Carmichaels Area School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Carmichaels Area School District in Greene County enrolled 940 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. Its 2025 debate was led by students.

Carmichaels Area phone rules today

The Herald-Standard reported on September 22, 2025 that after a Yondr presentation, students, parents and community members asked the board to step back. Phone rules had been left to each teacher. The board voted for a one-month trial requiring phones in lockers from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. "We were looking at our test scores and our students and trying to work on ways that we could get them communicating and get them focusing on the academics," Superintendent Amy Todd said, adding that grant funding could pay for pouches.

Senior Emma Bates, who said she had talked with hundreds of students, called the locker trial a "more fiscally responsible alternative" and asked for access at lunch or the free MIKES period for rides, jobs, college courses and two-factor logins. "We're just asking to go back to teachers' control of their own classrooms," she said.

Parents

Library director and parent Nicole Marshall preferred wall holders like those at Jefferson-Morgan or Bethel Park: "By taking away these tools completely, we are denying them the chance to learn how to responsibly manage the most important productivity device of their generation." Parent and teacher Katie Caffrey said, "You cannot take something away from someone and expect them to be able to monitor themselves." Board President Fred Menhart told the speakers, "This is how you get things done, and we appreciate it."

What Act 117 requires of Carmichaels Area 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	Carmichaels Area today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Lockers 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (trial, 2025)	Aligned if kept; confirm the outcome.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Lockers; pouches considered	Aligned: Act 117 lets boards decide possession.
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	Add medical, IEP/504 and English learner translation.
Optional: a principal may approve another exception for up to one school day, with notice to the superintendent within 5 days after	Previously teacher discretion	Teacher use must meet Act 117's three conditions; other exceptions capped at one day.
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	Draft electronic devices policy	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Where LockedIn fits

Carmichaels students worried about cost and about a sudden jump to pouches. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so there are no pouches to buy, and a two-factor login or a ride text after the bell is not a locker trip.

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 Carmichaels

Act 117's definition of "school entity" includes private schools, approved private schools and nonpublic schools, so Carmichaels'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.