North Penn School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

North Penn School District enrolled 12,911 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. It already treats its middle schools differently from its high school, and Act 117 ends that difference.

North Penn phone rules today

North Penn's split was described to the Delaware Valley Journal in July 2025 by Pete Nicholson, the district's administrator of secondary education and renovations:

• Middle schools: bell to bell.
• North Penn High School: class time only. Phones are off and away during instruction. Nicholson said enforcement was hard to keep consistent and that "this summer, the district is working to streamline enforcement for teachers." The district was not then considering an all-day high school ban.
• Student pushback. A middle school student petition asking for phone access at lunch gathered more than 100 signatures.

The student paper, the Knight Crier, reported in October 2024 that a first high school violation brings a call home, a second an office referral and detention, and repeat violations more detentions or a day without phone access.

What Act 117 requires of North Penn 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 Penn today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Middle school bell to bell; high school class time only	End lunch and passing-time use at North Penn High.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Off and away during class at the high school	Choose how possession is restricted for the whole day at the high school.
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 published sources	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	Rules in school handbooks	Annual notice and PDE posting verification.

The middle school petition is a preview of the high school debate. Under Act 117, lunch counts as part of the school day, so the district would not have the option to allow lunch use at either level.

Where LockedIn fits

North Penn's stated problem is consistent enforcement across teachers. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, which takes the classroom-by-classroom judgment out of it. It can run alongside off-and-away rules or any storage the district adopts.

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 Penn area

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