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District 86 updates AI guidance and weighs cautious NVIDIA pilot for high‑school curriculum
Summary
The district’s AI task force updated responsible-use guidance for students and staff and proposed a small pilot with NVIDIA/StudyFetch/Honen to offer Deep Learning Institute curriculum and certifications to selected students and teachers; administration emphasized data-privacy safeguards and that no student data will be shared without executed agreements.
Superintendent Dr. Chip Pettit told the board June 25 that D86 completed an updated AI guidance handbook after a task-force review of policy, student use, and data governance. The task force included administrators, teachers, students and parents and developed a two‑track approach that defines when AI is prohibited for assignments and when it may be AI‑assisted with teacher direction.
Principals and CIO Michael Swanson described a conservative, phased pilot with NVIDIA (using StudyFetch/Honen) that would provide access to the Deep Learning Institute curriculum and industry‑aligned modules for a small cohort of students (technology internship classes, related clubs) and a group of volunteer teachers. The pilot aims to offer certifications and structured learning rather than open-ended chat‑AI tools.
Administration stressed legal and privacy requirements. Swanson said any vendor platform that interacts with student data must sign a district data‑privacy agreement in line with Illinois SOPA (Student Online Personal Protection Act) and the district will not proceed without a fully executed agreement that prohibits selling student data or using it for non‑educational profiling. Pettit said the current understanding is that NVIDIA offered pilot access at no cost to the district, but the district will not begin data access or roll‑out until the legal and security review is complete.
Board members asked for clarity on pilot scope, sample size and success measures. Principal Bill Walsh described success metrics: logins, course completions, certifications earned, and qualitative feedback from teachers and students. Trustees requested that any pilot include clear success criteria, communications for parents, and opt‑in/opt‑out expectations for families and that administration publish an accessible summary of vendor contracts and privacy terms when available.
Ending: Administration will continue the technical, legal and procurement review and will return to the board with recommended pilot participants, a data‑security agreement and specific evaluation metrics before any student‑level deployment.
