Lake County Schools propose code of conduct updates including AI rules and opt-out forms

Lake County Schools staff outlined a series of revisions to the district's student code of conduct on May 4, saying the changes are meant to align school policy with current statutes and technology.

Carlos Sells, who the board introduced as leading the revision committee, said the proposed edits include language cleanups and several substantive changes to reflect new state rules and classroom realities. "Students are expected to develop their own knowledge, skills, and understanding of course material rather than relying solely on AI tools," Sells said, summarizing the academic-use section. He added that AI use must be disclosed and cited and that unauthorized AI use would be "considered a form of plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, or misrepresentation."

The draft separates academic from non-academic uses of artificial intelligence. Academic uses may be permitted when explicitly allowed by teachers and must be cited; non-academic uses that produce derogatory, threatening or misleading content aimed at students, staff or school community members would be disciplinable under bullying and harassment provisions. Board members asked whether consensual or theatrical uses (for example, group filters or theatrical backdrops) should be allowed; Sells said staff would work with IT to add clarifying language limiting restrictions to non-consensual or harassing uses.

Board members and staff also reviewed three opt-out categories parents will be asked to consider at the start of the year: (1) media/communication releases (including graduation program listings and livestreams), (2) release of names and contact data for 11th- and 12th-grade students to military recruiters, and (3) use of student data by online educational applications not required by law. Sells said opt-outs will be surfaced in the parent portal and that IT will provide a live link to the district's list of "applications required by law," which Sells named as examples including the district's digital textbooks, the student information system, single sign-on portal and Google Workspace.

The presentation also included operational clarifications: replacing references to "doctor" with "licensed health care provider" for medication authorizations; changing the cell-phone provision from the term "stored" to "secured" to reduce teacher-by-teacher inconsistency; and removing an outdated "parenting class" as a corrective strategy where that program no longer exists. On medication, the board emphasized that prescribers should specify if doses must be administered during school hours; staff said nurses at some campuses will still administer required in-school treatments when a physician documents necessity.

Why it matters: The changes touch everyday student and family interactions (phones, medication, online tools) and aim to pre-empt legal and technological change, including rapid adoption of AI. The proposals will return to staff for wording refinements and for additional alignment with FL DOE rule 6A-1.0955 on parent notification and opt-out procedures.

Next steps: Staff will revise wording based on board feedback (clarify "secured" for phones, specify medication documentation, narrow non-academic AI prohibitions) and return a final draft for board action.