Technology
At the IT Department of the Mountain Lakes School District, our mission is to empower educators, students, and staff with cutting-edge technology solutions that enhance teaching, learning, and administrative efficiency. We are committed to providing reliable, secure, and innovative IT services that support the educational goals of our K-12 community.
Technology Support
The IT Department supports all aspects of information technology, including Internet connectivity, wireless networking, various databases and servers, the phone system, and the software and devices used every day.
- To submit a ticket please email us at helpdesk@mlschools.org
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
- How can these Tools Support Students?
- What Policies & Procedures Guide AI Use in Mountain Lakes School District?
- How can students Use AI Ethically and Effectively?
- What are some Insightful Resources for Parents & Families to learn more about AI?
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Computer-based systems that analyze information and generate outputs or support actions that typically require human-like reasoning, pattern recognition, prediction, or content creation. In this plan, AI includes generative AI tools as well as other AI-enabled systems used in educational or operational contexts.
How can these Tools Support Students?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can enhance learning when used thoughtfully and under teacher guidance. In Mountain Lakes School District, approved AI tools are designed to:
- Personalize learning by providing explanations, examples, and differentiated support.
- Help students brainstorm ideas, organize thoughts, and overcome writer's block.
- Support research by summarizing information and helping students identify key concepts.
- Improve accessibility through features such as translation, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and captioning.
- Provide timely feedback that helps students revise and improve their work.
- Encourage creativity, problem-solving, and responsible digital literacy skills.
AI is intended to support learning, not replace student thinking, creativity, or effort. Students remain responsible for understanding their work and demonstrating their own knowledge.
What Policies & Procedures Guide AI Use in Mountain Lakes School District?
The Mountain Lakes School District follows Board Policy: 2365 - ACCEPTABLE USE OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) and the District AI Plan to ensure AI is used safely, responsibly, and ethically.
Key expectations include:
- Only district-approved AI tools may be used for instructional purposes.
- Teachers determine when AI is appropriate for an assignment and clearly communicate expectations.
- Student privacy is protected through compliance with FERPA, COPPA, PPRA, CIPA, and district technology policies.
- AI tools are reviewed for privacy, security, instructional value, fairness, and bias before approval.
- Human judgment always remains central. AI assists teachers and students but never replaces educator decision-making.
- Students must follow academic integrity expectations, disclose AI use when required, and may not present AI-generated work as entirely their own.
- The district continuously reviews and updates AI guidance as technology evolves.
These procedures help ensure AI strengthens learning while protecting student privacy, safety, and academic integrity.
How can students Use AI Ethically and Effectively?
Students should view AI as a learning partner rather than a shortcut.
Students are encouraged to:
- Ask their teacher before using AI on an assignment.
- Use AI to brainstorm, generate ideas, receive feedback, or deepen understanding.
- Verify AI-generated information for accuracy, bias, and reliability.
- Protect personal information and never enter sensitive or confidential data.
- Think critically about AI responses rather than accepting them without question.
- Make the final work their own by adding their own ideas, analysis, and voice.
- Be honest about when AI was used and follow teacher expectations for disclosure or citation.
- Use AI respectfully and never to bully, deceive, impersonate, or spread misinformation.
Responsible AI use helps students build the critical thinking, creativity, and digital citizenship skills they will need in college, careers, and everyday life.
What are some Insightful Resources for Parents & Families to learn more about AI?
Parents and families play an important role in helping children develop healthy, responsible AI habits. The following organizations provide reliable information about AI, digital citizenship, and online safety:
District AI Plan: Review the district's AI policy and expectations for student use.
Common Sense Media – AI for Families: Parent guides, reviews, and practical advice for discussing AI with children.
TeachAI: National initiative providing guidance for families and educators on responsible AI in education.
Google Families: Digital safety resources and guidance for families using Google technologies.
ConnectSafely: Independent nonprofit offering practical tips on AI, digital citizenship, and online safety.
TeachAI: National initiative providing guidance for families and educators on responsible AI in education.
Google Families: Digital safety resources and guidance for families using Google technologies.
ConnectSafely: Independent nonprofit offering practical tips on AI, digital citizenship, and online safety.
These resources can help families better understand both the opportunities and limitations of AI while supporting safe, responsible, and productive use at home and in school.
Digital Citizenship
We are committed to fostering responsible and ethical digital citizenship among our students, staff, and the broader community. Digital citizenship is the practice of using technology, particularly the internet, in a responsible, respectful, and safe manner. As technology continues to play a central role in education and everyday life, it is essential that we all understand and uphold the principles of digital citizenship.
This new lens focuses on empowering learners to be in community with others in online spaces and showing them that digital citizenship goes beyond conversations about personal responsibility. It’s about being active citizens who see possibilities instead of problems and opportunities instead of risks as they curate a positive and effective digital footprint." - ISTE.org
We've found some great resources from Google's Be Internet Awesome, Common Sense Media and ISTE.org and organized them to make it easier for parents, students, and teachers to access what they need.
For Teachers
K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum Scope and Sequence. Common Sense Media has put together a free comprehensive Curriculum designed to empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world. From lesson plans, videos, student interactives, and assessments, to professional learning and family outreach materials, this turnkey Curriculum provides schools with everything teachers need to take a whole-community approach to digital citizenship.
Teach Be Internet Awesome with Custom Google Slide Presentations - Google has partnered with the educators at Pear Deck to create custom, interactive presentations to accompany the Be Internet Awesome curriculum. Students engage and respond to questions from their individual classroom device, while teachers can:
- Control the pace of the lesson
- View student answers from their Pear Deck Teacher Dashboard
- Share completed lessons with students and parents through Google Drive
Google's Be Internet Awesome Digital Citizenship Safety Curriculum (downloadable PDF file)
Google's Be Internet Awesome Pledge (downloadable PDF file)
Google for Education Teacher Center - Free Online Digital Citizenship and Safety Course for Teachers
For Students
Google's Be Internet Awesome - To make the most of the Internet, kids need to be prepared to make smart decisions. Be Internet Awesome teaches kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence.
Interland - Interland is an adventure-packed online game that makes learning about digital safety and citizenship interactive and fun—just like the Internet itself. Here, kids will help their fellow Internauts combat badly behaved hackers, phishers, oversharers, and bullies by practicing the skills they need to be good digital citizens.
For Parents
Good Digital Parenting - Tips for teaching your child to respect their friends online.
A Parent's Guide to Cyberbullying - Bullying is a serious, long-standing social problem that now occurs in digital spaces as well as physical ones. But, contrary to what you might have heard or read, it isn’t just a youth problem, it isn’t getting worse, and it isn’t more of a problem online than offline. Because of the rise of social media in the middle of the last decade, bullying and peer harassment have been getting a lot of news coverage, so – rather than increased bullying – what we’re really seeing is increased attention to it and a lot more concern about it.
A Parent's Guide to Cybersecurity - There are tremendous benefits to being online, but there are also some device and network security risks, both digital and social. The digital kind involves apps and software that jeopardize the security of devices and the data on them. The social kind, often referred to as “social engineering,” is when people are tricked into putting their privacy and security at risk. There are things you and your kids can do that can greatly reduce the chances of something going wrong.
Tips for Protecting Kids and Teens from Identity Theft - You might think that you have to be an adult to be an identity theft victim, but that’s not the case. Children are also at risk
Practical Tips for Keeping Kids Safe Online - It offers valuable advice on setting parental controls, discussing online safety with children, and choosing age-appropriate platforms.
Internet Safety
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Never leave your device unattended
One minute it’s there and the next minute it’s gone. Smartphones, laptops and tablets have a decent resale value. Besides, now cybercriminals make more money by stealing the data that’s stored in these devices than from reselling them. Information like passwords, addresses, birthdates of family members, and Social Security numbers fetch a pretty price in the underground economy. Criminals can patch together the information on all these devices to commit identity theft. Children make excellent targets for device theft because there is a high probability for all this information to be on their devices due to school and sports activities that require this information. Teach your kids how valuable these devices are, and to keep them close. -
Click with caution
Whether subtle or bold, phishing is dangerous. One careless click is all it takes for malicious software to get into devices and wreak havoc. Talk to your kids about not automatically clicking on links in emails. Show them how to hover your mouse over the link to make sure it is going to a reputable address. Spelling mistakes, odd emails from popular companies, and threatening messages urging quick action are some of the telltale signs of a phishing email designed to install malware on your device. When in doubt, do not click on the link. Instead go straight to the company’s website and contact the person concerned or the customer service department to ensure such a mail was sent to you. -
Never ever share your password
You may think that everyone knows the importance of keeping passwords a secret — but maybe your children don’t. After all, 76% of people share passwords. It takes just one moment of poor decision-making and you risk exposing everything stored in your device. Teach your kids to protect accounts with strong, unique passwords that use a combination of at least 10 upper and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers to confuse password-stealing bots that scour the Web. Change your passwords every three months and don’t use the same password across different accounts. -
Be wary of using social media
Many social networks require users to be at least 13 years of age, but some allow children to sign up with their parent’s permission. If your children have accounts, check their privacy settings. The default settings may expose more information than you’d like. Change settings to the highest level of privacy. You never know who is snooping around their social media profiles. Teach your kids not to accept friend requests from people they — and you — don’t know. Some friend requests come from bots that will spam friends lists. There are many risks that come with social accounts, but stalking and bullying are two very real dangers that can haunt kids online and off. Publicly broadcasting your location is not the safest thing to do. To deter stalkers, disable location services on your child’s phone and apps. -
Be a good online citizen
Remember, the Internet is forever. So anything said online stays online. Nothing really gets deleted, not even on Snapchat. Unfortunately, since the Internet is the new playground, bullying can plague children offline and on. Teach your children to practice good online etiquette and to never say mean things. Instead, they should be kind and not participate in negative posts. Let them know that the law protects cyberbullying victims, so they should tell you if they are being cyberbullied or know someone who is.
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