{"id":146739,"date":"2026-08-20T23:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/146739\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T23:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:48:08","slug":"springfield-public-schools-releases-first-ai-handbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/146739\/","title":{"rendered":"Springfield Public Schools releases first AI handbook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) &#8211; Springfield Public Schools has launched its first <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1Ut61wwOT3ct9SaA3WSFv8253mXudVro2\/view\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1Ut61wwOT3ct9SaA3WSFv8253mXudVro2\/view\">artificial intelligence handbook<\/a>, a 36-page guide built to give students and staff guidance on using AI in the classroom instead of banning it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Bruce Douglas, SPS chief information officer, said the handbook aims to provide clarity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe want to make sure that people have clarity about when to use it, how to use it appropriately and how that fits within our educational environment,\u201d Douglas said.<\/p>\n<p>AI literacy framework<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The handbook breaks down SPS\u2019 AI literacy framework into four pillars that encourage AI as a supportive tool while keeping human judgment and safety at the forefront.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Douglas said the district\u2019s curriculum remains the foundation for teaching students critical thinking skills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe\u2019re focused first and foremost on our robust curriculum and instructional practices that help teach critical thinking to our students and then, how do we layer on the conversation of AI?\u201d Douglas said.<\/p>\n<p>University perspective<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Dr. Lloyd Smith, a professor of computer science at Missouri State University, said incorporating AI into the classroom is important for students\u2019 futures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe certainly want students to use AI; their future employers are going to expect them to know how to use it. But we\u2019re still figuring out the best way for them to use it and the best way to teach them to use it,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">SPS guidelines emphasize human oversight, defining AI as an assistant rather than a replacement for human judgment. Smith said AI should never replace human thinking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe want students to think, we want them to solve problems, but we want them to use AI to help them with background information and foundational information,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">SPS says the handbook is version 1.0 and the district will continue gathering feedback from students, faculty and families before making changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text text-start\">To report a correction or typo, please email <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ky3.com\/2026\/08\/20\/springfield-public-schools-releases-first-ai-handbook\/mailto:digitalnews@ky3.com\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">digitalnews@ky3.com<\/a>. Please include the article info in the subject line of the email.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 KY3. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) &#8211; Springfield Public Schools has launched its first artificial intelligence handbook, a 36-page guide built&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,12813,25,2873,223,72063],"class_list":["post-146739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-ai-in-schools","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-back-to-school","tag-generative-ai","tag-springfield-public-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146739","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=146739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}