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The Mountain View Los Altos High School District is poised to ban smart glasses, with the school board reviewing policy language this week that would prohibit their use on campus.
Under a revised version of the district’s “mobile communication devices” policy, students would not be allowed to wear, activate or use the AI powered glasses during the school day. Smart glasses have built-in tech allowing the wearer to send texts, make calls, listen to music and take pictures and videos.
Board members were supportive of the ban when they reviewed the updated policy at a Monday, Aug. 3, meeting. They are expected to formally vote on the change on Aug. 17, according to Teri Faught, the district’s associate superintendent of educational services.
Faught told the board that administrators wanted to explicitly ban smart glasses to be proactive and eliminate potential ambiguity.
“We want, instead of waiting for an incident to occur, to be in front of this and make the communication clear – clear is kind – to our students, so that they’re very well aware that these glasses are left in the bag or not brought on campus at all,” Faught said.
Trustee Catherine Vonnegut noted the district has had to iterate on its policies in the past, as new technologies have emerged and created unintended consequences. Smart glasses, she added, create possibilities for cheating and recording other students without their knowledge.
“This makes it clear that, nada, we’re not doing that on our campus,” Vonnegut said.
Board president Thida Cornes also backed the policy, but suggested that the district should add broader restrictions on recording to its artificial intelligence policy.
“Instead of being device-specific, I would like to create a device-neutral policy that bans recording others without their permission,” Cornes said.
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Perhaps Ms Cornes is unaware that California is a two-party state, making it illegal to record anyone without their permission. That law is already on the books.
I’m aware of California’s privacy laws. My concern is that students do not necessarily know the law, and we have had students record others without permission. I believe our district policy should make expectations clear and apply regardless of the technology being used — smart glasses, phones, watches, or devices that haven’t been invented yet.