Board reviews updated Students' Rights, Responsibilities and Code of Conduct, adds AI and student-records guidance
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Summary
CCPS presented a revised Code of Conduct that integrates COMAR requirements, clarifies discipline procedures for students with disabilities, adds guidance on artificial intelligence use and updates FERPA-related language. The board accepted the draft for the required 30-day review period.
Cecilia Lewis, CCPS director of Student Services, presented a proposed update to the district's Students' Rights, Responsibilities and Code of Conduct and asked the board to post the red-lined draft for the 30-day comment period required by state regulation.
Lewis told the board the revision aligns with Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) guidance and COMAR requirements (she cited COMAR 13A.08.01.10 and 13A.08.11) and emphasized the document's role in ensuring due process, reduced reliance on zero-tolerance discipline and restoration-based approaches. The draft clarifies timelines and procedures for suspensions and expulsions, including detailed requirements for students with disabilities and the manifestation-review process tied to IEP teams.
New or notable changes in the draft reported to the board include:
- Artificial intelligence: a new section establishes acceptable educational AI use, academic-integrity expectations and prohibitions on unauthorized or harmful AI-generated content (the draft expands the definition of academic dishonesty to include unauthorized use of AI-generated materials and includes AI-assisted harassment in bullying definitions).
- Student records/FERPA: the code clarifies the definition of "school official" consistent with federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act guidance and explains when school officials may access student records.
- Technology and referrals: a new section frames acceptable computer-system use, that staff must protect personal information and avoid plagiarism or AI misuse, and signals districtwide rollout of an electronic referral system. Board members asked for clarification about a "not escalate" button in the referral system; Lewis said the button does not delete referrals and that the district will provide additional guidance on how the button and referral data will be tracked and reported.
Lewis also reviewed discipline-related provisions tied to MSDE and federal special-education rules, including the three specific conditions that permit a student with a disability to be removed more than ten school days in a school year (non-manifestation determination; superintendent-determined imminent threat of serious harm; exhaustion of interventions and chronic extreme disruption) and the statutory limits on suspending or expelling pre-K through second-grade students.
Board members asked several technical questions about the electronic referral data, FERPA definitions and student-support options such as health-department vaping interventions; Lewis and staff said they would circulate clarifying guidance and a teacher/administrator guide for the electronic-referral system early next week. The board did not vote on the code; the draft will be posted for the 30-day public review required by COMAR.
