Molalla River SD 35 staff present draft AI policy; board discusses classroom use, literacy and risks
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Summary
District staff presented a draft artificial-intelligence policy for review by the policy committee; board members discussed classroom uses, student AI literacy, academic integrity, cyberbullying and teacher-led rules for acceptable uses.
District staff presented a draft artificial-intelligence policy during the Molalla River SD 35 work session and the board discussed how the district should manage classroom use, teacher expectations and student AI literacy.
Mr. Chris Sock, who led the presentation, told the board that the proposed policy will cover staff and student use and that the district plans to bring a draft to the policy committee for review next month. "One of the things I wanted to talk about with y'all is go over what is AI, what can it do, what can't it do, why are we looking at this at school," Sock said as he explained differences between predictive and generative AI and described risks such as bias, hallucinations and privacy concerns.
Why it matters: Board members emphasized that classrooms will need clear, teacher-directed rules on whether and how students may use AI. Several board members said the district should focus on AI literacy and integrating training so students understand limitations, citation and verification of sources; others raised concerns about AI-facilitated cheating, deepfakes and cyberbullying.
Discussion highlights: Sock described how AI can support personalized learning, assist with lesson planning, and provide adaptive tutoring, but he also warned that AI can "make things up" ("hallucinations") and reflect biases present in its training data. Board members said teachers should determine acceptable uses for assignments and that administrators should develop processes for monitoring and appeals when academic integrity is in question. One board member argued that classroom-level sanctions and teacher oversight should guide implementation rather than the board setting detailed classroom rules.
Resources and next steps: Sock and other speakers pointed board members to online resources for AI literacy and safety; the presentation mentioned commonsense.org as a starting resource for curriculum and student guidance. The board directed staff to draft a policy framework that establishes high-level expectations and to provide training and administrative regulation templates for implementation by school leaders and teachers.
No formal policy vote occurred at the meeting; staff will bring a draft policy to the policy committee in the coming month for review and potential adoption procedures.
