School Year Starts In Manassas With No Mention Of AI Use In Student Code Of Conduct

MANASSAS, VA – Public schools in Manassas begin classes on Wednesday, but the student code of conduct all families will receive won't mention one pressing academic issue: AI use in schoolwork.

The Manassas City School Board voted at the end of July to approve a code of conduct that makes no explicit mention of the use of artificial intelligence in schoolwork, after a debate over how it could accurately be detected.

At a meeting on July 14, School Board member Sarah Brescia said the school system’s policy on cheating, plagiarism and dishonesty “could use some clarification” on the use of generative artificial intelligence. She recommended a specific prohibition on using AI for independent assignments and on presenting AI-generated work as original work. She said the subject should be mentioned in the student code of conduct because it is accessible and sent directly to every student.

However, other school board members raised concerns about how the policy would be enforced and whether teachers would be able to reliably detect AI-generated text, as the school system doesn’t currently have specific detection software.

Board member Jill Spall suggested the 2026-2027 school year be a learning period so the board could figure out what enforcement would look like.

On July 28, the board voted 6 to 1 for a code of conduct with no language about AI use. Those voting against noted that staff had not had any particular training on detecting AI, that detection software remained imperfect and that introducing the burden of hunting for AI-generated work risked making an already subjective process more so. Those against the change also said they hadn’t had time to refine possible language to refer to AI in their code of conduct.

Several other local school districts do have explicit references to AI use in schoolwork. Prince William County Public Schools explicitly mention AI use in its section on cheating in its code of behavior. Alexandria Public Schools say AI may not be used to violate any policy or the student code of conduct. Arlington County Public Schools are reported to be working on a comprehensive AI policy. Stafford County schools already have one.