Board reviews translation contract and asks administration to verify contractors aren’t using AI for sensitive materials

During the April 7 committee meeting Oley Valley School District administrators presented several personnel and contract items and the board asked the administration to clarify contractor practices around artificial-intelligence translation tools.

Under personnel, Dr. Markley said the administration brought forward motions that included appointing a bilingual school-based psychoeducational evaluator (cited in the presentation at $100 per hour and described as meeting IDA Chapter 14 requirements in the transcript) and the approval of Michael Gray as a day-to-day certified substitute teacher. The transcript lists these as agenda items (motions 15 and 16) but does not record formal vote tallies.

On contract procurement, the board reviewed a proposed 2026–27 contract with Billings Bilingual LLC to provide English–Spanish document translation at a stated rate of $72 per hour. A board member raised a concern about whether the vendor would use automated AI translation tools for sensitive student information and asked the administration to require a certification that AI tools would not be used for materials containing health or student data. "So, that the Billings bilingual company is not using AI themselves," a board member asked; administrators said they would confirm and include appropriate oversight in the procurement language.

Separately, motions on legal settlements were listed: a one-time fee of $2,500 plus instructional tutoring at $150 per hour to avoid litigation and a tuition-addendum settlement with an amount in the transcript that appears garbled (referenced as "58810 a day for 4 months"). The administration indicated it would confirm settlement details and ensure procurement language protects the district where contractor AI use might create liability.

The transcript excerpt does not include vote outcomes for the listed personnel and contract motions.