I Was Drowning in School Tabs — So I Built an AI Tool to Fix It

As a mom to a 3-year-old, I recently started researching schools in Charlotte — and quickly found myself jumping between school websites, maps, academic data, and lots of browser tabs.
That sparked a question: 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗿 for parents?
So I built 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵. 🎓
What started as a simple school finder evolved into three parts:
📍 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 — discover nearby schools on an interactive map and filter by level and type.
📊 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 — compare schools using official NC performance, growth, math, and reading data.
🤖 𝗔𝗜 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿 — ask questions in plain English and get answers grounded in the same school data.
For now, the app is intentionally restricted to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) and relies on official CMS and NC DPI data wherever possible.
What makes this project special to me is that it started with a real question in my own life — how do I make a thoughtful school decision for my daughter? — and became an opportunity to explore how AI can make real-world information easier to navigate.
The goal was to build a practical application that helps parents explore Charlotte-area schools through a streamlined interface instead of manually piecing information together.
🔗 Try it here:
https://lnkd.in/eFz-23e3
I’d love feedback, especially from Charlotte parents: What else would you want to know when researching a school for your child?
A big shout out to Aishwarya Srinivasan, Arvind Narayanamurthy and The Gen Academy for demystifying so many of the buzzwords around AI.
#AI #AgenticAI #GenAI #EdTech #Python #Streamlit #CharlotteNC #BuildInPublic

As a mom to a 3-year-old, I recently started researching schools in Charlotte — and quickly found myself jumping between school websites, maps, academic data, and lots of browser tabs.

That sparked a question: Could I use AI to make this process simpler for parents?

So I built Charlotte School Search. 🎓

What started as a simple school finder evolved into three parts:

📍 Find Schools — discover nearby schools on an interactive map, filterable by level and type.
📊 Compare Schools — compare schools using official NC DPI performance, growth, math, and reading data.
🤖 AI School Advisor — ask questions in plain English and get answers grounded in that same school data.

For now, the app is intentionally scoped to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) and relies on official CMS and NC DPI data wherever possible.

This started with a real question in my own life — how do I make a thoughtful school decision for my daughter? — and became a chance to explore how AI can make real-world information easier to navigate.

Try it here: [insert corrected link]

I'd love feedback, especially from Charlotte parents: what else would you want to know when researching a school for your child?

Thanks to [names] for demystifying so many of the AI buzzwords along the way.

#AI #AgenticAI #GenAI #EdTech #Python #Streamlit #CharlotteNC #BuildInPublic