Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Artificial Intelligence topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Haverford Township SD outlines AI plan, staff training and 'traffic-light' protocol for student use
Summary
District technology leaders told the school board they have formed an AI working group, delivered an "AI 101" training to faculty across seven schools, and proposed an optional traffic-light framework (red/yellow/green) to guide how teachers permit student use of generative AI on assignments.
Rob Anderson, Haverford Township School District’s director of technology, and Meredith Hearn, the district’s technology integration coordinator, presented the results of a newly formed AI working group during the board’s Feb. 6 meeting.
The working group outlined a mission to "leverage this emerging technology for our students and staff" while keeping educators central to instruction, Anderson said. Hearn described a three-part approach that includes staff training, ongoing auditing and student lessons about the ethical use of AI.
The presentation said the district has completed an "AI 101" training for faculty at all seven schools this week and is rolling out a voluntary classroom framework the group calls a traffic-light protocol. Under that model, teachers can label assignments red (no AI), yellow (AI may assist the process but not produce the final product), or green (limited AI content creation allowed), and students who use allowed AI must submit a disclosure of which tools they used and how.
"AI will enhance but not replace human-centered education; the teacher will always be the heart of the classroom," Hearn said. She added the district will require human oversight at every stage of AI use and is designing follow-up instruction on bias, ethics and environmental impact.
Presenters also said the district will not endorse AI plagiarism-detection tools at this time, citing evidence that some detectors produce false positives—particularly for multilingual and neurodivergent students. "Until we have a tool that we can guarantee is 100% effective and that will not falsely identify certain populations of our students we will not be endorsing one," Hearn said.
Board members asked whether the district provides AI chat tools to the community and whether students already use AI for coursework. Anderson and Hearn said district devices remain blocked for students but that staff had been allowed to experiment with AI tools; students sometimes use personal devices to seek explanations or generate content outside the district's systems. A student representative said AI has been used variably across subjects, with teachers in art and some literature assignments permitting AI for non-text elements while math students sometimes consult AI for explanatory help when a teacher is not available.
The presenters said the district plans further faculty "flex" trainings this spring and summer on specific tools, intends to consider endorsing a small set of vetted tools over time, and anticipates returning the instructional-technology plan to the board for committee review next month.
Next steps noted in the presentation include finishing the district instructional-technology plan later in February, sharing it with the Curriculum & Pupil Services Committee on March 13, and then moving into implementation phases with metrics and auditing processes.
