North Allegheny School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

North Allegheny School District enrolled 8,613 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. Its districtwide rule is short, and most of the detail is set school by school.

North Allegheny phone rules today

North Allegheny's rule is Policy 237, Electronic Devices, summarized in the 2026 Code of Conduct:

• Educational use only, under the direction of the classroom teacher.
• Consequences: students may lose device privileges temporarily or permanently, and devices may be confiscated. The district may hold a device until a parent conference.

The student paper, The Uproar, has described middle school phones going in lockers and high school phones in classroom cubbies or pockets. The Code does not set a grade-level, all-day rule.

What Act 117 requires of North Allegheny 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	North Allegheny today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Teacher-directed educational use only; no all-day rule in the Code	Set an explicit all-day rule covering lunch and passing time.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Lockers (middle) and classroom cubbies (high) reported	Write the method into the policy 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	Teacher-directed use	Teacher use must meet Act 117's three conditions. Add medical, IEP/504 and English learner 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	Annual notice page for Policy 237	Already has an annual notice; add the PDE posting verification.

Where LockedIn fits

LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect. It can run alongside the lockers and cubbies North Allegheny schools already use.

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 North Allegheny area

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