The Worthington Board of Education held a first reading of Policy 7540.09, the district's first formal artificial intelligence policy, at its April 27 meeting. State law requires the policy to be in place by July 1, so the board will hold a second reading and vote on adoption at the May 11 meeting.
Vice President Stephanie Harless, who leads the board's policy committee, walked the room through the proposed language. The policy sets the guardrails the district must follow and leaves day-to-day implementation to administrative guidelines below board oversight. Harless, who described themselves as working "in the software space," said the committee deliberately avoided baking specifics into the policy because "AI is changing faster than anything ever."
What the policy does
Policy 7540.09 is a new policy. The district has not previously had an AI-specific document at the board level, although Worthington Schools has been operating under guidelines and processes for AI in classrooms for several years. The policy states what the district will and will not do with AI, and includes a section on stakeholder engagement.
Board member Nikki Hudson noted that this approach matches what other states are doing. Massachusetts public education, she said after looking it up during the meeting, "does not blanketly restrict use of AI; rather, they have implemented a framework that encourages thoughtful integration, equity, and safety."
Years of groundwork, not a fresh start
Several board members credited Assistant Superintendent Angela Adrean and her team for the work that led to the policy. That work has included:
- The district's curriculum liaison council, which has discussed AI over several years
- Department-level meetings at the high schools and middle schools
- Conversations with students about how they actually use AI and what questions they have
- Outreach to parents and families
Hudson said the work "has been going on for several years" and that "we're ahead of the game in this space." Hudson also said they had recently been invited to speak about Worthington's approach on a panel hosted by the Ohio Women's Bar Association and the Columbus Bar Association.
Adrean is handing this work off to incoming Director of Curriculum Jennifer Korn. Korn attended the most recent Curriculum Liaison Council meeting and is named on a forthcoming board AI goal that the board will review at its June goal-setting work session.
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Closed systems and what they mean for student safety
A recurring point during the discussion: the AI tools the district deploys for classroom use are run as closed systems, separate from the consumer-facing products students might use at home.
"These are closed systems when we're using them, so that we can keep our students safe," Hudson said, adding that there is "very much a difference between AI and generative AI" and noting that "AI and spell check has been around for ages."
Stakeholder engagement is built into the policy
Board member Kelli Davis pressed on the stakeholder-engagement section of the proposed policy, asking how parents and families would be brought into the ongoing rollout. Harless said engagement has already been continuous through the curriculum liaison council, principal meetings, and teacher conversations, and will continue under Korn.
For now, families with feedback on the district's AI approach can reach out to Adrean and her team. Harless noted that any questions about specific tools or integration should go to a building's principal or to the curriculum office.
What's next
The board will hold a second reading and vote on Policy 7540.09 at the May 11 meeting. Adoption before July 1 keeps Worthington Schools in compliance with state law.
The full text of the proposed policy was distributed to the board ahead of the meeting and will be available with the May 11 agenda.
Watch the full meeting video here., with the discussion around the AI policy happening approximately between 0:32:53 and 0:41:57.