Jim Wolf, director of Information Services, and members of the district AI task force told the board U‑46 was invited to join an OpenAI early‑access program that provides up to 13 months of ChatGPT Edu access to U‑46 staff at no cost.

The administration described a recommended pilot that would activate up to 1,000 licenses across a cross‑section of instructional and operational staff who opt in and complete a required AI course in the district Canvas system. The district would retain up to 4,500 licenses from the OpenAI offer but would activate additional seats only after reviewing pilot feedback and use data.

"After piloting both ChatGPT Edu and Google Gemini Advance, the task force recommended ChatGPT Edu for its educational value, ease of use, and strong data privacy protections," Deputy Superintendent Lola Mysdorovic said. The administration said all district data would remain in the district environment and would not be used to train OpenAI's public models.

Trustees asked detailed questions about privacy and data access. One trustee asked whether OpenAI staff could view district data; administration said OpenAI "can view it, but they don't have the ability to use our data" to train models and that contractual assurances and privacy reviews by legal staff had been completed. Trustees also asked how the district would prevent staff from entering personally identifiable information (PII) into the model; staff said access requires completion of an AI 1101 Canvas course and agreement to usage guidelines, and that progressive discipline policies would apply to violations.

Board members asked whether district administrators could audit the content entered and whether data could be removed if the district opted not to continue after the free access period. Staff said the district would own and be able to access the data and could remove it from the provider's systems, and they agreed audits or usage monitoring could be implemented.

Administration recommended acceptance of the early‑access offer and authorization to implement a staff pilot; the board did not take an immediate procurement vote during the meeting, as the presentation focused on the program overview and pilot design.

Ending: Staff said the pilot would include training, an opt‑in process, use agreements, feedback collection and a three‑month pilot evaluation prior to any scaling decision.