Your first week with an AI permission slip

A link arrives from your district, and it asks you to choose yes or not yet for a list of AI tools. Here is what to do in the first week, in order.

Day one: read the card

1. Open the link on a phone or computer. No account is needed, and the link is personal to your family.
2. Read the tool's name and what the card says it does in class.
3. Read who can see what your student types.
4. Read what happens if you choose not yet, so you know the alternative before you decide.
5. Note the policy version and the date the privacy agreement was signed.

Day two: ask your student one question

Ask what the tool does in their class. If your student has never heard of it, tell the teacher. A tool being approved for a grade does not mean it will be used with your student, and a teacher will usually welcome the question.

Day three: choose and keep the record

Tap yes or not yet. You can change the answer later, from the same link. Save a screenshot or note the date you answered, so you have a record of what your family decided.

Day four to seven: close the loose ends

1. Check whether there are more cards waiting, one per tool.
2. Ask who to contact if a card is unclear: usually your student's teacher first, then the school's technology office.
3. Ask whether your district has a student data privacy agreement with each company named on a card.
4. Ask how the district tells you when a tool list changes, so you are not surprised in March.

Two questions to keep handy

"Who can see what my student types, and for how long?" and "What does my student do instead if I say not yet?" A district should be able to answer both without a meeting.

If your district uses Kinsent AI, both answers are on the card, and nothing you do in the portal asks for your student's name: districts keep names and work from student ID numbers.