Boyertown Area School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Boyertown Area School District enrolled 6,375 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. Its senior high skips warnings for phone violations but leaves four windows open during the day.

Boyertown phone rules today

From the Boyertown Area Senior High (BASH) student paper, the BASH Cub:

• Allowed windows (2024-25): phones and smart devices are permitted only "before HR, between classes, during lunch, and in Open Campus."
• No warnings. Each infraction means a lunch detention, with progressive discipline for repeats.
• 2025-26: the strict policy continued. Phones and AirPods may not be visible in class, and getting caught means an automatic write-up and after-school detention.

The rule is in the BASH student handbook. Elementary and middle school rules were not found.

What Act 117 requires of Boyertown by 2027-28

Gov. Josh Shapiro approved SB 1014 on October 26, 2026. It is Act 117 of 2026, and it took effect that day. The text is Printer's No. 1697 on palegis.us. Every school entity must adopt a bell-to-bell policy by the start of the 2027-28 school year.

Act 117 requires	Boyertown today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Before homeroom, between classes, lunch and Open Campus allowed	End all four windows.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Phones with students, out of sight in class	Choose a whole-day possession method.
Required exceptions: documented medical need of the student or an immediate family member, IEP or 504, English learner translation, limited teacher-approved instructional use	Not stated	Write in all four required exceptions.
Optional: a principal may approve another exception for up to one school day, with notice to the superintendent within 5 days after	Not stated	Optional one-day principal exception with notice within 5 days.
Written notice each year and on enrollment: a staffed way to reach your child, and how to sign up for emergency notifications	Not stated	Written notice each year and on enrollment of a staffed contact method and emergency sign-up.
Tell families, teachers and students about the policy each year; verify to PDE within 5 business days that it is posted online	Handbook	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Open Campus time counts as part of the school day under Act 117, because Act 117 covers all instructional and non-instructional time on school property.

Where LockedIn fits

BASH already enforces strictly but allows four windows. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so those windows could close without adding collection points.

Act 117 has no general student emergency-use exception. The closest tool is the optional principal exception, which is capped at one school day and reported to the superintendent within five days afterward. LockedIn's Emergency Mode unlocks every phone on campus at once, so districts should have counsel review how that fits their emergency procedures and Act 117's exception rules.

Private and independent schools in the Boyertown area

Act 117's definition of "school entity" includes private schools, approved private schools and nonpublic schools, so the Boyertown area's private, independent and parochial schools need their own bell-to-bell policy by 2027-28. For those schools, the governing body plays the role the superintendent plays in a district, including receiving notice of any principal-approved exception.

Draft a policy that tracks Act 117's required exceptions and family notices with our policy generator.