CRCS Conduct Code Targets AI

COBLESKILL - On Monday evening, the CRCS Board of Education held their annual reorganization meeting to talk through their latest revisions to their district-wide code of conduct.

As societal norms and technology continue to evolve year after year, CRCS keeps up by allowing revisions for what students can and cannot do, and this is exemplified by this year’s rewrite targeting artificial intelligence and gender neutral terms.

The Code of Conduct Review Committee, made up of a diverse cast of students, parents, and faculty totaling 15 members in all, recognized AI as a problem due to its capacity to plagiarize or complete a student’s homework. 

Under “Unacceptable Student Conduct,” the Review Committee has added that inappropriate use of AI will not be tolerated, keeping to their strict academic honesty policy.

However, the revisions alluded to more considerations going forward, as CRCS will be considering a “future study” on the capabilities of AI for the next few generations of the code. 

Superintendent Sickles agreed with the assessment, saying “I imagine AI will be a constantly evolving situation,” and that the Board should be kept apprised of any developments.

It remains to be seen whether CRCS will mention specific AI models that students tend to lean toward, such as ChatGPT, and what kind of wording will be used to restrict someone from using it.

But that wasn’t the only topic that was tackled during the revision process. The Review Committee has also found that several of their dress code policies are heavily oriented toward female language.

In order to create a more inclusive environment, all specific mentions of things like “short shorts, spaghetti straps and bare midriffs” have been taken out of the code to be replaced by more gender neutral terms.

In the wake of some confusion following the change, the Board clarified that these things are not suddenly allowed, and it is merely the wording that is being altered.

Superintendent Sickles said that he supported the change to make the student dress code “less concrete,” as it gives presiding administrators more power to make a judgment call when they need to.

Finally, having heard no public comment on the matter, the Board moved to adopt the newly revised code of conduct, setting the changes in place for the next school year.