WORCESTER – The Worcester School Committee is delving into the battle over privacy policies as artificial intelligence (AI) applications become standard use in classrooms across the United States.
The school committee’s Standing Committee on Teaching, Learning, and Student Success will take up two related items on Thursday, Jan. 29, that call for updates to school district polices “to require explicit consent from parents/guardians when a third party service wants to use personal information collected from students to train or otherwise develop artificial intelligence technologies.”
The second item calls for policies for explicit consent “parents/guardians before a third party service collects any data that could be a
biometric identifier, such as audio recordings, photographs, and/or video.”
The administration of the Superintendent of Worcester Public Schools (WPS) Brian Allen appears ready to argue that such a policy is not required.
According to a memo to the school committee, attached to the agenda for the standing committee meeting, current policy “mandates that every app or tool we approve for use in Worcester Public Schools must meet strict data privacy and safety standards. These standards are ensured by executing legally binding Student Data Privacy Agreements.” The memo says these agreements are in compliance with federal and state law.
If a third-party vendor won’t sign that agreement, WPS will not do business with that company, except in rage cases, according to the memo.
In rare cases, including courses with special requirements aligned to industry standards such as CTE, career-prep, and/or industry recognized credentials (FERPA),” the WPS “will ask for explicit parental consent before using the product”
The Standing Committee on Teaching, Learning, and Student Success meets at 5 PM at City Hall on Jan. 29. The meeting is also available via Zoom.
