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District outlines student-data vetting and cautious approach to classroom AI
Summary
Oak Harbor staff described an application-vetting process tied to state and national agreements, reported about 25 app requests this year with around 10–15 approvals, and said student access to AI is restricted while staff may use tracked tools (Gemini, NotebookLM) because AI prompts/responses can become public records.
Presenters told the board the district maintains a student-data privacy process that evaluates new applications before adoption. Tyler said the district currently counts about 500 applications in use; around 25 requests went through the formal vetting process this year with roughly 10–15 approved and about 10 denied for reasons including data-sharing concerns or replacement of existing solutions.
Tyler emphasized the district relies on national- and state-level agreements such as the Student Data Privacy Consortium to understand how vendor data are used and how data are disposed of when tools are retired. "It's not just about the data and how it's being used currently, it's also how it gets disposed of," Tyler said.
On artificial intelligence, Tyler said staff generally have access to Google Gemini and NotebookLM and that teachers can access ChatGPT, but the district is discouraging unrestricted use because AI prompts and outputs can be subject to public-record requests. For that reason, the district plans to prioritize AI tools that can be tracked and are covered by district data agreements; students currently do not have broad access to AI tools in classrooms.
The board asked for clarification on the vetting and approval process; staff described the multi-stage vetting (teaching & learning and IS review) and said denials have been issued when privacy or redundancy concerns exist. No formal policy vote on AI or app approval was taken at this meeting.
