AI vs. AI: Thoreau teacher’s firing raises complex questions
Christine Apollos alleges an improper investigation of her claims of the use of AI in evaluations that led to her dismissal.
A Acton kindergarten teacher’s dismissal — and her bid to get her job back — have become a multilayered case about artificial intelligence.
Christine Apollos, who taught at Thoreau Elementary School for more than 20 years, filed a complaint on September 28 asking Suffolk Superior Court to overturn an arbitrator’s decision upholding her dismissal.
Apollos was fired on August 14, 2025, after Thoreau Principal Justin Sparks gave her an “unsatisfactory” overall rating based on “alleged inefficiency, incompetency, failure to satisfy teacher performance standards,” and other causes, according to the complaint.
The complaint also argues Arbitrator Thomas Kochan improperly placed the burden on Apollos to disprove the district’s reasons for firing her, rather than requiring the district to prove its grounds for dismissal.
During four arbitration hearings, Apollos argued that some assessments leading to her dismissal — including Sparks’ summative evaluation — may have been produced using artificial intelligence rather than by Sparks himself.
She testified that she used GPTZero, an AI detection tool, to analyze the documents. The tool returned estimates indicating that some of Sparks’ evaluations were probably AI-generated, according to the arbitrator’s decision.
Sparks denied using AI to produce the evaluations, other than for grammar checks, according to the decision.
Apollos maintained that her dismissal by Sparks “was not the product of his professional judgment, but instead the product of his age bias.” An arbitrator found no “preponderance of evidence” to support that conclusion.
Kochan ultimately rejected Apollos’ AI evidence and upheld her dismissal on August 27, 2026.
A hall of mirrors
Kochan did his own external research into the AI issue, something Apollos argues was improper.
In an appendix to his decision, Kochan said he used two AI tools, GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 5, to research GPTZero and determine whether it was reliable enough to evaluate whether AI had produced the writing.
Kochan said he independently reviewed some of the sources provided by the AI tools and found they accurately described the cited material.
He ultimately concluded that GPTZero’s results were not reliable enough to be given weight in the case, noting that AI detectors can misclassify human writing. He gave no weight to Apollos’ claim that Sparks’ evaluations were AI-generated.
Apollos’ complaint argues that Kochan’s research was an improper investigation outside the hearing record. She says the parties were not told he would conduct the research and were not given an opportunity to challenge his findings.
Apollos is asking the court to vacate the arbitration decision and order a new hearing before different arbitrators.
Apollos and her lawyer did not respond to Bridge questions by press time.
The Bridge asked schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter and Acton School Committee Chair Sandeep Pisharody about the case. Pisharody declined to answer questions, and a school spokesperson said the district does not comment on active legal matters.
