Pocono Mountain School District Cell Phone Policy (2026-27)

Pocono Mountain School District enrolled 7,818 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. Its Policy 237 is one of the strictest on our list, and one of the few that addresses evacuations.

Pocono Mountain phone rules today

The 2026-27 elementary handbook quotes Policy 237, Electronic Devices (adopted February 16, 2022):

• Stored on arrival. Any electronic device brought to school must go into a student locker, or another designated location if no locker is assigned, immediately on entering school.
• Off all day. Phones must be turned off on entering the building and stay off until the student leaves.
• No use of phones or recording or texting devices during the school day in buildings, on district property or at school-sponsored activities.
• Evacuations: "The cellular phone must remain off during a school evacuation."

We read the rule in the elementary and intermediate handbook. The policy itself is districtwide, but we did not confirm secondary school procedures.

What Act 117 requires of Pocono Mountain 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	Pocono Mountain today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Off and in a locker from arrival to departure	No change in scope.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Locker or designated location	No change needed.
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 the handbook excerpt	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	Policy online at policymain.org	Annual notice and PDE posting verification.

Pocono Mountain's evacuation rule keeps phones off during an evacuation. Act 117 has no student emergency-use exception, so Act 117 does not require the district to change it.

Where LockedIn fits

Pocono Mountain relies on lockers. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, covering phones that never make it to the locker. Emergency Mode gives administrators one switch to unlock every phone at once if the district ever decides it wants that in a specific emergency.

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 Poconos

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