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SSSD AI Guidance

Generative AI - ETHOS, Literacy & Guidance

What is Generative AI?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is technology that can complete specific tasks and has been around for many years. Your smartphone’s facial recognition, virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, and social media algorithms all use AI. Generative AI (GenAI), however, is a newer technology that generates original content, including text, images, and music, by learning from existing data. 

At Steamboat Springs School District, our ETHOS for AI use guides us to utilize this transformative technology with purpose and responsibility. We are committed to fostering ethical, transparent, human-centered, opportunity-focused, and safe use of AI that empowers individuals, enhances learning and work, and safeguards privacy and human dignity.  We recognize that there are challenges with the use of this technology including environmental impacts, authenticity of work, etc..  We also recognize that GenAI is a tool that is utilized in school, work, and personal settings and having an ETHOS for its use is essential.

Our goal is to enable students and educators in Steamboat Springs School District to confidently leverage AI to build a solid foundation of knowledge, drive innovation, and gain a competitive advantage in their educational journey and future endeavors, all while prioritizing ethical behavior, privacy and transparency.

Gen AI is an ever-changing technology.  Alterations will be made to this document as adaptations are needed.

Our ETHOS for AI

Ethical

We are committed to ethical practices, ensuring fairness and integrity in every context of AI use.

Transparent

We value transparency in AI use, with clear explanations of its role in learning and decision-making to support responsible use.

Human-centered

We believe in a human-centered approach, placing the well-being, creativity, and growth of individuals at the core.

Opportunity-focused

We use AI to amplify learning, innovation, and opportunity for all.

Safe

We are dedicated to the safe implementation of AI, prioritizing the protection of privacy and security to ensure positive outcomes for Steamboat Springs School District.

(Updated September 12, 2025) 
*This document is based on documents created by Park Hill School District, MO & St. Vrain School District, CO, and edited by Steamboat School District staff.

 

ETHOS for Teachers

Ethical
  • How do I practice ethical use of Generative AI (Gen AI)? How can I model and support ethical use of Gen AI for all of my students?  
Transparent
  • How can I explain the role of Gen AI in student learning to parents, colleagues and students? How am I ensuring that students are engaging with GenAI appropriately for their grade level?
Human Centered
  • How do we actively engage our students and ourselves in in Gen AI without replacing meaningful human interactions and supporting important academic &/or job related skills?
Opportunity Focused
  • How can Gen AI encourage collaborative, creative, or critical thinking skills that prepare staff and students for the future?
Safe
  • How do I practice safe behaviors when using Gen AI tools? How do I model and teach the importance of safety when using Gen AI tools with students?

ETHOS for Students

Ethical
  • How am I being honest about what I created and what AI helped with?
Transparent
  • Do I understand how Gen AI works and am I documenting my use of the tool? 
Human Centered
  • Am I connecting and collaborating with others to leverage their expertise instead of relying on AI all of the time?
Opportunity Focused
  • How do I continue to drive my own learning and utilize Gen AI as a tool for my learning?
Safe
  • Am I keeping mine and others’ private information safe?

Protecting Personal Information

Students and staff may not put any personal information into AI prompts.  This includes names, addresses, pictures, or other demographics or anything considered personally identifiable information (PII) for yourself or for anyone else.  Though Gemini is used in SSSD and provides safeguards for PII, no matter the platform, once that information is entered into AI, it may/ can be used by others on the internet in harmful ways. 

  • I-23 - Student Use of the Internet and Electronic Communications 
  • S-50 - Privacy and Protection of Confidential Student Information
  • NNP-37-A - Staff Use of the Internet and Electronic Communication 
  • NNP - 44 - Safeguarding Personal Identifying Information 

Students: Know When and How to Use GenAI

  1. Always start by asking your teacher if you can use GenAI on the work you are assigned.
  2. Track your usage of the tool. You can do this by copying and pasting your conversation into Google document.
  3. Cite the tool when you submit your assignment.  
  4. AI should help you think, not think for you - Maintain the human in the loop.

Appropriate AI Usage

  • Research Assistance: Helping students gather knowledge and information for a topic, assignment, or assessment.
  • Creative Projects: Generating art, music, or creative writing ideas as a starting point for my own projects.
  • Practice and Revision: Utilizing AI for practice exercises, grammar checks, and feedback.
  • Personalized Learning: Providing students with a tutor to help students learn at their own pace and in their own way.

Inappropriate AI Usage

  • Submitting AI-Generated Work: Turning in assignments entirely created by AI as a student’s own without permission, disclosure or modification. 
  • Plagiarism: Using AI to rephrase existing content without proper citation 
  • Misinformation and Bias:  Relying on unchecked AI-generated information for academic work without verifying its accuracy and checking for bias
  • Not Asking Permission: Submitting work without confirming that GenAI is permitted to be used.
  • Personally Identifiable & Confidential Information: Sharing Personally Identifiable Information &/or Confidential in an AI tool (yours or others) such as names, pictures, or addresses