The Morton 709 Board of Education reviewed changes to five policies Thursday tied to a new state “ESS” law and to use of AI tools in district systems. Superintendent Joe told the board the new law "requires school districts to have policies, procedures, and resources in place to ensure that students who are parents, expectant parents, or victims of domestic or other violence are provided with the support services necessary, enabled them to meet state educational standards, and successfully attain a school diploma."

The board’s policy committee — Christiana and Diane — recommended four policies that reference the new ESS policy (listed in the packet as policy 7255 and linked to board policies 5100, 6150 and 7250) be placed on the consent agenda for approval, and recommended adding language about AI to the district’s access-to-electronic-networks policy. "There's not much information regarding the training requirement," Superintendent Joe said, referring to the law’s eight-hour training requirement for a building-level “resource person” and a complaint resolver. He said training materials have not yet been developed and that he had consulted the board attorney, who suggested approving the policies now and resolving outstanding details in later press updates.

Diane said the committee felt the board should emphasize staff guidance about ethical use of AI. "We really felt like our district needed our teachers to know when was appropriate and ethical," she said, adding that the administration would draft an administrative procedure assigning staff responsibilities and training for staff use of AI tools. The committee recommended that student-facing AI expectations be included in the student handbook and that administrators — not the board — manage the specific administrative procedures because APs can be updated without board action.

Board members were told the policy committee will revisit any clarifications or additional guidance that appear in future state or legal updates and bring recommended changes back to the board for review or consent approval.