Hillsboro School District classrooms will follow a five-level framework for student use of generative AI tools during Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 23, Digital Citizenship Week.

The district published a generative AI guidance document that sets the rules. Level 0 means no AI at all. Level 4 allows AI to do most of the work, such as generating an image or code. Teachers decide which level applies to each assignment.

Students may only use district-approved AI tools, and only with explicit teacher permission. They must credit any AI-generated content. Approved tools include MagicSchool AI, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Gemini Notebook, with high school students getting limited access to the last three.

The guidance prohibits sharing personally identifiable information with AI tools, including birthdays, grades, Social Security numbers or student ID numbers. The framework cites federal privacy laws FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and COPPA (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act).

The district also warns students against sharing voice recordings or photos, which it says can be used to create deepfake content.

For the week's classroom lessons, the district said in an Oct. 9 announcement that it translated and curated lessons from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that provides free digital citizenship resources. The five-day plan covers media balance, cyberbullying prevention, data privacy, digital footprints and media literacy.

The district also pointed families to tools for monitoring student internet use at home. A Securly Home app, which rolled out districtwide on Sept. 16 after a pilot at Glencoe, Evergreen and Jackson schools, lets parents view browsing history, block content categories and set schedules on district-issued Chromebooks.

Families can sign up for a free weekly report summarizing their student's internet activity.

For families concerned about explicit images of minors online, the district highlighted Take It Down, a free service from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The tool helps remove real or AI-generated explicit images of people under 18 without requiring users to send the images to anyone.

The district's full AI guidance document is available in English and Spanish on the HSD Technology Services page.