Penn Hills School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Penn Hills School District in Allegheny County enrolled 2,953 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. It has collected phones all day since 2022-23, according to the PA Unplugged tracker.

Penn Hills phone rules today

The high school's policies page says students turn in their cell phones to school personnel at the start of each school day; phones "will be securely stored and returned to students at the conclusion of the school day." At the high school, phones come back at the end of eighth period, with arrangements for students who attend Forbes Road East Career and Technical Center. At Linton Middle School, phones, smartwatches and wireless earbuds are collected in homeroom and returned at dismissal.

Consequences

A violation is refusing to hand over a phone or hiding one. First offense: the phone is returned at the end of the day. Second: it goes back to a parent. Third: the student spends the day in New Directions and a parent gets the phone at a negotiated time. Fourth: a parent conference and a plan in which the parent may be asked to let the school hold the phone indefinitely. Students who refuse to surrender a phone may be sent home for the day to return with a parent.

What Act 117 requires of Penn Hills 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	Penn Hills today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Collected at arrival, returned after eighth period	Aligned with the whole-day rule.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Staff-held	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	Write in all four required exceptions; a held phone must still be reachable for medical needs.
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	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	High school policies page	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Where LockedIn fits

Penn Hills already runs a whole-day rule with staff handling every phone twice a day. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so the district keeps the rule while ending the morning hand-in and the Forbes Tech workarounds, and it can run alongside storage during a transition.

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 Penn Hills

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