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Blue Ridge board hears AI literacy briefing; district plans fall policy and staff development
Summary
District staff presented an overview of artificial intelligence in K–12 education, outlining risks (plagiarism, bias, privacy), suggested local-use practices, and a plan to present a formal policy in the fall. The board approved a staff member's travel to a paid professional conference to gather additional strategies.
District staff briefed the Blue Ridge Unified School District governing board on Jan. 14 about the district’s work to prepare teachers and students for artificial intelligence in education and the next steps toward a formal policy.
Courtney Hoffmeyer, a district staff member who led the presentation, told the board the district is emphasizing AI literacy — teaching students to critically evaluate AI-generated information, recognize bias and misinformation, and learn ethical uses of generative tools. "AI literacy is a little bit different because it does talk a little bit more about critically evaluating different platforms and modes of information that they're getting," Hoffmeyer said.
Superintendent Dr. Wright and staff described a twofold approach: training teachers to incorporate AI safely into lessons and developing district-wide practices that protect student privacy. Dr. Wright said the district plans to present a recommended policy and practices in the fall after additional stakeholder work and that the proposed language aligns with the district’s existing Acceptable Use Policy.
Staff discussed technical choices intended to limit data exposure. Nathan, an IT staff member, explained that newer local processors — neural processing units or MPUs — can run AI tasks on-device rather than sending data to external servers, which can reduce privacy risk. "The new chips are actually called MPUs or neural processing units — they just process the AI stuff onboard instead of sending it out," he said.
Board members and staff also discussed limitations of detection tools. Dr. Wright said automated plagiarism- or AI-detection tools currently operate with low reliability: "There's not even software out there that can reliably screen and say, hey, this has been lifted, and this is not original work. It operates at about 40% reliability." The district plans to emphasize prevention and instruction — teaching students how to use AI ethically — over solely relying on detection.
Courtney Hoffmeyer has been approved to attend a national education-technology convening in Chicago; staff said the conference costs will be covered by the International Society for Technology in Education and an associated professional organization, not the district. The board noted the district will continue to monitor the technology, its costs, environmental impacts and equity implications such as differential home access.
District staff said a formal policy and recommended classroom practices are planned by September or October, with adjustments likely as tools and guidance evolve.
