Many school districts in the Valley will begin this upcoming school year with new guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence tools in the classroom.<\/p>\n
In the Danville Area School District, Assistant Superintendent Heaven Reinard said it\u2019s important for administrators and teachers to get the introduction of AI right.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a disservice to our students if we didn\u2019t take this seriously, and if we didn\u2019t come up with a plan that we know is going to work for our kids, and work for our teachers,\u201d Reinard said. \u201cAs administrators, that\u2019s all we care about is making sure that our students and our teachers are supported. AI is here to stay. It\u2019s in our communities. It\u2019s in our universities, our colleges. Jobs are using it right now, and our job is to prepare kids to have a good life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that if we don\u2019t take this seriously and we don\u2019t prepare them in a way that\u2019s going to support their critical thinking, we\u2019re doing them a disservice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association\u2019s 2026 State of Education report indicated that slightly more than half (55.9 percent) of respondents stated that students in their districts are utilizing generative AI as part of district-approved curriculums, programs or activities. Roughly 80 percent of school districts reported providing their staff and students training on the use of generative AI, but only 70 percent of districts reported having a policy, procedure or other documentation outlining the appropriate use of generative AI by students.<\/p>\n
Reinard and Jeffrey Ryan, the director of information technology, said Danville has a five-phase plan to implement artificial intelligence tools over 24 months. A steering committee was established last year with administrators, teachers and students and met dozens of times to develop an ethical AI framework and build a foundation before opening up to students this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI is really enhancing equity within our district, but we\u2019re making sure that AI is not taking the place of learning,\u201d Reinard said. \u201cIt\u2019s used as a tool. We\u2019re establishing equity, bias, transparency and basically what the use of AI will look like within our district.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the past year, the district provided professional development for high school teachers. The goal was to ensure all teachers felt comfortable using AI as a tool in their classrooms and using it ethically, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole premise is that we created guidelines and guardrails for any of the AI used within the school district,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to leave anything to chance. We just didn\u2019t want to open AI to students without having a really solid plan on how it would be utilized, and having the ways it could be used and all the guidelines and guardrails set up. It wasn\u2019t set up haphazardly within the district without some real thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a Google-integrated district, Ryan and Reinard said teachers will train students at the high school at the beginning of the 2026-27 school year. Each classroom and teacher has a leveling system for how much AI is permitted in any subject or classroom: zero level means no AI at all, and level three is skill development where students learn how to manipulate, critique and understand the tool.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be centered around ensuring that they have the tools necessary to be successful,\u201d Reinard said. \u201cThis is not replacing instruction, but using this as a tool to enhance their instruction and use this as a tool to really make sure that we are still teaching our students to think critically. That\u2019s the biggest part for us at Danville is that we are using this not in place of critical thinking. We\u2019re simply using this as a tool to enhance our students\u2019 critical thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal is not to ignore the technological advances, but to expose students to it in a controlled manner, Ryan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to get rid of the critical thinking skills, but we don\u2019t want to bury our heads in the sand and say that AI isn\u2019t going to exist in this world because it is,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cJust having that opportunity with certain assignments where it\u2019s applicable, where AI can create different learning situations, where it can challenge students in different ways and can help the learning process. That\u2019s where we\u2019re concentrating in our process and what really made us see some innovative ways that we can utilize AI within the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Compromising academic integrity\u2019<\/p>\n
Midd-West Superintendent Joe Stroup, Dr. Dane Aucker, the director of curriculum and instruction, and high school Principal Mandi Romig said the district\u2019s policy allows for students to use AI tools, but they cannot use the tools to pass off work that is not their own. The policy was put in place in January 2026 for the last half of the 2025-26 school year, but the district was practicing the tenets prior to the official policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re passing your work off as your own original work, but AI generated the work, you\u2019re compromising your academic integrity,\u201d Aucker said.<\/p>\n
For example, students cannot use AI to generate a full essay on any topic. They can use it to quiz themselves, gather references and narrow down sources, Romig said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI is known for hallucinating, so it also makes up answers and passes them off as fact,\u201d Aucker said. \u201cEven though AI gave you that reference, students must have the knowledge and skill set to go back in and find that text and reference, to see if that\u2019s actually a true research point from that particular source.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students have been using AI, so they are already embracing it. The district\u2019s goal is to guide students to use the tools in a \u201cproper way\u201d that is mindful and doesn\u2019t allow for shortcuts, district officials said.<\/p>\n
The policy will remain unchanged for the upcoming 2026-27 school year, Stroup said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that I would do differently based upon policy, and I think we need to continue to let it play out and see how things go,\u201d Stroup said. \u201cOverall, I think our students handle things maturely and responsibly. Same way with any type of technology, there is a little piece of adjustment, like with cellphones, but then it kind of regulates itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Part of our world now\u2019<\/p>\n
Shikellamy Area Superintendent Jeremy Winn and Assistant Superintendent Trevor Palmatier said the district\u2019s policy was formed following a multi-day AI conference with the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit in Milton earlier this year. The district\u2019s policy was approved in July and will be implemented for this new school year. Teachers use Brisk for education, and the policy outlines how students can use AI programs in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want our students to be proficient using AI because it\u2019s obviously part of our world now,\u201d Palmatier said. \u201cBut we want them to have the tools and the knowledge to use it appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmatier said the administration consulted high school students about their opinions. The feedback was \u201cpretty mixed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone agrees that it\u2019s part of our world now, not going away,\u201d Palmatier said. \u201cWe just need to figure out how to use it correctly and to our benefit, and have students be able to differentiate between what\u2019s real and what is not when using AI or seeing images or seeing materials. That\u2019s also part of this process as well as educating our students on AI.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not since the rise of the internet decades ago has there been such a significant emerging technology like AI, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know ultimately where AI is going to end up,\u201d Palmatier said. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had the challenge of education of not really knowing what the jobs are going to look like, and I think that\u2019s even more so now. We\u2019re preparing students for jobs that most likely don\u2019t even exist yet, so it\u2019s really going to change what we\u2019re preparing students for and the skills they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A tool that\u2019s out there\u2019<\/p>\n
Lewisburg Area Superintendent Vincent Hoover and high school Assistant Principal Johnathan Sliski said the district introduced AI guidelines at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. The policy, which outlines appropriate usage, ethics, integrity and rules against submitting AI-generated work, has been well received by students and has had few violations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a large population of students who take pride in doing their own work and want to represent themselves well, and they want to put their character on display. They practice integrity when it comes to tools they use online as well,\u201d Sliski said. \u201cA lot of our students understand that the consequences of academic integrity issues far outweigh any gains in efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district partners with MagicSchool Enterprise and Google Gemini, Hoover said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big topic right now and how they\u2019re utilized, and we want to just provide them with guidance on our stance on using it, so that they\u2019re not just figuring it out on their own,\u201d Hoover said. \u201cThis is a tool that\u2019s out there. We know students are using it in their personal lives. We know their parents may be as well. We\u2019ve got to let them know about our approach to this. We\u2019re treating it as a tool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew Rantz, the director of secondary education for the Milton Area School District, said the district continues to use software programs that assist in detecting AI-submitted assignments in sixth through 12th grades. Teachers have the flexibility if and when they want to allow students to use AI for assignments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn many situations, we are moving back to paper and pencil exams and writing assignments as a way to combat the use of AI,\u201d Rantz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many school districts in the Valley will begin this upcoming school year with new guidelines for the use…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[518,24,25,10325,5328,76,223,2819,464,301,752],"class_list":["post-133941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-academic-integrity","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-critical-thinking","tag-decision-making","tag-education","tag-generative-ai","tag-policy","tag-politics","tag-teacher","tag-tool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}