A former Concord kindergarten teacher is asking a judge to overturn an arbitration decision upholding her dismissal, arguing that artificial intelligence improperly influenced both her performance evaluation and the review of her firing.
Christine Apollos, who taught at Thoreau Elementary School for more than 20 years, filed the challenge Sept. 28 in Suffolk County Superior Court, the Concord Bridge reported. Her lawsuit names the Concord School Committee as the defendant and seeks a new hearing before a different arbitrator.
Apollos was dismissed Aug. 14, 2025, following an “unsatisfactory” evaluation from Principal Justin Sparks. The stated grounds included inefficiency, incompetence and failure to meet teacher performance standards, according to reporting on her complaint.
She challenged the dismissal during four arbitration hearings held between January and May 2026. Arbitrator Thomas Kochan upheld the district’s decision on Aug. 27.
Apollos alleged that Sparks used AI to generate portions of her evaluations rather than exercising his own professional judgment. She submitted results from GPTZero, an AI detection tool that flagged several documents as potentially AI-generated.
Sparks denied using AI to write the evaluations, saying his use was limited to grammar checks, according to the Bridge.
Apollos also argued that age bias explained the deterioration in her reviews after Sparks became principal in 2022. Kochan rejected that argument and gave no weight to her claim that the evaluations were AI-generated.
His handling of the AI evidence is now a central issue in the court challenge.
In an appendix to his decision, Kochan disclosed that he consulted GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 5 about GPTZero’s reliability. He also independently examined some of the sources those tools supplied and found that their descriptions matched the cited material, the Bridge reported.
Kochan concluded that GPTZero’s findings were insufficiently reliable to carry weight in the case. Apollos argues that conducting this research outside the hearings, without notifying the parties, denied her an opportunity to respond.
Her complaint also challenges how Kochan assigned the burden of proof. Massachusetts law requires the school district to establish grounds for dismissal during arbitration. Apollos alleges that Kochan instead improperly required her to disprove the district’s reasons for firing her.
Apollos’ attorneys declined to comment to Boston.com. A district spokesperson told the outlet that the district does not comment on pending litigation. Concord School Committee Chair Sandeep Pisharody also declined to answer the Bridge’s questions.
Boston.com reported that service of the lawsuit is required by Dec. 28, 2026, with an answer due Jan. 26, 2027.
