Northern Cambria School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Northern Cambria School District in Cambria County enrolled 767 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. It took a locker proposal to parents in 2024.

Northern Cambria phone rules today

Mainline Newspapers reported on July 18, 2024 that the district held a town hall on July 10, 2024 to review policies headed for a board vote. The phone proposal would make students keep phones in their lockers all day, including lunch, with random checks, and detention or confiscation for violations. The superintendent at the time described lockable pouches and state bans elsewhere. Parents raised cheating, bullying and inappropriate photos and videos, and the elementary principal said the school had dealt with inappropriate photos and videos on the bus.

Emergency calls

Parents asked how students would reach home in an emergency. The superintendent said students may call from the office under supervision; attendees worried students would be uncomfortable sharing private matters there. "It's not black and white," she said. "We want to take into account the kids, their age, their responsibility level, their parents' concerns, and we want to be able to do all of those and the educational concerns."

What Act 117 requires of Northern Cambria 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	Northern Cambria today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Proposed: all day, lunch included (2024)	Aligned if adopted.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Lockers, random checks	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	Not stated	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	Supervised office calls	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	Board vote	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Where LockedIn fits

Northern Cambria's parents worried about private calls from the office. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, and Emergency Mode unlocks every phone on campus at once, subject to counsel review, without random locker checks.

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 Northern Cambria

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