Wake is developing a policy on AI use. How the school board says it falls short
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Board members say the proposed Wake County AI policy is too general and vague.
- Administrators aim to have a draft AI policy approved and in place by August.
- The district has disabled ChatGPT for students and is encouraging use of Google's Gemini.
Wake County school board members want a more comprehensive policy on how students and teachers can use artificial intelligence before the regulations go into next school year.
School administrators told the board’s policy committee on Tuesday that it’s important to get a draft AI policy approved and in place in schools by August. But multiple school board members said that the proposed policy is not detailed enough on how AI can be used.
“Having a more robust policy is important for us to have,” said board member Wing Ng. “We can’t predict every single issue that may come up, but we can certainly try, and then we can certainly fine tune it over time as these new things develop.”
Administrators said they welcomed the board feedback. The district also wants to get public feedback before it goes into effect next school year.
AI use spreading in schools
Students are increasingly using AI to help or in some cases do their schoolwork for them.
“We do recognize that there’s value in its use,” said Superintendent Robert Taylor. “But the scary part is not knowing if it’s something that’s actually produced by humans.”
The district created an AI Task Force in fall 2024 that led to the draft AI policy being released nearly a year ago. Since then, teachers have been getting training about using AI. The district has also disabled the use of ChatGPT for students while encouraging them to instead use Gemini, which is Google’s AI assistant.
The draft policy talks about championing AI literacy, equitable access and responsible and ethical use of technology.
“This includes promoting AI literacy for students and staff, ensuring academic integrity by requiring citation of AI use and preventing plagiarism,” according to the draft policy.
Downsides of students using AI
But school board vice chair Sam Hershey said he doesn’t think the draft policy warns enough about the downsides of using AI. Hershey said the draft policy is “just way too rah-rah.”
“We shouldn’t be championing any tool,” Hershey said. “We should be incorporating tools into public education that reflect the values of public education.”
Multiple board members cited the case of Eleanor Canina, a Green Hope High School freshman who was accused by a teacher of plagiarism based on the use of an artificial intelligence detector. After Canina appealed, another teacher determined she hadn’t used AI and changed the grade from a 0 to a 100.
Canina has urged Wake to regulate the use of AI detectors to keep other students from being unfairly accused without evidence.
“We know AI is being used in schools by students and staff right now without a formal official policy,” said board member Chris Heagarty. “From a policy perspective, when students come to us and raise the issue of disciplinary action because of staff using an AI detector that they say got an incorrect result, we don’t have a policy in place.”
Heagarty called the current draft a statement of principles rather than specific guidelines.
Wake has developed guidance for using AI that could be included in the policy, something board members said they supported doing.
“AI is a tool, but it does not replace teaching and learning that should take place in the classroom,” said board vice Tyler Swanson. “It’s a learning tool.”
