrence Jones that she was “not raring to change anything about our lives right now.”

But it appears that she came around, holding the Bible at the 2025 inauguration as JD Vance was sworn in as vice president of the United States.

JD Vance, the former junior senator from Ohio and bestselling author of memoirs “Hillbilly Elegy” and “Communion,” and Usha Vance, a litigator whose résumé includes a Supreme Court clerkship, met as students at Yale Law School and wed in 2014.

Since becoming vice president and second lady, the Vances have taken several international trips together, including a visit to the US military’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland in March 2025 and the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in February 2026.

In January 2026, the Vances announced they are expecting their fourth child, making Usha Vance the first second lady in US history to be pregnant while in office.

Here’s a look inside the relationship of the GOP power couple serving as vice president and second lady.

Born in Ohio and raised by his grandparents in Kentucky, JD Vance joined the Marines and graduated from Ohio State University.

JD Vance served as a public affairs Marine in Iraq, liaising between service members and members of the press. After his military service, he majored in political science and philosophy at Ohio State University.

Usha Vance studied history at Yale and taught American history in Guangzhou as a Yale-China Teaching Fellow.

Usha Vance grew up in a suburb of San Diego. Her parents are Indian immigrants.

Usha Vance told Fox News in June 2025 that her parents’ Hindu faith was “one of the things that made them such good parents, that make them very good people.”

She was a registered Democrat until 2014.

She is also conversant in German.

The couple met while they were students at Yale Law School.

In law school, Usha Vance served as executive development editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, according to a bio on the website of her former employer, Munger, Tolles & Olson, that has since been removed.

She also worked pro bono with the Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project.

Usha Vance told NBC News in 2017 that she and JD Vance took all of their classes together and were friends before they started dating. When they were assigned to work on a brief together, Usha Vance said she was impressed by his diligence.

“I’ve never seen anybody so starstruck,” their law school professor, Amy Chua, said of JD Vance in an interview with NBC News. “It was love at first sight.”

They wed in 2014 and held both Christian and Hindu ceremonies.

Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019. Usha Vance was raised Hindu.

When asked about their interfaith marriage in a June 2025 interview with Fox News, Usha Vance said: “There are a lot of things that we just agree on, I think, especially when it comes to family life, how to raise our kids. So I think the answer really is that we just talk a lot.”

While speaking at a Turning Point USA event in October 2025, JD Vance said that he hoped his wife would someday convert to Christianity.

“Do I hope that eventually she is somehow moved by what I was moved by in church? Yeah, honestly, I do wish that, because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way,” he said. “But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”

In 2016, JD Vance published his best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” in which he wrote about his relationship with Usha Vance.

JD Vance’s memoir details his working-class upbringing and the lives of poor, white Americans. He also wrote about how Chua, his professor, encouraged him to focus on his relationship with Usha Vance as a Yale law student.

When JD Vance asked Chua to recommend him for a federal clerkship, she warned him that it’s “the type of thing that destroys relationships.”

“Amy’s advice stopped me from making a life-altering decision. It prevented me from moving a thousand miles away from the person I eventually married,” Vance wrote.

“Most important, it allowed me to accept my place at this unfamiliar institution — it was okay to chart my own path and okay to put a girl above some shortsighted ambition,” he continued. “My professor gave me permission to be me.”

After law school, JD Vance worked at VC firms while Usha Vance landed prestigious clerkships.

Vance worked at Mithril Capital, a VC firm backed by Peter Thiel, in 2016. One former coworker previously told Business Insider that Vance was often away from the job promoting his book, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Thiel ended up being instrumental in Vance’s rise to power in politics, donating $15 million to his Senate campaign and encouraging Trump to choose Vance as his running mate, The New York Times reported.

Vance went on to work at Revolution, a VC firm in Washington, DC, before founding his own firm, Narya Capital, in 2019.

Meanwhile, Usha Vance worked as a litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson before leaving to clerk for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the US Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Following her clerkships, she returned to Munger, Tolles & Olson, according to a bio on the firm’s website that has since been removed.

In his new memoir, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” JD Vance wrote that Usha Vance told him that she wanted to land a prestigious Supreme Court clerkship not out of ambition, but as an “insurance policy,” saying, “It’s so prestigious that if I do it and then have kids, it won’t ruin my career.”

Usha Vance appeared in a political ad and at campaign events when JD Vance ran for Congress in 2022.

In the ad, Usha Vance described her husband as “an incredible father” and “my best friend.”

In an interview with Newsmax about the ad, Usha Vance also responded to media reports about Vance’s dramatic transformation from a “Never Trumper” to a staunch Trump supporter.

“Sometimes people say that he’s changed a lot, but the truth is I’ve known him now for so many years and he’s always been so true to himself,” she said.

As Trump vetted JD Vance for the vice presidency, Usha Vance expressed ambivalence about the possibility of him being chosen.

“I’m not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I really believe in JD and I love him, so we’ll see what happens with our lives,” she told Fox News in June 2024.

When Trump chose JD Vance as his running mate in July 2024, Usha Vance quit her job as a litigator.

On the first day of the Republican National Convention, when Trump announced JD Vance as his vice presidential pick, a spokesperson for Munger, Tolles & Olsen told ABC News that Usha Vance had left the firm.

“Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career,” the spokesperson said.

Usha Vance spoke at the Republican National Convention about meeting and falling in love with JD Vance.

Usha Vance said that when they first met, JD Vance approached their differences “with curiosity and enthusiasm.”

“Although he’s a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food from my mother, Indian food,” Usha Vance said in her speech. “Before I knew it, he’d become an integral part of my family, a person I could not imagine living without.”

JD Vance acknowledged racist attacks against his wife from white supremacists.

After white nationalist Nick Fuentes questioned JD Vance’s ability to “support white identity” with an Indian wife, he voiced support for his spouse.

“Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she’s who she is,” JD Vance said in an interview with Megyn Kelly in July 2024. “Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha.”

He also hit back against the attacks on ABC News’ “This Week,” telling host Jonathan Karl in August 2024, “Look, my attitude to these people attacking my wife is, she’s beautiful, she’s smart. What kind of man marries Usha? A very smart man and a very lucky man, importantly.”

He continued, “Don’t attack my wife. She’s out of your league.”

JD Vance thanked his “beautiful wife” in a post on X after he and Trump won the election in November 2024.

Usha Vance appeared alongside her husband and members of the Trump family at the campaign’s election night event in Palm Beach, Florida.

“THANK YOU!” Vance wrote on X after the election results came in. “To my beautiful wife for making it possible to do this. To President Donald J. Trump, for giving me such an opportunity to serve our country at this level. And to the American people, for their trust. I will never stop fighting for ALL of you.”

At the 2025 inauguration, Usha Vance held the Bible as JD Vance was sworn in as vice president.

JD Vance was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Usha Vance’s former boss when she clerked for him in the US Court of Appeals.

They took their first foreign trip together as vice president and second lady in February 2025, visiting France and Germany.

The vice president attended the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris and the Munich Security Conference. He and Usha Vance also visited the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

They brought their three children along on Air Force Two.

In March 2025, JD Vance joined Usha Vance to visit Pituffik Space Base, the sole US military base in Greenland.

Since winning a second, non-consecutive term in the White House, Trump has doubled down on his intention to acquire Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory that hosts a US military base. The governments of Greenland and Denmark have maintained that it is not for sale, but Trump has said he would not rule out using force.

In March 2025, the White House announced Usha Vance would embark on a solo trip to Greenland to “visit historical sites, learn about Greenlandic heritage, and attend the Avannaata Qimussersua, Greenland’s national dogsled race.” The government of Greenland said it had not invited any delegations to visit, and Greenland’s then-prime minister, Múte Bourup Egede, called the trip “very aggressive.” Trump said that Greenland had asked the US to visit.

Usha Vance’s trip was subsequently scaled back to visiting Pituffik Space Base, the US military’s northernmost installation in Greenland. In a video, JD Vance announced he would travel with her.

“There was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her,” he said.

Taylor Van Kirk, JD Vance’s press secretary, told Business Insider that the Vances were “proud” to visit Greenland.

“The security of Greenland is critical in ensuring the security of the rest of the world, and the Vice President looks forward to learning more about the island,” Van Kirk said.

In April 2025, JD Vance visited India, where Usha’s parents immigrated from, for the first time.

The vice president and second lady visited the Akshardham Temple and the Taj Mahal with their children and met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

“Despite being married to the daughter of Indian immigrants, I had never visited India,” JD Vance wrote in “Communion.” “This was partially my fault and partially the fault of circumstances — one-year jobs, a Zika outbreak while Usha was pregnant, and COVID.”

Usha Vance was seen without her wedding ring in November 2025, sparking scrutiny of their marriage that the second lady’s spokesperson dismissed.

During a public appearance at military bases in North Carolina, observers noticed that Usha Vance wasn’t wearing her wedding ring.

In a statement to People magazine, the second lady’s spokesperson described Usha Vance as “a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.”

JD Vance also addressed the marriage rumors, telling NBC News that “we kind of get a kick out of it” and that their marriage was “as strong as it’s ever been.”

In January 2026, the couple announced that they are expecting their fourth child.

Their first child, Ewan, was born a month before Usha Vance began her clerkship with Chief Justice Roberts, NBC News reported. They also have another son, Vivek, and a daughter, Mirabel.

Their fourth child, a boy, is due in July.

“We’re very happy to share some exciting news. Our family is growing!” Usha Vance captioned a photo of a joint statement from the Office of the Vice President announcing her pregnancy on social media.

They attended several events at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February 2026.

JD Vance and Usha Vance waved American flags at the opening ceremony and brought their kids along to support Team USA in the stands of figure skating competitions and ice hockey matches.

In March 2026, JD Vance and Usha Vance visited a Michigan factory, where JD Vance spoke about their decision to have another baby.

“I remember when we decided to run for vice president, I said, ‘Honey, I really want to have a fourth kid,'” JD Vance said in his speech at a manufacturing facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan. “And she said, ‘Well, you can become vice president or you can have a fourth baby. But, ladies and gentlemen, I am persuasive because I got both.”

That same month, Usha Vance spoke about her “idiosyncratic” political views in an interview with NBC News.

Usha Vance said that while she and JD Vance don’t always share the same political opinions, they remain “open-minded” in their conversations.

“There’s no expectation that we are going to see eye to eye on everything,” she told NBC News in an interview promoting her “Storytime with the Second Lady” podcast focused on child literacy.

She also addressed her past as a registered Democrat, saying her views don’t always fall along party lines.

“Sometimes I have thoughts that fit very comfortably into one side or another. Sometimes I have views that are way more idiosyncratic,” she said.

When asked about JD Vance’s remarks from their trip to Michigan, in which he said he had persuaded her to have another baby, Usha Vance said she had “never closed the door” on the possibility of a fourth child.

“We have our daughter, who’s amazing, and it was great. And so I just wasn’t sure. But as time passed, I realized that I was feeling more and more, kind of, excited about that possibility,” she said.

JD Vance published a new memoir, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” in June 2026 and dedicated the book to his wife.

The book’s dedication reads: “For my darling Usha, who taught me to think on those things that are honest, just, pure, and lovely.”

He also wrote extensively about their courtship and marriage, saying that he was “drawn to her unlike I had ever been drawn to anyone” when they met in law school, and that he told her he wanted to marry her after a few weeks of dating.

He also wrote that his “traumatic childhood” made him a “lousy boyfriend in many ways,” and that she encouraged him to go to therapy.

Toward the end of the book, he recalled how Usha Vance initially wasn’t interested in having a fourth child, but changed her mind after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed.

The acknowledgments section concludes with JD Vance thanking his wife.

“There is at least a little irony in the fact that my non-Christian wife helped lead me back to my own Christian faith, and then made it possible for me to discuss the journey on paper,” he wrote. “The Lord works in mysterious ways, indeed.”

• My teenage son is using AI to help him do math homework, and I didn’t know what to do.
• When his school asked parents to join an AI taskforce, I jumped at the opportunity.
• We came up with a system that allows teachers to decide how much AI can be used on each assignment.

Last fall, my children’s school district — in a suburb north of San Francisco, in a community connected to leading tech companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google — issued a call to parents.

The district wanted us to join its Artificial Intelligence (AI) task force. The goal was to draft an AI vision statement and develop a framework for AI in the classroom. I signed up without hesitation.

Why? Because my kid was coming home, taking pictures of his math homework, feeding them into an AI engine, and writing a single prompt: Solve.

He’s known for taking shortcuts, but this one concerned me. As a rule follower, I thought, yikes, he may get into trouble using AI for his homework.

And then a bigger question gave me pause. Do I even want him to be using AI in this way?

I’ve realized many parents are also struggling with AI

My parenting generation has had to navigate rules on screen time, cellphones, and social media without a clear road map.

Having to contend with another emerging technology, one that feels even more powerful, has been daunting. I began to worry about what AI might do to a developing mind.

As I spoke with other parents about my concerns, I discovered I wasn’t alone. Many saw AI literacy as an important skill, but they also worried about its effects on creativity, attachment, critical thinking, and children’s ability to problem-solve on their own.

I joined my son’s AI task force

When I joined the Reed Union School District (RUSD) AI task force in November of last year with a group of teachers, administrators, and parent volunteers, I was struck right away by the district’s posture.

This wasn’t a discussion about whether AI was to be used in the classroom. It was a conversation on how to do it thoughtfully. The general attitude was that this new technology, when used responsibly, could improve learning outcomes and prepare students for a future in which tech skills are increasingly valued.

Over three meetings, we helped form a vision statement for AI integration, a safety and ethics review, and a policy on AI literacy and student use.

The more I listened, the more my own thinking shifted. AI held promise, and there were real risks to consider. Both things are true.

I came into the AI task force with a protective parent instinct, but I came to understand that finding the middle way with this technology was the work I had signed up to do.

We’ve implemented a new, helpful system

Many students have no idea what the rules are when using AI in their schoolwork, and it’s a lot messier than you think.

I have heard it firsthand from my own kid: use AI, maybe get an A, or use AI and risk getting judged by your friends, or punished by teachers. Some kids are risk takers who experiment with these tools. Others won’t touch them at all. As a parent watching from both sides, I could see that neither response serves them.

RUSD is guiding students, teachers, and parents out of this gray zone. The district is rolling out a traffic-light model specifying when and how AI is permitted for academic tasks.

For elementary K-5 students, red light means no AI usage, yellow light allows AI as a tutor or support, and green light means AI as a partner.

For middle schoolers, the model becomes a 0 to 4 scale with color bands. Here, 0 indicates no AI involvement, while 4 indicates a task in which AI generates the work and the student must critique and fact-check it.

The traffic light system and numeric framework will be placed on assignment headers, classroom posters, and communications with families. This creates clear signals, helping students understand the rules and the reasons behind them.

This will also help me know what to reinforce at home.

I’m still figuring it out as I go

What I want for my son is not a ban on AI. I want him to use it as a learning partner — to be curious, to be creative, to ask it questions, to read it carefully, and to push back on its answers if they don’t sound right.

I don’t want him to sit down, hit copy and paste, and walk away. That is the difference between a student who uses AI to outsource thinking and a student who learns to augment his own.

RUSD is trying to build the latter. And so am I.

• I rarely get to connect with my 30-year-old son, so I invited him on a trip with me.
• We planned the trip together and decided to travel to Hawaii.
• While there, we were able to have deeper conversations while still maintaining boundaries.

I live in New York City. My 30-year-old son, Alec, lives across the country in Southern California. When I visit, I respect that he has his own busy, adult life. While I’d like nothing more than to spend every minute with him, I’m proud of his independence and try not to monopolize his time.

Alec has a roommate and no space for an overnight guest. When I’m on his home turf, I stay in a hotel or with a friend.

When he comes to NYC for the holidays, his schedule is packed. Plus, with the entire family under one roof, it can be tough to carve out one-on-one time.

I don’t feel shut out of Alec’s life, but I do miss spending quality time with him, so I floated the idea of a mother-son vacation.

He set a few ground rules before we started planning

Alec was vocal that for our getaway to work, we’d need to approach it as equals. This may sound deceptively simple, but it took lots of self-control on my part.

Little kids and I pair like milk and cookies. I did my graduate studies in early childhood education and taught preschool for years. Parenting young kids is never easy, but it felt instinctive. It grew harder as my children grew older.

Alec is my firstborn, and my parental grip was tightest around him. When he was a teenager, he told me I didn’t understand that teens needed autonomy. At the time, he was correct, but over the years, I’ve worked hard to pacify my bossy instincts.

This time, I would welcome his voice in planning our vacation.

Alec brought up another rule: that part of being equal should include sharing expenses. I gifted Alec his airline ticket using miles, and we split additional expenses.

Choosing a destination

Alec had four days off work over Memorial Day Weekend. I advocated for a location that wasn’t too hot, as I had suffered a bout of heatstroke in Greece last summer. A yoga class nearby would be a bonus.

Alec made a case for Hawaii. He’d never been, but its laidback reputation appealed to him. He said he wanted to destress at a resort and eat poke every day.

Hawaii is special to me. I first visited when I was a kid, spending a summer at my aunt and uncle’s home in Waianae on Oahu. The idea of sharing Hawaii with Alec was exciting.

From a practical point of view, Hawaii made sense. There are numerous nonstop flights from LAX, Alec’s home airport. I was going to be in Denver for work, so I was already heading in a westerly direction.

Each of the Hawaiian Islands has its own flavor. We had lots of options and weren’t quite sure how to narrow them down.

Alec is a fan of the television cooking show “Top Chef.” During his online research, he learned that former contestant Sheldon Simeon was scheduled to be the visiting chef at the Ritz-Carlton O’ahu, Turtle Bay on the island’s North Shore on the Saturday night of our trip.

The Hawaiian-born chef would be preparing a multi-course dinner using island-grown ingredients. I’m all about exploring local culture through food, so it seemed like a jackpot for both of us.

After we booked the dinner, we figured it made sense to stay at the Ritz-Carlton.

Balancing time together and separately was key

Another boundary we set for our vacation was balancing time together with time apart.

Each morning, Alec surfed, and I swam laps in the pool. I signed up for a lei-making workshop while he attended a tennis clinic.

In a perfect world, we would have reserved individual rooms; however, we shared a room for economic reasons.

We were still able to maintain boundaries and give each other privacy as our room had a comfortable ocean-view patio, perfect for reading and relaxing.

Meaningful conversations are what stand out

Time together sparked the meaningful conversations and connection I had longed for.

On May 24, I mentioned that it was my beloved dad’s heavenly birthday. Alec shared tender memories of his grandpa and told me that my dad had been a father figure for him, too, teaching him lessons that continue to impact his life. It made me teary.

We also had an intelligent discussion on income inequality. Alec overheard a group of vacationing doctors and a group of vacationing teachers chatting in the Jacuzzi. He said the doctors worked very long hours without complaint, while the teachers complained nonstop about their overwhelming workload. This led to a conversation between Alec and me about teachers being underpaid and undervalued.

As a former teacher, I found that my son’s thinking about socio-economic issues that hit so close to home really resonated with me.

Our mother-son vacation brought us closer

Our mother-son vacation was a success. Alec ate plenty of poke. I got to practice yoga. Together, we swam in the Pacific, walked trails surrounded by gardenias, and enjoyed a delectable Hawaiian dinner.

As much as I loved our activities, it’s the memories of our personal and poignant conversations that are etched in my heart.

I can’t wait to travel with Alec again.