BY ELAINE GOODMAN
Daily Post Correspondent
The Mountain View-Los Altos High School District is eyeing a ban on glasses equipped with cameras and artificial intelligence, as concerns increase nationally that the eyewear makes it easier to cheat on tests and violate people’s privacy.
The district’s board will discuss the potential ban tonight.
The policy the board will consider states: “Students shall not wear, activate or use artificial intelligence-enabled eyewear, including ‘smart glasses,’ on any school campus at any time during the school day.”
That policy is stricter than the district’s rules on cellphones. For the most part, cellphones can’t be used while class is in session, except in an emergency or with teacher permission. But cell phones may be used on campus during non-teaching time.
Smart glasses, such as Ray-Ban Meta, can take photos and videos, play music, make phone calls, and interact with an AI assistant. Meta says its AI sees what the user sees through the glasses.
That has raised concerns about cheating on tests. The College Board, which runs the SAT test, banned students from wearing smart glasses while taking the exam starting in March. Phones and smart watches were already prohibited.
Sneak photos
Privacy is another worry. Meta’s smart glasses can take photos or video of whatever the user is seeing, without the subject necessarily knowing.
The Mountain View-Los Altos High School District said it has proposed the ban on smart glasses to “protect student and staff privacy and reduce potential disruptions to the instructional environment.”
The Sequoia Union High School District has already addressed the smart glasses issue, with a policy that limits the use of a variety of devices starting in the 2026-27 school year.
In June, the board approved a ban on “mobile communication devices” — including smart phones, flip phones, tablets, smart watches and smart glasses —during instructional time. Students must turn off the devices and store them in a designated area until class is over.
Avoiding distractions
The policy is intended to “help our students thrive without the constant distraction of social media and text messages,” the district said on its website.
Sequoia Union’s new policy is at least in part to meet the requirements of Assembly Bill 3216, the Phone-Free School Act, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September 2024. The law requires every school district in the state to develop a policy banning or limiting the use of smartphones on campus by July 1, 2026.
Palo Alto Unified School District’s policy on mobile devices, approved in November, says high school students may use smartphones or other mobile communication devices on campus during noninstructional time. The devices must be turned off when class is in session. The policy doesn’t specifically mention smart glasses.
The policy says that mobile devices “shall not be used in any manner which infringes on the privacy rights of any other person.”
A national issue
Smart glasses are being scrutinized across the U.S.
A Utah law that took effect July 1 bans students’ use of cell phones, smart watches and AI glasses during school hours. The law tells school boards to write policies that make exceptions for cases such as emergencies or medical issues.
Some courts have banned AI glasses due to concerns about unauthorized recordings. Smart glasses were banned in New York state courthouses starting July 20.
Illinois lawmakers passed a bill in June that bans wearing smart glasses while driving. The concern is that the glasses can project images into a driver’s line of sight. The bill awaits Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature.
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