Board holds first reading of draft AI policy, urges guardrails for classroom use

The Berlin Central School District Board of Education held a first reading Tuesday of a draft artificial intelligence policy (policy 8636), with trustees and staff stressing the need for clear guardrails for classroom and staff use.

At the meeting the policy sponsor said the draft came from a NISPA model and had been reviewed by the district's attorney; it will proceed through the policy committee before returning to the full board for additional readings. "This is part of AI that, you know, the lines between fact depiction or sometimes get blurred with AI," said the superintendent, urging careful language and safeguards.

Board members said the district has no formal AI rules yet and that the goal is to adopt measured limits while allowing teachers and students safe classroom use. The policy committee — identified in discussion as including district staff and board members — recommended the draft go forward for a first reading and emphasized that changes appearing as redlines or editorial notes would be cleaned up in subsequent drafts.

Trustees asked that a clean ("black") version be provided for clarity and invited feedback from other board members by e-mail or at the next meeting so the committee can digest comments before the next reading. The board indicated the policy will generally require at least two more meetings before adoption. No formal adoption vote occurred; this meeting recorded only the first reading.

Next steps: board members and the public may submit comments to the policy committee ahead of the next scheduled board meeting; the district will circulate an updated draft with attorney edits removed for readability.