Artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated many aspects of everyday life, including common software tools used in school district operations. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is a specialized subset of AI that can quickly create human-like content based on the data on which it was trained. The District recognizes that the widespread availability of GenAI presents both challenges and opportunities for student learning and District operations.

Scope and Application

This policy applies to all District students, personnel, volunteers, and contractors. It integrates with, and complements, existing policies on data privacy, acceptable use, and student conduct. This policy is intended to provide clear guidelines on the use of AI within the District's schools, ensuring that its application supports the District's educational goals and adheres to its privacy and security standards.

Risks and Limitations

The use of GenAI comes with risks and limitations, including, but not limited to the following:

GenAI can generate plausible, but false or inaccurate, information, a phenomenon known as a hallucination/confabulation.

GenAI tools learn from data created by people, which means any biases, prejudices, and stereotypes in that data can be reflected in the outputs produced by GenAI. For example, GenAI has been found to generate images and text that reinforce existing gender and racial biases. It is essential to recognize that these biases exist and to critically assess the outputs of GenAI tools to prevent the perpetuation of stereotypes, unfair treatment, inequality, and exclusion.

GenAI can also suffer from response bias, where AI generates answers tailored to what it predicts the user wants to hear based on its training data or fine-tuning by the user.

GenAI may pose copyright issues as it may have used copyrighted material within its training data without explicit permission from the copyright holders. As a result, there are unsettled legal questions about the ownership and copyright status of GenAI's outputs, which can closely mimic or incorporate elements of existing copyrighted works.

The development and use of GenAI requires significant computational resources which can result in high energy consumption and water usage for data center cooling.

Guidelines

The District's existing policies on computer usage and internet safety, privacy and security of student data, and the District's Code of Conduct apply to student use of GenAI. Additionally, the following guidelines are in place:

1.The Board supports including the principles of responsible and effective use of GenAI in the curriculum as well as in life outside of school.

2.Students are responsible for their own work, any errors it may contain and must cite the sources they use as required by the classroom teacher.

3.The Board respects the professional capacity of the instructional staff to assign work that is less susceptible to student use of GenAI to circumvent learning, and to allow for multiple methods for students to demonstrate competence and understanding.

4.Instructional staff must be clear about their expectations for student use of GenAI in assignments. Staff who suspect a student has not done an assignment on their own can request that the student demonstrate their knowledge of the material in other ways, consistent with existing instructional practices.

5.To mitigate the environmental impacts of GenAI, the district encourages users to utilize AI tools intentionally and judiciously to minimize their environmental footprint.

Student Use

The District acknowledges that many students are able to access GenAI outside of school and may be able to use GenAI to complete school assignments. Student use of GenAI is permitted only when it aligns with the specific expectations established in the course syllabus, individual assignment instructions, or direct teacher guidance. Additionally, not all students are able or willing to do so and should not be penalized for not using GenAI.

Any student use of GenAI in schools, on school networks or computers, or for school purposes must be compliant with Education Law §2-d and its regulations, particularly whenever student Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is disclosed, including through third-party agreements where applicable. Staff must consult with the District’s Data Protection Officer to determine compliance with Education Law §2-d. A list of platforms that are approved for use in school with students will be made available to staff.

Staff must also be mindful that some GenAI tools may have age restrictions, require parental consent, or involve costs. Where a student is unable to access a specific tool for these reasons, an appropriate alternative shall be provided to ensure equitable participation.

Student use of GenAI that conflicts with teacher expectations, this policy, or the District’s Code of Conduct may result in investigation and/or disciplinary action consistent with the Code of Conduct.

Employee Use

District personnel may utilize GenAI in accordance with this policy. However, regardless of the tools used to enhance their work, personnel are ultimately responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all work they produce. AI is intended to support, not replace, an employee's responsibility for their own work.

Training, Awareness, and Support

The District will provide training, awareness, and support to teachers in navigating the evolving use of GenAI in the classroom. This may include professional learning opportunities, workshops, and resources to enhance teachers' proficiency and confidence in using GenAI to enrich student learning. The goal is to equip teachers with the knowledge to critically assess GenAI technologies and guide students in understanding the complexities associated with these tools. Additionally, the District may extend training, awareness, and support regarding GenAI to other District personnel who may benefit from understanding and utilizing GenAI in their roles.

Requirements

Because any information used as input in a GenAI may be used by that system and potentially made available to other users of the system, District users must not input any sensitive, copyrighted, proprietary, or confidential District information, consistent with applicable state and federal laws and District policies, including but not limited to the following:

1. Student information: anything that would be protected by FERPA or Education Law §2-d.

2. Staff information: anything that would be protected by Education Law §2-d, or other confidential personnel information.

3. School district information: anything that would be withheld from a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.

Additionally, users of GenAI must exercise caution before inputting any work created by District students or employees. When using GenAI for school purposes, users must avoid violating copyright protections.

All use of GenAI must comply with applicable laws, regulations, and District policies, including those governing data privacy, acceptable use, and student conduct.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, as amended, 20 USC 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99 Public Officers Law §84 et seq. (Freedom of Information Law) Education Law §2-d 8 NYCRR Part 121