Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland voted 6-1 to restrict student use of generative AI from pre-K through 12th grade. The policy is not an absolute prohibition. It preserves exceptions for AI-literacy instruction and disability accommodations, though enforcement details and the precise scope of those exceptions were still being worked out after the vote, according to Fox5 DC.
The Pilot That Preceded the Reversal
The district had cleared Gemini as its only evaluated tool meeting Maryland’s safety and privacy standards, then reversed course before the pilot could take hold.
Scott Murphy, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction, told GovTech that Gemini was chosen because it was the only tool the district had evaluated and found to meet Maryland’s standards for student safety and privacy. The pilot ran exclusively through FCPS accounts inside a secured district Google environment and required explicit teacher permission.
The district’s standing “Assume No AI” approach already treated AI as off-limits for assignments unless a teacher explicitly permitted it. Some board members who supported the broader restriction objected that Gemini had been introduced without adequate notice to parents, according to TechSpot.
The Concerns That Drove the Vote
Board members and educators pointed to safety risks, academic integrity concerns, and practical classroom-management problems as reasons to expand the restriction to all grade levels.
Board members raised specific concerns during deliberations: AI-generated inappropriate images of students, bullying, and potentially harmful mental-health advice. Educators and board members also reported concerns that teachers could not reliably disable Gemini on student devices, complicating classroom management and making it harder to confirm that submitted work was a student’s own. GovTech notes that district officials did not directly confirm whether teachers had a reliable method to turn Gemini off.
Justin Heid, president of the Frederick County Education Association, said some educators were returning to paper-and-pencil assignments over concern that students might use AI to complete computer-based tasks, per TechSpot. Supporters of the restriction argued that reliance on AI would erode foundational skills in writing, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
The sole dissenting vote reflected concern that applying the restriction through 12th grade could leave older students less prepared for college.
How Frederick County Compares
Frederick County’s grade-level coverage is broader than restrictions adopted in New York City and Los Angeles, though all three districts are still working through implementation details.
New York City introduced a one-year moratorium on student-facing generative AI through eighth grade, per AP reporting. Limited high-school AI initiatives and AI-literacy instruction remain permitted, and companion chatbots are prohibited across all grades. Los Angeles Unified temporarily blocked student access to generative AI on district-owned devices at all grade levels while developing a broader policy, per the Los Angeles Times. That moratorium does not govern personal-device use.
Frederick County’s restriction covers pre-K through 12th grade, making its grade-level scope broader than New York City’s moratorium. Its preserved exceptions for AI-literacy instruction and child safety accommodations share some features with New York City’s approach, though Frederick County’s implementation details remain unresolved.
What Comes Next
The practical effect of the restriction will depend on how the district defines AI, handles exceptions, and communicates the policy to families and teachers.
How the district enforces the policy on school-issued devices, and whether it extends to personal devices, remains an open question. Until those details are settled, students, parents, and educators are operating under a broad restriction whose boundaries are still being drawn.
