(TNS) — The Torrington Board of Education is seeking to put new guardrails on artificial intelligence in place for the district for the upcoming school year.
Those guardrails would cover multiple ways that AI can be used in a school setting: maintaining the security of students' personal information, preserving academic integrity, and dictating how and when it is appropriate for district staff to use AI, for starters.
"It's a problem now. Kids are using this now. There's probably folks all around the school ecosystem using it. We will need to set expectations for students and employees," Edward Corey, the board's chair, told CT Insider.
The Torrington school district does not currently have a formal AI policy.
Earlier this month, a group of educators, joined by board members, gathered in the middle school's cafeteria to tackle the topic. During an hourlong discussion, they raised such concerns as students' potential misuse of AI programs, such as ChatGPT, to complete homework assignments and essays, as well as the programs' potential for distraction during instructional time.
Others included security risks and the privacy of confidential information, as well as the possible use of AI to complete faculty performance reviews.
It was the second meeting for the group, whose discussions will inform the board's eventual policy. They will meet again in June.
SAVVY WITH TECHNOLOGY
Some differences of opinion have already emerged, largely centered around when it's age appropriate for educators to teach students about AI.
Some members of the working group said they believe that AI shouldn't be taught in elementary school grades, and should start at the high school level. Others, however, say that because students are already tech-savvy at young ages, waiting until even middle school or high school could be too late.
Regardless of whether students are taught about appropriate technology use, by the time they are in fourth grade, they're already using it, Gavin Craig, an assistant principal at Torrington Intermediate School, said during the group's May 6 meeting.
Craig said he has had "very interesting conversations" with students and their families about their use of technology, in particular AI.
"Families constantly say, 'My child's too young for that. Not my kid. My child would never lie to me.' And yet we have time and time again been surprised by how savvy and how integrated our students' lives are with technology," Craig said.
While he supports teaching AI literacy in high school, Craig said he believes students "are already fully engaged in AI literacy of their own kind, to their own direction and to a very detrimental direction at times, without any sort of guardrails at the four-five-six level as well."
Corey made clear to the group his belief that the school board should adopt a strong policy prohibiting AI use.
"I think a student who writes a paper using ChatGPT should get a zero. They should fail and they shouldn't have an opportunity to make it up," he said during the discussion.
Corey also said he doesn't believe the district should allow its employees to use AI in anything "student or employee facing," including human resources functions and for writing lesson plans.
"I certainly think it should be a discipline problem if somebody were to use it to either grade a student or evaluate a teacher, or to even correct or collate those things because, in the same way that you wouldn't as a teacher want to be evaluated by ChatGPT neither would the students," he said. The only thing he's comfortable with is literacy coursework for Torrington's older students, he said.
"Because I think that makes sense, and I think it would be a denial of the reality to say that we can't be teaching them that this stuff exists at all," Corey said.
The school district's first obligation is keeping children safe, according to Susan Fergusson, the district's assistant superintendent.
While saying she doesn't believe there's a need to include artificial intelligence while teaching the youngest grades, Fergusson said the district has an obligation to teach students about AI as they get into the intermediate grades, because of their exposure to it.
"It's a slippery slope. You know, as a district, I think this board has made great strides in moving back to what is really essential and what are the basics. It's about reading and writing and arithmetic," she said. But at the same time, educators also have to teach children "how to survive in this ever-changing world."
'AWARE OF THE IMPACT AI IS HAVING'
Torrington is navigating its path to a policy at a time when there are no state laws or uniform policies governing K-12 schools' AI use.
But that could change. The state "is actively developing" what Matthew Cerrone, spokesperson for the Connecticut State Department of Education, referred to in an email as comprehensive AI guidance for districts, partnering with the Commission for Educational Technology.
The state's formal AI guidance will be grounded on the findings of its own AI pilot program, collaboration with national experts and other research-based guidance, Cerrone said.
The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, meanwhile, does not track the number of individual school districts that have adopted their own policies. But most local leaders "are aware of the impact AI is having in their communities and their schools," said Jody Ian Goeler, CABE's senior staff associate for policy services.
CABE has since drafted and updated model policies governing AI in schools, anticipating the need to offer guidance to districts, Goeler said.
As Torrington's educators wrestle with the safeguards they want in schools, they said they are not sure what families are doing with AI in their homes.
"I don't know if parents really know the dangers of AI," schools superintendent Michael Wilson told CT Insider. "That becomes a huge issue and concern."
Parents still will have the opportunity to have their own input inform the Torrington school board's discussions around AI, said Corey, who encouraged parents to attend upcoming board meetings or to contact members directly.
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