SAUGUS — The School Committee had a second reading of three policies at its meeting Thursday night, voting all three in.
The first policy read was GBEBD – Online Fundraising and Solicitations – Crowdfunding.
“The school district and employees shall comply with all the following provisions related to online solicitations and use of crowdfunding services for school-related purposes, as well as applicable laws, regulations, and policies. No online fundraising may occur,” Superintendent Michael Hashem said.
The Committee motioned to accept the policy, and it was unanimously voted in.
The second policy, the JICAB Artificial Intelligence Policy, included a deeper discussion of AI’s role in school spaces.
“We formed an AI task force because that’s one of the biggest single things happening in education. It’s something that we have to try and make sure that we stay ahead of and make sure we use it as a tool,” Hashem said.
He continued that the school has to stay in human-centered learning, there is an academic integrity part of it, and privacy and security issues.
“One of the things that the state has been asking us to do is AI literacy because that’s something that is extremely important. There are guidelines… for acceptable use and what’s prohibited for students. There’s professional use, there’s instructional practices, and then there is the data and privacy and vetting of different models that you have,” he said.
It was explained that if the policy were voted in, it would have to be fluid because it could change at any time.
“We’re trying to come up with a way to make it safe for the students and usable for students and staff. And at the same time make sure that the literacy part is there because the students need to know what it is they’re getting back when they use these AI models,” Hashem said.
Committee member Brian Doherty asked if there were any approved AI tools in the school already, and Hashem said they currently have the Large Learning Model, which is Gemini, as Saugus is a Google school.
Committee member Shannon McCarthy said that at her job, they have their own GPT and that it would be interesting if the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education could create a model for learning.
“I don’t know if it’s worth having this task force look into within Gemini; they could create a companion that is designed only for learning. So, they basically code it to fit into the model of what you want per building per grade,” Shannon said.
Hashem said he could see there eventually being something like that through Google. He also stated that there were already restrictions for safety on searches and other applications.
“I think it’s also important not push kids away from AI because I’ll tell you… Companies are going to use AI. It needs to be something that they learn. I think learning it, the literacy piece, is going to be an important factor,” Doherty said.
The policy was unanimously voted in, but will most likely continue to change as AI grows.
The final policy read was MASC-JFF – Student Activities Accounts.
“This is basically rewording a policy that you already have… The main differences of what you have and what you don’t have deals with the inactive student activity accounts. Because there are accounts whether the club and group dissolved or they never came back for the money, it gives the principal the parameter by which to reuse those funds within the student activities for other groups or things,” Hashem said.
The principal would come before the Committee for approval to make those changes.
Hashem explained that the money would have to stay within the Student Activities Accounts.
This policy was also unanimously voted in by the Committee.
