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Teacher reports dozens of suspected AI-assisted essays in senior capstone; calls for district review
Summary
A Hillsboro High teacher told the board he identified 77 suspected violations of the district’s AI policy in a 280-student senior capstone assignment and asked the administration to pause and investigate how district-provided tools are being used.
A Hillsboro High School teacher urged the board on June 22 to investigate what he called systemic use of generative AI in a senior capstone assignment. In public comment, teacher Bob Fencer described a multi-week review of work submitted for a capstone essay given to three sections (about 280 students) and said his investigation identified 77 suspected violations of the district’s AI policy.
Fencer said investigating the cases required roughly 60 hours of work and a mix of forensic approaches: he reviewed document histories, third‑party similarity reports, reconstructed drafting keystrokes and—in some cases—requested external chat logs where students had used commercial tools. He said much suspected activity occurred on district Chromebooks and via tools the district makes available, naming Microsoft Copilot and third‑party tools such as Notebook LM as examples.
"When suspected violations exceed our capacity to investigate them, we are no longer dealing with isolated incidents. We are dealing with a systemic problem," Fencer told the board. He urged the administration to pause use of the assignment and conduct a district-wide review of how AI tools are available and used in school settings, and he provided the board with a 24‑page report documenting his findings.
Administrators and board members responded in public comment discussion that the issue should be examined by the education committee and by the technology department; several board members requested the teacher’s report be shared with appropriate staff and committee members to develop an actionable district response, including updated protocols for investigations and communications to teachers, students and families.
Ending: The teacher’s report and public comment prompted board members to ask administration to coordinate a committee-level review with technology staff and to bring recommendations for policy adjustments and investigation capacity to a future education committee meeting.
