Quakertown Community School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Quakertown Community School District in Bucks County enrolled 4,587 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. Its high school expectations for 2026-27 are among the most detailed we found.

Quakertown phone rules today

The high school's back-to-school letter (July 27, 2026) sets these Cell Phone Expectations:

• When the bell rings, phones go into the classroom phone pocket or a backpack, not a pocket or on the desk, until class is dismissed. All devices are on silent.
• Phones may be used during non-instructional time.
• If a student leaves the room during class, the phone stays behind.
• Teachers may build a phone into a class activity, for that activity only.
• Teachers keep their own phones put away during class.

Accommodations: students with an IEP, a behavior plan that allows music, or a medical condition they monitor with a phone may keep using it for that purpose. English learners may use phones for translation.

Consequences build in steps: a verbal warning; a one-hour detention with a parent picking up the phone; a two-hour detention with a parent meeting; a day of in-school suspension; then a five-day turn-in at the front office. Refusing to hand over a phone goes to administration, and "teachers do not physically take a device from a student."

Students asked for less screen time

Bucks County Today, summarizing the Bucks County Courier Times in June 2026, reported that Interim Superintendent Lisa Hoffman's listening tour with about 256 secondary students heard a consistent call for less screen time and more human connection, presented at the May board meeting.

What Act 117 requires of Quakertown 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	Quakertown today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Phone pocket or backpack in class; non-instructional use allowed	End use during lunch and passing time.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Classroom phone pockets or backpacks; staff do not take phones	Taking possession is not required, which fits; extend the method to 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	IEP, behavior plan, medical monitoring, English translation	Add medical need of an immediate family member; check the behavior plan exception with counsel.
Optional: a principal may approve another exception for up to one school day, with notice to the superintendent within 5 days after	Teacher may use a phone for a specific activity	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 in the letter	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	Expectations sent to families before school starts	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Where LockedIn fits

Quakertown's rule already avoids staff taking phones, which Act 117 does not require. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so it runs alongside the phone pockets and keeps the whole day covered without adding confrontations.

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 Quakertown

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