Pennsbury School District Cell Phone Policy (2026-27)

Pennsbury School District enrolled 9,475 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. In August 2026 the superintendent announced a districtwide rule for instructional time. Act 117 extends it to the whole day.

Pennsbury phone rules today

In a letter posted August 24, 2026, Superintendent Thomas A. Smith said that beginning in September:

• All schools: students keep cell phones and personal digital devices silenced and stored away during instructional time, unless a teacher directs use for educational purposes.
• Outside school: the district pointed families to the Lightspeed Parent Portal for managing screen time on school devices.
• Next steps: a Technology Use Review Committee of parents, educators and administrators was set to meet in the fall.

School pages describe phones as off and away during school hours at some buildings, with parent pickup after violations.

What Act 117 requires of Pennsbury 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	Pennsbury today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Silenced and stored during instructional time	Extend to lunch, homeroom and passing time.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Stored away	Spell out the storage 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	Teacher-directed educational 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	Superintendent letter	Board-adopted policy, posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

The new Technology Use Review Committee is a natural place to plan the 2027-28 change.

Where LockedIn fits

Pennsbury already uses Lightspeed to manage school devices. LockedIn does the same job for students' own phones during the day, locking them from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect. It can run alongside whatever storage each school uses.

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 Pennsbury area

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