Quaker Valley School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Quaker Valley School District in Allegheny County enrolled 1,800 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. It has kept younger students' phones away all day for years.

Quaker Valley phone rules today

WESA reported on September 29, 2025, citing a congressional survey, that Quaker Valley requires elementary and middle school students to keep phones and smartwatches powered off and stored away for the entire school day, while high schoolers have "limited and supervised phone use." District leaders told the survey, "Each of the 500 school districts in the Commonwealth of PA have different needs based upon their students, staff, and community. A one-size-fits all approach is often challenging in situations like this."

In November 2025 the high school's student paper reported, tongue in cheek, on a new study hall phone ban, saying students had fewer missing assignments. Coverage of 2026-27 describes a K-12 ban during the school day including high school lunch and study hall.

What Act 117 requires of Quaker Valley 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	Quaker Valley today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	K-8 off and away all day; HS limits (K-12 ban reported for 2026-27)	Confirm high school lunch is covered.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Stored away	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.
Optional: a principal may approve another exception for up to one school day, with notice to the superintendent within 5 days after	Supervised HS use	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	District policy	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Where LockedIn fits

Quaker Valley preferred local control, and Act 117 still leaves storage to each board. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so the district keeps its own approach to storage while the lock covers lunch and study hall.

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 Sewickley

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