PRIEST RIVER — West Bonner County School District’s trustees approved the first reading of an amended academic integrity policy at last Wednesday’s board meeting.

The policy states that students must complete assigned work independently and that using ChatGPT or other AI tools without credit does not meet the required level under the Idaho State Learning Standards. Superintendent Kim Spacek said at the meeting that, in his view, if a student uses AI to write the entire paper, it isn’t the student’s work. 

“If you look at the APA style of writing, when you have to quote sources, that's the issue that I see,” Spacek said. “[With] AI you put the question in, and AI spits out a paper. You turn it in, it's not your work ... basically what it's saying is, if you're using AI to do your paper, you need to ask the question, what sources did you look at to get the information?” 

Spacek said he’s been working with The Rural Alliance, a Washington-based cohort of schools, to develop an AI policy for the district. With the newness of AI, Spacek said he’s working with a collaborative group on the policy and will be seeking feedback for the second reading. 

“We're going to get to the point of how do we instruct teachers to instruct kids to say, look, this is something that probably does 80% of your work, but you need to look at yourself and make sure that what you're writing and turning in is actually true,” Spacek said.  

In addition to the AI language, the policy is proposed to be renamed, from “Academic Dishonesty” to “Academic Integrity.” Spacek said he made the change because integrity is one of the ideals the district hopes to instill in students. 

Trustee Margaret Hall said she liked the policy after reading it and appreciated its emphasis on integrity. 

“It looked good. From what I could tell, it's a new area that we're approaching,” Hall said. “I appreciate using the word integrity versus dishonesty. Thank you. I think that's a much more positive way of looking at it.” 

Trustee Robert Bauer said he had not had a chance to review the policy before the meeting and therefore abstained. All other trustees voted to approve the policy on first reading.  

Spacek said the policy will return to the board at a meeting in about two months, after the collaborative group meets again.  

“So ongoing, but at least we've got it started,” Spacek said. “The administration needs to understand, because a lot of people are using it, how does it make our work productive? How to how can we use it with teachers and kids, and then finally, kids, here's what we expect.”