Guidelines for Acceptable Use of Generative AI
2025-2026
2025-2026
Date Created: 4/10/2025
Date Last Updated: 10/1/2025
The Board of Education recognizes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) may result in increased and enhanced learning opportunities for students in the school district. The Board adopts this Policy to provide guidelines and expectations for student use of generative AI. This policy applies to any use of AI whereby AI generates something that did not exist before (e.g. this included nongenerative AI usage as well.)
The Board recognizes the potential of AI tools to enhance and transform a student’s educational and co-curricular experience in the district. However, AI tools are not inherently knowledgeable and are trained from large amounts of data collected from various sources. Outputs generated by an AI tool may be inaccurate, inappropriate, or incomplete. Therefore, to ensure the responsible use of AI and to maintain academic integrity, students shall be required to comply with the district’s Acceptable Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence Plan (AI Plan) that will include proper citation and/or documentation methods to support the content provided by an AI tool in a student assignment.
On 3/17/2025, Policy 2365 Acceptable Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence was approved by the BOE. The meeting minutes can be found here. The information below is adapted from this official policy document.
If you would like a snapshot of how AI is being used, click here for this community outreach AI bulletin.
For the purposes of this policy:
“AI” means all types of generative AI technologies that create new content or outputs from a prompt to produce text, images, videos, or music.
“AI tools” means software applications and platforms that utilize AI technologies to perform specific tasks and solve problems that typically require human intelligence.
“Assignment” means any task or work required of a student as part of a student’s educational and co-curriculum program in the district.
Hopewell Valley Regional School District aims to create a learning environment that prepares students for the evolving technological landscape by:
Empowering students and teachers to use AI as a tool for creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving.
Promoting ethical AI use aligned with HVRSD's values of academic integrity, respect, and inclusivity.
Ensuring that AI enhances—not replaces—the human elements of teaching and learning.
Data Protection: Students and staff must not input personally identifiable, sensitive, or confidential information into GenAI tools.
Approved Tools: Only tools vetted and approved by HVRSD are allowed. These tools must comply with federal and state privacy laws, including FERPA and COPPA.
Teacher Supervision: Teachers are responsible for monitoring student use of AI to ensure compliance with privacy and security standards.
Original Work: Students must ensure that their work is their own. AI-generated content should only support learning and creativity and must be appropriately cited.
Plagiarism Policy: Misrepresentation of AI-generated content as original work is a violation of the HVRSD Plagiarism Policy.
Transparency: Students must disclose how AI tools contributed to their assignments.
Respectful Output: AI should not be used to generate harmful, discriminatory, or inappropriate content.
Bias Awareness: Students and staff must critically evaluate AI outputs for accuracy and bias.
Students will not be allowed to utilize AI for completion of classroom assignments/assessments unless noted by the teacher in advance. If teachers are allowing AI on an assignment, they must clearly articulate which use will be acceptable. If AI use is allowed, it must also be consistent with other teachers who teach the same course.
AI is not allowed for use in completing assignments/assessments unless clearly articulated in advance by the teacher. This document outlines common classroom uses of AI that may be employed, at the teacher's discretion. Some of the options that teachers have on allowing AI use are summarized below.
Brainstorming: A student uses an AI-powered brainstorming tool to generate creative ideas and suggestions for a project or assignment.
Exploring topics of interest/inquiry: A student uses an AI program to generate a list of related articles and resources on a topic they are interested in learning more about.
Aggregator of information. "Super-search": A student uses an AI-powered search engine to find primary and secondary sources relevant to their research topic. However, they still need to read and evaluate the sources themselves.
Checking writing for grammar and tone: A student uses an AI grammar tool like Grammarly to identify and correct spelling and grammar errors, as well as improve the tone and style of their writing.
Writing partner: A student collaborates with an AI writing assistant that helps them generate ideas, improve sentence structure, and enhance the overall quality of their writing.
Coach/Tutor: A student utilizes an AI-powered tutoring program that provides personalized feedback and guidance on specific subjects or topics without providing students with the answers.
Confirming understanding of complex information or texts: A student uses an AI program to summarize and simplify complex scientific articles or literature to ensure they have understood the main concepts.
Feedback provider: A student receives feedback to pinpoint weaknesses in their writing, perform spell checks, and check grammar without manipulating their work (constructive feedback without automatic suggestions.
Submitting work that is AI-outlined but completely student-written: A student uses an AI program to generate an outline for their essay, but then writes the entire essay themselves, following the structure provided by the AI.
Submitting work that is AI-researched but completely student-written: A student uses AI algorithms to gather information and sources for their project, but then synthesizes and writes the content in their own words without directly copying from the AI-generated information
Other Specific Uses (Must be clearly identified by the teacher in advance):
A student uses an AI program to generate an initial draft of a poem, but then edits and adds their own creative touches to the final version.
A student creates their own meaningful prompt to generate an AI image.
A student writes a research paper and incorporates extensive AI suggestions (above and beyond spelling and grammar), making the overall structure and content of their writing become predominantly AI.
Students who need learning support might use AI to generate practice questions, study plans, or reading guides/summaries.
Experiment with AI chatbots to role-play historical figures, characters from literature, or civic leaders for group discussions.
When allowing student use of AI, teachers can reference this collection of best practices related to course and assignment communication.
At the beginning of each school year, teachers are required to inform students and parents of the approved uses of AI tools in the classroom. Any deviations from these established guidelines for specific assignments must be explicitly outlined in the assignment instructions.
Teachers who are allowing AI use on an assignment/assessment must be consistent with other teachers who teach the same course on that assignment/assessment.
A sample Responsible Use Contract can be found here.
Gemini by Google*
Brisk Teaching
Diffit (District Subscription)
Khanmigo Tools (Khan Academy)
MagicSchool
Microsoft Copilot
NotebookLM by Google
SchoolAI
Snorkl
TeacherServer
* This is the primary generative AI tool used by staff and students. It follows the same privacy policies as other Google products that are already in use by the district.
Website and Software Approval Form
Approved Technology List
If artificial intelligence tools are utilized in the completion of an assignment, students are required to provide proper citation in accordance with the general guidelines provided (linked here).
At the discretion of the teacher, students may be instructed to use a formal citation style (e.g., MLA, APA) in lieu of the general format. Teachers are responsible for supplying current citation instructions specific to the assigned style at the time the assignment is given.
Students will not be allowed to utilize AI for classroom assignments/assessments unless noted by the teacher in advance.
Below, you'll find other information about when AI can not be used.
Academic Dishonesty
Using AI to generate entire assignments without personal input.
Presenting AI-generated content as original work without proper attribution.
Inappropriate or Harmful Content
Generating offensive, discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate content.
Misusing AI to create or spread misinformation, bullying, or defamatory materials.
Violation of Privacy
Inputting personal, sensitive, or confidential information about themselves or others into AI tools.
Unapproved Tools
Using any AI tools not explicitly approved by the district for classroom use.
In cases where a teacher suspects that artificial intelligence has been misused in the completion of an assignment, the designated protocol (linked here) must be followed to investigate the concern. If clear evidence of misuse is obtained—either directly or through completion of the protocol—students may be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with the district’s Code of Conduct.
Additionally, teachers should consider adjusting assignments to allow appropriate AI use while ensuring students remain the primary creators. This helps prevent overreliance on AI and supports the development of research, analysis, and critical thinking skills. Here are some ideas for AI-proofing research assignments and projects.
It is prohibited to share sensitive and confidential information with AI. Prohibited information includes:
Personal identifiable information
Academic or health records
Financial information
Security credentials
Copyrighted content
Sensitive communications
District intellectual property
The guidelines provided on this website shall be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure alignment with emerging developments in artificial intelligence and to incorporate relevant stakeholder feedback. This review process shall be coordinated by the district's AP Coordinator in collaboration with an appointed advisory committee.
AI Coordinator: Jeff Losch