Council Rock School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Council Rock School District enrolled 10,403 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. Its high school rules move in the opposite direction from Act 117: they loosened lunch and hallway use while leaving class use to each teacher.

Council Rock phone rules today

Council Rock's rule is Board Policy 237, Electronic Devices, with school handbooks setting the details:

• High school: teacher discretion. The Council Rock High School South 2025-26 handbook says teachers are the "final arbiter" of phone use in their classrooms.
• Relaxed outside class. The same handbook says, "we have relaxed our stance on cell phone usage before school, after school, during lunches, and in hallways."
• Never in some places. Phones are banned in bathrooms and locker rooms, during testing and for unauthorized recordings.
• Elementary: a 2025-26 elementary handbook describes phones as off in backpacks, with no use at lunch or recess and parent pickup from the office after a violation.

What Act 117 requires of Council Rock 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	Council Rock today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	High school lunch, hallway and before-school use allowed; class use up to each teacher	The largest change of any district on our list: end lunch and hallway use and set one rule for every classroom.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Phones stay with students	Choose a possession method for the whole day.
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 in the handbook	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	Teacher discretion	Teacher-approved use must meet Act 117's three conditions; other exceptions capped at one school 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	Policy 237 online	Annual notice and PDE posting verification.

Where LockedIn fits

Council Rock would be moving from teacher discretion to a single districtwide rule. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so the same rule applies in every room. Teachers would no longer have to police it themselves.

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 Council Rock area

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