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Weston district details AI advisory work: policy, guiding principles and student-privacy limits on ChatGPT
Summary
District leaders told the curriculum subcommittee they adopted an AI policy in June 2024, formed an AI advisory committee to develop guiding principles and professional development, and are vetting education-focused AI products; the district’s IT director said ChatGPT is not compliant with Connecticut student-privacy law while a Google Gemini agreement was negotiated at the state level.
Weston Public Schools leaders gave the curriculum subcommittee a comprehensive update on Jan. 7 about the district’s AI advisory committee, policy work and the review of classroom-oriented AI tools.
The district adopted an AI policy in June 2024 to set expectations for ethical, responsible use and alignment with academic integrity and student-privacy protections. Tina told members the policy was written to allow flexibility as technology evolves and that an AI advisory committee — with teachers, library media specialists, administrators, IT staff and students — was created to develop guiding principles and review tools.
Dan DeVito, the district director of IT, told the group the committee has tested multiple education products and is prioritizing tools that comply with Connecticut student-privacy law (Public Act 16-187). He stated that ChatGPT is not compliant with that law and that the state negotiated an agreement allowing Google Gemini to be used with district accounts in a way that does not let user inputs be used to retrain the model.
Dan described four education-focused products under active evaluation and said pilot work has been done by teachers in the committee. Tina and Dan emphasized professional development (including a March 27 full-day PD offering with AI-focused sessions), building teacher confidence and carefully pacing any procurement decisions to ensure instructional value and fiscal responsibility.
Committee members raised FERPA and student-data concerns; Dan outlined that Connecticut’s student-privacy law requires districts to enter specific data-protection agreements with vendors and that the district communicates approved platforms and blocks noncompliant products. The subcommittee was asked to continue sharing the district’s approach when discussing AI with community members.
