District unveils draft AI policy; board cautions against overreliance on AI‑detection tools

District staff presented a draft administrative policy on artificial intelligence (IKJ‑AP) and asked the board to solicit stakeholder feedback before finalizing the guidance.

Superintendent Steven Cook said the policy will be broader than OSBA sample language and is intended to provide guidance for classroom practice, administrative uses and other district operations. The draft calls for teachers to establish expectations about permissible AI use and includes a line that “teachers shall require proactive disclosure of AI use rather than rely on AI detection methods for determining authenticity of student work.”

Board members asked whether teachers would still be allowed to use AI‑detection tools; one director worried the draft could preclude teacher access to detection resources. The district’s technology representative stressed the concern that commercial AI‑detection tools can misclassify text produced by English‑language learners because the detectors often rely on grammatical and structural cues that mirror language‑learning patterns. The tech staff said the policy cautions against sole reliance on automated detectors and requires human review.

Cook and other staff recommended pairing policy with teacher training on assignment design (progressive submission of drafts, in‑class composition, structured checkpoints) and clear classroom rules that require students to disclose AI use when allowed. They also noted a broader set of institutional uses for AI (hiring, screening and operational tools) that the policy seeks to address.

Administrators said the draft will be circulated for public comment and stakeholder feedback to refine language and training supports; no policy vote was taken at the March 11 meeting.