Franklin High School adopts a cell-phone ban that includes smart watches

What happened

The committee approved Franklin High School’s 2026–27 handbook with a new cell-phone ban that also includes smart watches. The handbook also updates rules on community service, AI-related academic dishonesty and deepfakes, and tardiness.

Why it matters to families

Students and families will need to follow new limits on personal devices at school, including smart watches; the other handbook revisions change expectations for academic conduct and tardiness.

The evidence

The August 25, 2026 minutes describe the FHS handbook changes as including a cell-phone policy, community-service requirement, AI and academic-dishonesty rules, deepfakes, and tardiness. In discussion, the committee referred to the cell-phone ban as impactful and confirmed that smart watches were included in the language. The committee approved the FPS handbooks 6–0, with one member absent. The minutes do not specify the ban’s implementation details.

The source