The Osceola County School District is taking steps to keep up with the everchanging world of artificial intelligence. At a workshop last week, the School Board discussed the use and abuse of AI by students—and the consequences of such actions.
Commonly used generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and others have become widely accessible in price and availability in the past few years and are now frequently integrated into daily software. AI can be used to solve problems, compose documents, answer questions, and create images … and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
And while AI itself may not be problematic, some uses of it in the school setting certainly can be. At the workshop, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Dr. Gabriel Berrio shared new language that has been added to the 2026-27 Student Code of Conduct Handbook regarding the use of AI.
“We added language to explain that AI tools or applications may not be used to generate answers on district, state, or national standardized assessments,” Berrio said. “We wanted to add additional emphasis to it, just because there’s so much more accessibility to artificial intelligence and electronic devices.”
The board also addressed the creation of “deepfakes” by using AI.
“Taking somebody’s voice and putting it into some sort of AI to say something that isn’t accurate absolutely puts you in violation of [the district’s harassment] policy,” Superintendent Dr. Mark Shanoff said.
That also includes creating pictures or using pictures to harass someone, even if the picture is fake but still represents a person, Berrio added.
And it isn’t just creators of that content that are in violation. School Board Attorney Sarah Koren noted, “It’s not [just] sharing it electronically. If you receive it from someone else and you show your friends on your phone … that can also trigger this Level 4 (consequence, representing the highest level of rule infraction),” she said. “The only safe way, if a student receives an inappropriate image, to not get wound up into this is to share it with absolutely no one or to report it immediately to administration.”
Berrio agreed, saying that there have been examples of students who have received AI-generated pictures or texts that are harassing in nature and have reported it to school administration. Students who report in that manner qualify under safe harbor protection as long as they have not shared it or shown it to anyone else.
“At the end of the day, these tools are not a joke,” Shanoff said. “And it only takes one bad decision or one bad joke for you not to be able to attend our schools anymore.”
Addressing AI issues in the Student Code of Conduct is just one step the board is taking. In an effort to be proactive, additional trainings have been provided to administrators and deans, “Know the law” posters are being created, and a social media campaign to raise awareness among students is being considered.
“The more we message it in different ways, the more— hopefully—the message will get across to students,” Berrio said.
These local efforts are part of a bigger push happening across Florida. The Florida Department of Education has helped create the Florida K-12 AI Education Task Force, which brings together educators, school leaders, and experts from across the state. The group includes people from dozens of school districts, colleges, and industry partners —around 250 members in all.
The task force is working on practical guidance and resources for schools. They have been developing an AI toolkit for districts to use, and they are examining topics like how to teach students about AI, how to protect student privacy, how to use AI ethically in the classroom and how to train teachers.
The goal is not to restrict all use of AI in the classroom, but to help schools make the most of AI while keeping students safe.
Thomas Kennedy, a Citrus County School Board member and member of the Florida K-12 AI Education Task Force, summed up the challenge facing schools.
“Are we educating students for the world that we’ve come from,” he asked. “Or are we educating them for the world that they must be successful in?”