AI is allowed in class only when a teacher is directing it, and not at all unsupervised under 13

What happened

The district set out how generative AI may be used in its classrooms: every use must be teacher-directed and supervised, and students under 13 are limited to supervised group activities with approved tools. Helen Fort Middle School students use an AI writing tutor that gives personalised feedback. The district's stated worries are academic dishonesty, students using AI to skip the thinking a task is meant to test, and AI inventing facts that students have not been taught to check.

Why it matters to families

Families need to know when their child is allowed to use these tools for school work and when it counts as cheating. Pemberton's written AI policy, adopted in June 2025, leaves the practical rules to the classroom, so this is the clearest public statement of them.

The evidence

In the district's October 29, 2025 video message instructional coach Larry Zarz says 'all AI use must be teacher-directed and supervised at all times. And for students under the age of 13, their exposure to AI is restricted to supervised group activities with approved tools', names the middle school writing-tutor platform, and warns that 'AI is kind of notorious for just making stuff up'. Policy 2365, created and edited June 2025, is the governing policy.

The source