Knox County school board approves AI guidelines, hears public comments on ‘outing’ LGBTQ students

The Knox County Board of Education approved new AI guidelines at Thursday's regular meeting. (Screenshot) 

The Knox County Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to approve new rules governing the use of AI in classrooms at Thursday’s regular board meeting.

According to the district’s new AI guidelines, district staff must “refrain from entering personal, student, financial, intellectual property, or other confidential information into an AI program.” The new AI policy, which was prompted by a state law instructing school districts to adopt their own AI guidelines, also noted that data collected by AI tools should be used solely for educational purposes and not for commercial or non-educational activities.

However, while the new AI guidelines place emphasis on data privacy, the rules are relatively vague when it comes to specifics on what and how programs should be used in the classroom, noting that staff “should refer to the district’s approved software library prior to using or requesting use of any new online resource.”

The guidelines added that student use of AI tools should “align with approved instructional standards and curriculum” and “include instruction on appropriate and responsible use of AI.” The use of tools must also be disclosed to administrators, according to the district policy.

The policy was passed without discussion from board members.

In other business, local residents spoke to the board to voice their concerns about a recent memorandum sent out to district staff that they claimed instructed district administrators and educators to “out” LGBTQ students to their parents in order to comply with a new state law signed by Gov. Bill Lee in May. Proponents of the law say the goal is to keep parents in the loop about their children’s identity and mental health concerns.  

Among those who spoke out against the law and “leaked” memorandum at Thursday’s meeting was Aaron Free, a local therapist who works with LGBTQ youth, who said that such a policy could endanger LGBTQ students.

“LGBTQ youth are about 120 times more likely to experience homelessness as compared to their non-LGBT peers. Research also shows that about 30 percent of youth who were outed to their parents experienced significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms and received less support from their families as compared to peers who were not outed. These statistics underscore the grave risks faced by LGBT students who are not yet ready to come out [to their parents],” Free said. “Not every home is safe, especially for LGBT kids. I have witnessed firsthand the severe consequences youth and even adults face when outed.”

Aly Chapman, a parent of a former Knox County Schools student and chair of the Tennessee Equality Project, told the board that she too found the memorandum “alarming,” and implored the district to reconsider its approach to the new state law moving forward.  

“I would love to hear from somebody on the board at some point to have a conversation about the memorandum. I do think there's a way that we can comply with the law and still take care of children,” she said.