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Walpole School Committee approves updated Acceptable Use Policy, directs staff to refine AI guidance
Summary
The Walpole School Committee voted 6-0 to adopt a rewritten Acceptable Use Policy that combines staff and student rules, clarifies off‑site cloud access and data-retention obligations, and leaves detailed AI guidance to a forthcoming set of recommendations.
The Walpole School Committee on June 12 approved a revised Acceptable Use Policy clarifying how district technology, cloud accounts and data are governed and asking staff to develop more specific guidance on artificial‑intelligence use.
Committee members voted unanimously, 6-0, to adopt the updated policy after a presentation from district staff describing reorganized language, a unified student-and-staff policy, and new references to data retention and cybersecurity practices.
The presenter said the previous policy dated to 2010 and did not reflect Walpole’s 1:1 device program, Google Workspace, cloud services or recent AI tools. The new draft reorganizes sections to make responsibilities and prohibited behaviors easier to find, explicitly covers district cloud accounts and remote use of district systems, and updates language about data storage and retention “according to the state and federal retention policy requirements.” The policy adds a line that users must follow copyright and plagiarism rules and “appropriate academic and professional use of AI tools,” while leaving detailed AI rules to a separate set of recommendations.
Committee members praised the rewrite’s clarity and asked where staff and families should look for more prescriptive AI rules. The presenter said the rewrite was intentionally a first step: the district will develop and pilot more detailed AI recommendations for buildings and classrooms and provide staff training before issuing formal classroom-level guidance.
The policy presentation also described an existing vendor screening workflow using a Student Data Privacy Alliance platform to streamline data‑privacy agreements with software vendors.
The committee approved the policy for inclusion in the student handbook and directed staff to continue work on AI recommendations and staff training.
The motion to approve the proposed policy was made by Carrie (school committee member), seconded by Kristen (school committee member), and adopted 6-0-0.
The policy text included the major structural changes described at the June 12 meeting; the committee packet contained the marked draft with highlighted changes.
