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Muscle Shoals board adopts Focus Act-driven cell-phone ban, updates internet-safety policy and 2025–26 handbooks
Summary
At its June 24 meeting the Muscle Shoals City Schools Board of Education approved amendments to district policy 6.2 (electronic communication devices) and policy 4.09 (internet safety and technology use) and adopted changes to the 2025–26 student handbooks to comply with the Alabama Focus Act.
Muscle Shoals City Schools Board of Education on June 24 approved amendments to district policies that implement the Alabama legislature's new Focus Act and adopted related changes to the 2025–26 student handbooks.
Superintendent Dr. Holden told the board the Focus Act requires the district "by July to adopt a new cell phone policy." He described the law’s required measure as effectively a ban: "They call it a cell phone ban, if you will." The board voted to amend policy 6.2 on electronic communication devices, to update policy 4.09 on internet safety and use of technology, and to adopt handbook changes that also include attendance updates and other edits the superintendent said bring the handbooks into compliance with state law and federal guidelines.
The board discussed and voted on each policy item separately. Board members moved and seconded the motions and the chair called the votes; the motions carried. The amendments to policy 4.09, policy 6.2 and the 2025–26 handbooks will be filed with district records, and the superintendent indicated the handbooks will incorporate the new policy language before being issued to families.
The handbook changes mentioned by the superintendent include the cell-phone policy updates derived from the Focus Act and unspecified attendance-related edits. The superintendent characterized the internet-safety update as a "very minor addition or edit" to existing policy 4.09. No additional implementation dates or enforcement procedures were specified in the board discussion recorded in the meeting.
Board members did not record an extended debate on the substance of the policy text during the meeting. The superintendent presented the changes, individual board members made the motions and seconded them, and the chair called votes that carried the amendments into effect at the meeting.
The Focus Act is the state-level authority cited by the superintendent as the reason for the policy changes; the district’s policies and the 2025–26 handbooks were amended to bring local rules into compliance.
