Does Your Kid's School Have an AI Policy? 7 Questions to Ask Before the First Bell

Here in Georgia, the first bell rings in a few weeks — most metro Atlanta districts are back the first week of August. And this year, there's a question that belongs on every parent's open-house list next to bus routes and lunch accounts: what's the AI policy?

If that feels premature, it isn't. It's late.

AI is already in your kid's classroom — a new state audit proves it

In June 2026, the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts released a statewide review of AI use in Georgia classrooms. The findings, in plain terms:

• 95% of Georgia teachers use AI for instructional planning at least occasionally — more than half use it weekly.
• A majority of high school teachers report students using AI on assignments at least half the time.
• 27% of teachers received neither training nor guidance on AI.
• Most middle and high school teachers who see students using AI believe it's hurting their learning.

Read those together and the picture is clear: the technology arrived before the rulebook. Georgia's Department of Education published statewide AI guidance in January 2025 and appointed an AI ethics officer, and some districts — Gwinnett County among them — have built thoughtful frameworks. But state guidance is voluntary, district adoption is uneven, and more than a quarter of the teachers actually in the room with your child got no instructions at all.

Your kid's school might have a careful, well-communicated AI policy. It might have a one-line ban nobody enforces. It might have nothing. From the outside, all three look identical — until you ask.

The 7 questions to ask

Bring these to open house, the first newsletter reply, or a five-minute email to the principal. You're not looking for perfect answers — you're looking for whether the school has answers.

1. Do you have a written AI policy — and can I read it?

The baseline. If the answer is a document, great. If it's "we're working on it," ask when. If it's a blank look, everything below is being decided classroom by classroom, improvised.

2. What counts as cheating with AI here — and is it the same in every classroom?

The Georgia audit found students using AI on assignments constantly. If one teacher allows AI brainstorming and the next treats it as plagiarism, your kid isn't being tested on integrity — they're being tested on mind-reading. Consistency is the policy.

3. Which AI tools are approved for students, and how were they vetted?

Georgia's own DOE guidance recommends districts maintain a vetted, approved tool list evaluated on ethics, education, and privacy. Ask if that list exists and what the vetting looked for — especially whether tools were checked for COPPA and FERPA compliance before students were logged into them.

4. What data do those tools collect from my child, and where does it go?

This is the question schools are least prepared for and parents have the most right to ask. Free AI tools are rarely free — the product is often the data. Who signed the data agreement? Can you see it?

5. Have the teachers actually been trained?

Not "sent a PDF" — trained. Statewide, 27% of teachers got neither training nor guidance. A policy nobody was taught isn't a policy; it's a liability disclaimer.

6. How will you tell me when AI is used with my child?

Transparency shouldn't require an audit. Whether AI is grading, tutoring, or generating lessons, parents should hear it from the school first — not from their kid, and not from the news.

7. What happens when a student uses AI to talk about something serious?

The hardest one, and after the past two years of headlines, no longer hypothetical. If a student tells a school-provided AI tool something alarming — about their safety, their mental health, another student — does anything happen? Does anyone find out? Most general-purpose tools have no answer. That should be a dealbreaker, not a footnote.

What good looks like

A school with its act together will answer with some version of: a written policy aligned to state guidance, a vetted tool list with signed data agreements, trained teachers, consistent academic-integrity rules, and proactive parent communication. That's not a fantasy standard — it's roughly what GaDOE's own guidance asks districts to build, and some Georgia districts already have.

And if the school's answer to question 3 is a general-purpose chatbot rated 13+ with no visibility for anyone — you now know exactly what to say, because you read question 7.

The conversation is the point

You don't need to arrive as an adversary. Teachers didn't ask for this transition, and the audit shows most are navigating it with little support. The best version of this conversation makes you an ally to the school in getting it right — and makes clear that parents are watching not because they distrust teachers, but because nobody else is going to advocate for their kid's data, learning, and safety.

The first bell is coming. Ask before it rings.

Want the version of this for teachers? We're working on a ready-to-adapt AI syllabus statement — three versions, from restrictive to structured-use — for classrooms navigating this right now. And if your school is evaluating AI tools built for students — with COPPA compliance, parent visibility, and safety alerts by design — that's what HeyOtto for School is.

A few more questions parents ask

Should parents ask schools about AI policies?

Yes. A June 2026 Georgia state audit found 95% of teachers using AI for class preparation while 27% received no training or guidance — meaning AI use in many classrooms is improvised. Asking for the written policy is the fastest way to learn whether your child's school has one.

Does Georgia have an official AI policy for schools?

Georgia's Department of Education released statewide AI guidance ("Leveraging AI in the K-12 Setting") in January 2025 and appointed an AI ethics and impact officer. The guidance is voluntary — individual districts decide whether and how to adopt it.

What should a school AI policy include?

At minimum: consistent academic-integrity rules across classrooms, a vetted list of approved tools checked for COPPA/FERPA compliance, teacher training, parent notification when AI is used with students, and a plan for handling concerning student disclosures to AI tools.

Related reading

Are AI Chatbots Safe for Kids? Parent Safety Guide