Creation and Implementation Guide:

AI Policies for K-12 Schools

For use by administrators, faculty leaders and instructional design teams

As AI tools rapidly reshape teaching, learning, and academic integrity, independent schools are seeking clarity, consistency, and ethical guardrails. A well-designed AI policy protects students, empowers teachers and positions the school as both innovative and responsible.

This guide outlines a multi-phase process, from research to board approval, to create an AI policy that reflects your school’s mission, culture and pedagogical values. It also identifies software and tools that can assist and enhance the process. These tools are bolded.

Phase 1:

Establish Leadership & Project Structure

1. Form an AI Policy Task Force

The following roles (or their equivalents within the organization’s structure) are essential to involve in the research and drafting process in order to ensure the policy is drafted with viewpoints and buy in from all levels and divisions.

Lead: Educational Technology Head

1) Assistant principal or assistant head of school (if multiple divisions, one from each)

2) IT representative familiar with current infrastructure, data privacy standards and cybersecurity

3) Dean of curriculum or learning specialist who leads pedagogy and classroom impact analysis

4) Volunteer faculty representatives

5) Volunteer student representatives

6) Communications director for branding and roll out

7) Legal consultant to ensure compliance

2. Define Project Timeline

A clear timeline prevents scope drift. A typical timeline is 4–6 months.

Using an Asana dashboard will help in tracking deadlines and responsibilities while allowing the lead to see progress and add notes in real time.

Month 1: Task force formed, goals defined, research plan approved

Month 2–3: Data collection through focus groups, surveys, peer-school policy review

Month 3–4: drafting, revisions, internal review

Month 5: Administrative approval, legal review, final task force approval

Month 6: Head of School presents final policy to Board of Trustees for vote and adoption

Phase 2: Research & Data Collection

A strong AI policy will reflect the experiences and values of those who will use it daily. Multiple data sources help to create a 360 degree view of the community.

1. Collect Feedback From the School Community

Gather data from students, faculty, parents and administrators.

Recommended methods:

A. Focus Groups

Small groups allow deeper discussion of:

  • How students currently use AI (school-related and non-school-related)

  • Where they feel ethical boundaries become blurry

  • Their beliefs about teacher use of AI

  • Expectations for fairness, honesty and transparency

  • Safety and privacy concerns

Use structured scenario-based prompts (ex: academic integrity, deepfake misuse, teacher test-generation). Generate questions and scenarios within the task force.
Audio record using the Rev platform to record the interactions, summarize to identify patterns and key insights (tool used by qualitative researchers). This preserves the privacy of the participants as well as prevent bias during the analysis process.

B. Surveys

Survey all major constituencies using SurveyMonkey:

  • Students (by division, 6th grade and higher)

  • Faculty

  • Parents/Guardians

  • Administration & Staff

Key areas to measure:

  • Familiarity with AI tools

  • Frequency and type of use

  • Concerns (academic honesty, data privacy, screen time, equity)

  • Hopes and perceived benefits

  • Comfort level with a formal policy

  • Desired guardrails for assessment and classroom use

Share these results with the task force. The results can also be used as part of the presentation to the board. Click here to see a list of possible survey questions to be included for each group.

2. Research Peer-School Policies

Review policies from peer schools that match in terms of type (private, public, charter), size and even location. This could include the following sources

  • Independent school organizations, like NAIS and FCIS member schools

  • District and state level policies

  • Peer schools in your region or district

  • Tech-forward schools nationally

  • Public university AI guidelines for reference

Analyze:

  • How strict or permissive they are

  • How they define ethical use

  • How they distinguish teacher vs. student use

  • How they discuss privacy and data storage

  • Any consequences listed

Use CompareDocs, NotebookLM, or even ChatGPT to compare and contrast the policies and their focuses. Compile this data into a presentation for the task force.

Phase 3: Drafting Your AI Policy

1. Structure of the Policy

A typical, comprehensive school AI policy includes:

  1. Purpose & Alignment With Mission

  2. Definitions (AI tools, generative AI, LLMs, image/video generation, assistive tools, etc.)

  3. Guiding Principles (ethics, integrity, transparency, equity, safety)

  4. Acceptable Uses for Students

  5. Unacceptable Uses / Academic Integrity

  6. Teacher Use of AI

  7. Data Privacy, FERPA, and cybersecurity considerations

  8. Age-appropriate expectations

  9. Accessibility & UDL lens

  10. Consequences for misuse

  11. Ongoing review cycle

2. Multi-Stage Drafting Process

Draft 1 : Internal Task-Force Draft

  • Created by Educational Technology Head with all data and input from the research phase.

  • Reviewed by task force (including HR and the legal representative)

Draft 2 : Faculty & Administrative Feedback Round

  • Division and Department Heads host input meetings

  • Faculty submit comments via Google Doc or Padlet.

  • Admin teams evaluate implementation feasibility and provides feedback to the Educational Technology Head

Draft 3: Community Review

  • Executive summary sent to parents and students

  • Opportunities for questions or clarifications

Draft 4: Final Admin Copy

  • Consolidated by task force

  • Proofed by Communications Director for clarity, branding and accessibility

  • Approved by head of school

Phase 4: Evaluation & Revision Framework

Define a formal evaluation cycle to ensure the document stays up to date as new technologies and features emerge.

Annual Evaluation Components

  • Survey data from faculty and students

  • Educational Technology Head reports on emerging tools and risks

  • Academic integrity statistics (feedback from honor counsels and dean of students)

  • Teacher feedback on instruction and assessment

  • Updates in state or federal regulation

  • Updates from NAIS, FCIS, ISTE, or AECT

Revision Timeline

  • Mid-Year Review for minor clarifications

  • End-of-Year Review for major updates

  • Full Rewrite Every 2–3 Years as technologies evolve

Phase 5: Head of School & Board Approval

Once the policy is finalized:

Head of School Role

  • Reviews and approves internal final draft

  • Confirms alignment with school mission and strategic plan

  • Prepares the board briefing package

  • Presents policy to the Board of Trustees for official vote

Board of Trustees Role

  • Reviews rationale, data summary, and legal/compliance notes

  • Votes for adoption

  • Sets review frequency and establishes governance expectations

Once approved, the policy becomes schoolwide protocol.

Phase 6: Rollout & Communication Plan

Recommended Communication Steps

  • Share a parent-friendly summary using Canva

  • Hold faculty professional-development sessions

  • Create student-level versions for middle and upper school

  • Provide one-page quick-reference guides for teachers with Canva

  • Train department chairs on implementation questions

  • Add the policy to the family and faculty handbooks as well as the school’s website

  • Produce and distribute posters for classroom posting using Canva

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