KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

The Tullahoma City Schools Board of Education approved of a brand new policy that addresses the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) in the school district.

The new policy was presented to the school board during its recent meeting, where it was introduced by Director of Schools Dr. Catherine Stephens.

Stephens said that policy 4.214 required the Director of Schools to provide a report regarding how the policy will be enforced and the report must be approved by the school board annually. It will be presented to the board each June in preparation for the upcoming school year.

She added given the policy itself was approved earlier, the board was presented with the report to demonstrate how TCS was enforcing the AI policy for the 2024-2025 school year.

“Moving forward, after the annual June report and approval I will provide to the Department of Education this board approved report by July 1 as required,” Stephens said.

According to the policy presented to the board, Policy 4.214 states that AI programs defined by state law may be sued by staff and students in the district. It stated the Director of Technology/designee is tasked with overseeing the implementation of AI programs, with staff members reviewing the programs to “ensure compliance with district policies as well as state and federal student data privacy laws and present recommendations to the Director of Schools for approval.”

The Director of Schools will then incorporate training programs, which will focus on responsible use of AI and practices that are best for use in school settings and will include instruction regarding personally identifiable information and the need to comply with state and federal data privacy laws.

“Emphasis shall be placed on the importance of securing and properly storing any data that is collected by the district in compliance with state and federal law,” the policy read.

Per the policy, school staff may use AI in the completion of their own work, which may include, but not limited to, drafting communication notes, images and the development of content for instructional and administrative purposes, as well as analyzing data and information. Staff will adhere to the following requirements when using AI programs:

• Employees shall disclose their use of generative AI tools. Failure to do so would violate the terms of the use of the AI Tool; would mislead a supervisor or others as to the nature of the work; or would be inconsistent with the teacher’s code of ethics. 
• Employees shall take all reasonable precautions to ensure the security of private student data when utilizing AI programs.
• Outputs from AI programs shall be verified by reliable sources and reviewed prior to use in order to reduce the risk of errors and inaccuracies.
• Outputs shall not be incorporated into proprietary content or works.

As for student use, the policy stated generative AI programs may not be accessed by students.

The vote to approve the AI Program Enforcement Report as presented passed unanimously.