The many school districts in Bucks County are all handling AI’s disruption a little differently, according to a new analysis.
Technical.ly and the Bucks County Beacon surveyed every district in the county, asking about their policies around training, use and guardrails for students, faculty and staff.
Rather than settling on a single approach, districts across the county are experimenting with strategies as the technology spreads rapidly among students. Nationwide, 84% of students now use generative AI tools for schoolwork, according to the College Board.
Educators say keeping pace is increasingly important. Beyond preparing students for a workforce where AI skills are likely to be essential, the technology can also help stretched teachers manage their workloads.
AI can free up teachers’ time to work directly with students while strengthening lesson quality, said Michael Golden, vice dean of innovative programs and partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (GSE), which leads an initiative promoting AI literacy in schools across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
“[AI] extends the creativity of teachers and students,” Golden said. “It gives them tools to try and undertake new types of approaches to problem-solving and critical thinking and creation of materials.”
Neshaminy School District in Bucks County was selected to participate in the next round of Penn GSE’s program.
“Penn’s PASS program is a professional development resource designed to support K-12 systems strategically and ethically develop a plan for AI in education,” Assistant to the Superintendent for Secondary Education Kathryn Hinshaw said.
Four districts did not participate in the survey. Pennridge said via email it is currently developing a policy, while Morrisville and the two districts in Bristol did not respond.
Think tank, pilot, policy: 3 approaches to AI guidance
Neither Council Rock nor New Hope has adopted a formal AI policy.
Instead, New Hope-Solebury created an “AI think tank” made up of administrators and staff, charging the group with developing districtwide guidance and a shared philosophy. The team is designing a comprehensive K–12 AI literacy framework that builds student understanding over time, with an emphasis on critical thinking, ethical use and real-world applications.
“The goal is to leverage this evolving technology to enhance learning rather than hinder it,” the district said, also supporting parents and families with resources to help them better understand the tools.
Central Bucks is taking a more structured pilot approach.
This month, the district will launch an AI pilot program featuring Microsoft Copilot for high school students. At its Jan. 8 Education Committee meeting, Director of Technology and Innovation Jason Jaffe said the initiative will use Microsoft 365 enterprise data protection and is designed to build AI literacy, reinforce academic integrity and prepare students for college and careers.
Pennsbury, by contrast, already has both a formal policy and an administrative regulation in place.
The district provides AI assignment scales at the secondary and elementary levels to clarify expectations. For secondary students, a zero-to-five scale indicates how much AI assistance is permitted, and elementary scales are adapted for younger learners.
“We regularly conduct AI [professional development] to enhance staff understanding and promote its use for efficiency, personalization, lesson planning and the creation of materials,” Theresa Ricci, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at Pennsbury, said.
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In other parts of the Philadelphia region, higher education institutions are supporting schools through this transition.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education launched its Pioneering AI in School Systems (PASS) program in 2024 with the goal of teaching educators and administrators about the impact and applications of AI.
The program first completed a pilot with the School District of Philadelphia, then announced plans to expand to additional school districts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
Earlier this month, the PASS program announced which school districts and educational services units would be participating in the program. As a selected district, Neshaminy School District will receive support as it develops AI policies and learns how to incorporate the technology into its classrooms.
Keeping a close eye on the guardrails
To keep ethics at the heart of its policies, Central Bucks students will be required to sign an agreement to use AI responsibly, while parents can opt their students out of the program. The district is pairing that approach with structured guidance for teachers and staff.
“We are going to teach students to have green zone and red zone activity,” Jaffe said at the Jan. 8 meeting. “A red zone is a no, like ‘can I use this to write the answer to all my math problems,’ but ‘can I use it to analyze my thinking in math?’ Yes, if you want to do that, it would be a good thought partner for you.”
Rather than issuing a standalone policy, Central Bucks also developed an AI handbook and formed an AI administrative committee made up of teachers, administrators and stakeholders to “thoughtfully explore how AI tools can be used in [its] schools.”
New Hope reported it is currently using existing Board of School Directors policies as a guide for responsible AI use. District representatives have attended conferences focused on AI in education and “leveraged resources” from organizations such as the School Superintendents Association and the Consortium for School Networking.
The district also introduced a “Stoplight Guide” for secondary students and families that outlines appropriate AI use, and is incorporating student input in helping shape policies and practices as well.
Council Rock has consulted with AI research institutions to create a framework for classroom use. Andrea Mangold, director of educational innovation and strategic engagement, said in the survey that a strict policy may not be effective given how quickly the technology evolves.
“Instead, our ROCK-AI initiative keeps our students, staff and community informed and connected,” the district reported in the survey. The district said its guidelines, along with the approval of tools such as MagicSchool AI, were informed by that group.
The approaches suggest districts are prioritizing flexibility and collaboration as they navigate a fast-changing technology — but keeping a human in the loop is still central.
AI doesn’t replace the need for personal interaction with instructors. In fact, technology should complement both student and teacher experiences, Susan Aldridge, president of Thomas Jefferson University, previously told Technical.ly.
“We’ll never take the human element out of the teaching, out of the advising, out of the support for our students,” Aldridge said, “but we certainly want to be able to take advantage of the technology that is going to permeate our work life as well as our personal lives.”
