MADISON, Ala (WHNT) — The Focus Act will ban the use of cell phones during the school day starting this fall, and while that rule is the same for every school in the state, the guidelines and consequences in place will vary per school system.
“They’re not to be even be on that person,” Madison City School Superintendent Ed Nichols said. “The law talks about placing those in their cars or their lockers, or another designated area. For Madison, it will be their backpack or their purse to meet the law.”
Of course, there are a few exceptions for some students to access their phones. Some of these are for emergencies and individualized healthcare plans.
Shari Moore is the mother of three Madison City Schools students.
Her son, Clark, is heading into the fifth grade and happens to fall under one of these exceptions.
“He does have type one diabetes,” she said. He has a couple of devices that read his blood sugar.”
She said they used to be in constant communication with Clark about managing his sugar, but they learned this was actually doing more harm than good.
“What we found out is that it was actually more of a hindrance for him in the learning environment,” she said. “I wouldn’t have thought that going in, but we did put that into practice, and it really was a distraction for him, for his classmates, and for his teacher.”
Despite her son falling under the exception, she said she supports the Focus Act, saying it encourages a better learning environment and social skills outside of the classroom as well.
“From what my daughter has told me during lunch, everybody’s on their phone,” she said.
“You should be learning those social skills. We are sending you to school to learn those as well as education.”
Nichols said he supports the effort of enhancing learning in the classroom, but he wants to make sure the enforcement of the law doesn’t take away from the education.
“I don’t want teachers and administrators spending time dealing with a new law and all the intricacies of it, and that literally takes them away from focusing on instruction,” he said. “I’m a little concerned that the reach of it was a little farther, maybe, than it needed to be, but it’s the law and we’re going to follow it.”
The law says school systems must come up with punishments for policy violations by July 1st.
Nichols said they are still working on this proposal, but they are thinking it will fall under a “class two offense,” which will likely result in a suspension or loss of other privileges on campus.
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