New policy proposed to let students leave campus for religious instruction and earn elective credit

What happened

At the September 8, 2026 meeting, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Desiree Smith introduced a proposed new board policy (Section 7, item 14) implementing the Alabama Release Time Credit Act, which would allow students to be released during the school day to attend off-campus religious instruction through a sponsoring community/church organization and receive elective course credit without being marked absent. The policy was introduced for a required 30-day review period, with board action expected next month; it is not yet adopted.

Why it matters to families

This is a family-facing operating-policy change affecting student scheduling, attendance tracking, and instructional time district-wide; board members raised concerns about administrative burden, safety/liability, and impact on instructional minutes, and requested regular monitoring of the policy's effects once implemented.

The evidence

Transcript: "the Alabama Association of School Boards, AASB, recommends that if we do not already have a policy regarding this that we implement one... it sits for 30 days and then we'll come back and hopefully take action with this next month... the school district reserves the right to evaluate, approve, deny, suspend or revoke a request at any time."

The source