Staff Procedures

AI must be used in compliance with District policies and applicable laws and regulations regarding data security and privacy. Appropriate AI use should be guided by the specific parameters and objectives defined for an activity.¹ Below are some examples of prohibited uses and risks associated with AI tools as well as measures to mitigate the associated risks.

Specific Authorized Uses

• Research Assistance: Tools that efficiently search and gather academically relevant information.

• Data Analysis: Tools that assist in interpreting and analyzing large datasets, particularly useful for scientific or social research.

• Language Translation: Tools that help translate text or spoken language into different languages, aiding in language learning or the study of foreign texts.
• Writing Assistance: Tools that offer grammar checks, spelling corrections, and suggestions for improving writing quality.
• Accessibility: Tools designed to make educational content accessible to students with disabilities, such as text-to-speech or sign language translation software.
• Simulation and Modeling: Tools that allow for the virtual simulation of real-world scenarios or complex systems for educational exploration.
• Content Personalization: Tools that adapt educational content based on individual student performance and learning styles.
• Peer Review and Collaboration: Tools that facilitate structured peer reviews and collaborative learning environments.

Teacher Support

• Societal Bias: AI tools trained on human data will inherently reflect societal biases in the data. Risks include reinforcing stereotypes, recommending inappropriate educational interventions, or making discriminatory evaluations, such as falsely reporting plagiarism by non-native English speakers. Staff and students will be taught to understand the origin and implications of societal bias in AI, AI tools will be evaluated for the diversity of their training data and transparency, and humans will review all AI-generated outputs before use. 

• Diminishing student and teacher agency and accountability: While generative AI presents useful assistance to amplify teachers' capabilities and reduce teacher workload, these technologies will not be used to supplant the role of human educators in instructing and nurturing students. The core practices of teaching, mentoring, assessing, and inspiring learners will remain the teacher's responsibility in the classroom. AI is a tool to augment human judgment, not replace it. Teachers and staff must review and critically reflect on all AI-generated content before use, thereby keeping “humans in the loop.”²
• Privacy concerns: AI tools will not be used to monitor classrooms for accountability purposes, such as analyzing teacher-student interactions or tracking teacher movements, which can infringe on students’ and teachers' privacy rights and create a surveillance culture. Student privacy or lead to unauthorized data collection.

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Integrity

As AI technologies become more prevalent in the educational environment, the District recognizes the need for specific governance to ensure that staff use these tools responsibly.

This procedure is linked with Board Policy 524: Internet, Technology, and Cell Phone Acceptable Use.

AI technologies can create challenges such as digital impersonation, content manipulation (e.g., deepfakes), and data privacy concerns. These technologies include and are not limited to:

• Machine Learning focuses on algorithmic models that learn patterns from data. Ex. Netflix and Amazon predictions.
• Deep Learning is an AI method inspired by the human brain that uses large quantities of data with very little human input, a subset of machine learning that uses neural networks to learn and model complex data patterns. Ex. Autonomous vehicles, Siri and Alexa.
• Natural Language Processing, or NLP allows computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language. Ex. Humanized chatbots and translation services.
• Large Language Models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, are a specific application of machine learning within the NLP domain, designed to handle and generate natural language text.

Evolving Technology Consideration

The field of AI/NLP is rapidly evolving. The district reserves the right to update this list of authorized uses and will provide guidance and training to staff to adapt to new educational applications of AI/NLP tools.

Prohibited Uses

Staff are strictly prohibited from using AI technologies to:

• Create or distribute false or misleading content.

• Impersonate others. This includes what is referred to as deepfakes or synthetic media where a person’s likeness is digitally altered or replaced using advanced AI techniques.
• Manipulate academic or personal records.
• Share or expose any personally identifiable information (PII), including student, staff, or district information, to individuals who do not have explicit authorization or the necessary permissions to access such data.

Ethical Standards and Compliance

• Staff must adhere to the highest ethical standards in the use of AI.

• Compliance with all existing district policies and procedures related to AI governance is mandatory.

Training and Resources

The District intends to provide ongoing training and resources to:

• Support staff in becoming knowledgeable about the potential impacts of AI technologies.
• Address the ethical considerations necessary for their responsible use.

Enforcement

• Adherence to Board Policy
  All district staff are expected to comply with Board policy regarding the use of District digital tools and systems, including the use of artificial intelligence This procedure is linked with Board Policy 524: Internet, Technology, and Cell Phone Acceptable Use Policy.
• Administrative Oversight
  Administrators are responsible for ensuring compliance and addressing violations per district policies and procedures. By adhering to these guidelines, the District aims to foster a culture of ethical and responsible AI use among staff, ensuring a safe and trustworthy educational environment.
• School Management and Operations
  • Compromising Privacy: The education system will not use AI in ways that compromise teacher or student privacy or lead to unauthorized data collection, as this violates privacy laws and our system’s ethical principles. See the Security, Privacy, and Safety section below for more information.
  • Noncompliance with Existing Policies: We will evaluate AI tools for compliance with all relevant policies and regulations, such as privacy laws and ethical principles. AI tools will be required to detail if/how personal information is used to ensure that personal data remains confidential and isn't misused.

Special Consideration: Advancing Academic Integrity

While it is necessary to address plagiarism and other risks to academic integrity, we will use AI to advance the fundamental values of academic integrity - honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.⁴

• AI tools may allow users to quickly cross-reference information and claims, though they must still be critical of the output.
• Advanced AI tools can increase fairness by identifying and minimizing biases in grading and assessments.
• AI can adapt materials for students with different learning needs, showing respect for individual differences.

Additional Recommendations for Advancing Academic Integrity

• Teachers might allow the limited use of generative AI on specific assignments or parts of assignments and articulate why they do not allow its use in other assignments.
• Teachers will not solely use technologies that purport to identify the use of generative AI to detect cheating and plagiarism, as their accuracy is questionable.
• Use of an AI system must be disclosed and explained, including through appropriate citation. As part of the disclosure, students may choose to cite their use of an AI system using one of the following resources: 
  • MLA Style - Generative AI
  • APA Style - ChatGPT
  • Chicago Style - Generative AI
• Students and teachers will continue to uphold the standards of the Academic Integrity Policy. Using AI to generate answers or complete assignments without proper citation or passing of AI-generated content as one’s own is considered plagiarism.