by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

The Franklin County School Board approved new policies on Artificial Intelligence and Therapy Pets at the Aug.12 meeting, with one board member voting against adopting the therapy dog policy. The policy amendment on homeschoolers participating in public-school interscholastic sports also passed but without full consensus of the board.

Board member Erik Cole submitted the Therapy Pet policy for adoption, prompted by a March presentation to the board and his personal experiences. When therapy dogs visited his children in ICU, “It made a huge difference,” Cole said.

Director of School Cary Holman said at present the state had only approved the use of therapy dogs in several schools “as a pilot.” In response, the Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA) drafted a policy on therapy pets. Holman stressed the policy stipulated, “There must be a presentation of evidence that says this is why you’re wanting to have a dog in the schools.”

Board member Linda Jones who voted against adopting the policy said, “We need to consider [children’s] fears.” Jones wanted more information on the parameters regulating therapy dogs use in the schools.

In the discussion about homeschooled children participating in interscholastic athletics, Board member Sandy Schultz questioned the statement, “home-school students that are zoned for the school shall be permitted to participate.” “Does that mean [students] have to participate in the school they’re zoned for?” Shultz asked. Board Vice Chair Lance Williams replied, “We aren’t zoned. We have bus zones, but our schools aren’t zoned.” Holman explained, if no bus was available to the school a student wanted to attend, the student could attend that school if the parents provided transportation and provided the school had sufficient teachers to take on additional students. In regard to where homeschooled children participated in athletics, Holman said, “They could go anywhere.”

Objecting to the zoning language, Shultz voted against approving the Interscholastic Athletics policy amendment on homeschooler participation.

Introducing the Artificial Intelligence policy, Human Resources Supervisor Roger Alsup said, the TSBA required districts to adopt an AI policy. The policy states, “Staff may use AI in the completion of their own work. This may include, but not be limited to, drafting communications, notes, images, and the development of content for instruction … Generative AI programs may not be accessed by students.”

“What does this mean for students outside of school?” asked board member Sarah Marhevsky.

“There are programs to scan student work and tell you the likelihood it’s been done through AI,” Alsup said.

In response to the comment that these types of assessments produced “a lot of false positives,” Holman said, “Teachers are going to know a student’s verbiage and their vocabulary usage. They could have students write a rebuttal to support what they turned in. Teachers would pick up very quickly if it was generated by AI.”

Citing a beneficial use of AI generated text in instruction, Schultz said, “It’s a learning tool to see how something can be written.”

In other business, the board approved the long-discussed mutual agreement between the city of Huntland and the Board of Education allowing Huntland School to use the Huntland City Park fairground for soccer games and practice, free of charge. The agreement has no end date. “The city of Huntland recommended revisiting the agreement every five years,” said Huntland Principal Lisa Crabtree. “Right now, there are no facilities such as electricity on site that would create a bill, but sometime in the future there might be. That was the reason for leaving it open.”

Testing Coordinator Amy Sanders provided the board with an overview of TCAP testing data trends. Board member Sarah Marhevsky questioned the decline in scores from elementary school to middle school. “We attribute some of that loss to the upheaval of moving to middle school,” Sanders said. “I can’t look at the test, so I don’t know exactly.” “Who does look at the test?” Marhevsky asked. “The state and students,” Sanders said. “We’re at the mercy of what the state decides,” Holman said. “The number of questions will vary from one year to the next … There are variances in standards, in question type, as well as test time.”