Orange County Grand Jury • 2023-2024 • Agency Response
Response to: Use of Artificial Intelligence in Public Schools (K-12), It’s Not Elementary

Centralia Elementary Buena Park, Ca 90620 School District*

Published: November 18, 2024 5 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 3 findings

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Orange County's K-12 public schools have implemented policies and/or guidelines around the use of different AI platforms in varying and inconsistent ways. Some prohibit Al's use; others allow it: and some don't have policies or guidelines governing AI at all. The District cannot comment on other districts' policies and/or guidelines around the use of AI platforms. As it pertains to Centralia Elementary School District, the District agrees with the finding. The District has assembled an Artificial Intelligence task force made up of key personnel. This task force will review key policy issues and bring a recommendation to the Governing Body within the 2024-25 school year.
Related Recommendations (1)
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By June 30, 2025 Orange County's K-12 schools should implement policies and guidelines regarding the appropriate use of AI. These may be provided at the district level or within individual schools through the adoption of an Acceptable Use Policy, Code of Ethics, or other written directives addressing the use of AI. The District has implemented this recommendation as follows: The district has an Acceptable Use Policy that outlines future technology usage. The district will remain vigilant in updating guidelines and policies as necessary. The District's AI Task Force will have an opportunity to review such documents and provide input to the Governing Body, with ultimate policy making authority being the purview of our Board of Education.
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Superintendents provide varying levels of support in implementing AI policies and/or guidelines in their respective school districts. The District cannot comment on other districts' policies and/or guidelines around the use of AI platforms. As it pertains to Centralia Elementary School District, the Superintendent has been providing strong support in Al implementation, participating in the Orange County Department of Education's AI Trainings along with the District AI Team members. The Board of Education has participated in Study Sessions regarding this matter and the District has moved forward with an AI Taskforce. The Superintendent is part of this Taskforce and is very supportive of the work being done in this area.
Related Recommendations (1)
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Superintendents should ensure that their schools have policies that cover, at a minimum: the scope, guiding principles, and training regarding the responsible use of AI tools by students and teachers; any prohibited uses of special considerations regarding AI tools; and related security, privacy, and safety considerations. Original Response: The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future. Teachers and students will be trained beginning in the 2024-25 school year utilizing an AI implementation scope and guiding principles regarding the responsible use of Al tools, including prohibited uses of special considerations regarding Al tools; and related security, privacy, and safety considerations. The District's AI Task force will play a key role in the identification of the scope of work and possible trainings, commencing with staff. AMENDED RESPONSE: In our initial response, dated September 9, 2024, the recommendation was not yet implemented. Since our initial response, we have made significant progress, and we anticipate implementation by June 30, 2025. The District's AI Task Force will play a key role in identifying the scope of work, outlining training content, and planning the rollout of the program while making sure the AI tools and resources are age-appropriate for our elementary grade-level students. The focus has commenced with staff training, followed by student The Honorable Maria D. Hernandez Presiding Judge, Orange County Superior Court 11/18/2024 engagement. We are committed to ensuring that all stakeholders are well-equipped to handle Al technologies responsibly and ethically.
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There are many resources to guide educators in using AI. Several Are available at the local level through the Orange County Department of Education, Orange County Board of Education, CEO Leadership Alliance Orange County, and Orange Unified School District Technology Department, to name a few. However, utilization and even awareness of the availability of such resources is highly variable across school districts. The District does not have firsthand information regarding the utilization and awareness of the availability of the AI resources across school districts. As it pertains to Centralia Elementary School District, the District agrees with the finding. The District's AI Team Leaders are currently exploring resources available to guide educators in using AI and collaborating with Orange County Department of Education. Being a TK-6<sup>th</sup> grade district, the district is mindful of utilizing and searching for tools that are specific to the age group we serve. As of this response, there are significantly more tools and resources for older students (jr. High and High school) than there are The Honorable Maria D. Hernandez Presiding Judge, Orange County Superior Court 11/18/2024 for PreK-5<sup>th</sup> grade. The District's AI Task Force is actively searching for training tools that can be used to serve the population we serve.
Related Recommendations (1)
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K-12 students should be trained on the appropriate use of AI. Original Response: The recommendation has not yet been implemented but will be implemented in the future. The District's Al Taskforce has been established to determine grade appropriate use of AI. This will be followed up with policy direction from the Board of Education. AMENDED RESPONSE: In our initial response, dated September 9, 2024, the recommendation was not yet implemented. Since our initial response, we have made significant progress, and have begun implementation. Students are being trained in a developmentally appropriate and deliberate manner. The District has established an AI Taskforce to determine grade-appropriate uses of AI tools, ensuring that the training is tailored to the developmental needs and technological proficiency of students across different grade levels. Training for students is ongoing effective the 2024-25 school year.

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.