Sto-Rox School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Sto-Rox School District in Allegheny County enrolled 933 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. It has restricted phones since 2019 and collects them daily.

Sto-Rox phone rules today

PublicSource reported on May 29, 2024 that nearly 600 students in grades 7 through 12 hand their phones to staff as they enter, where each goes into an envelope with the student's name and a bin locked in storage for the day; last-period teachers return them in the final five minutes. "We are very good at it," Superintendent Megan Marie Van Fossan said. "We're very strategic." Late students drop off and pick up phones at the office. "Kids were texting one another to meet, fight someone in the bathroom, hurt someone after school," she said. "We don't need that going on during the school day."

How it started

KDKA reported on October 28, 2019 that then-Superintendent Frank Dalmas banned phone use on school property after students photographed tests and staff: "The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when we had a student go into the restroom and take a picture of another student in the restroom." In March 2025, Dean of Students Mike Duca told CBS Pittsburgh, "Teachers are no longer having to ask students to put cell phones away," and said the once quiet lunchroom is full of conversation.

What Act 117 requires of Sto-Rox 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	Sto-Rox today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Entry to final five minutes	Aligned with the whole-day rule.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Collected in envelopes, locked bins	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	Add medical, IEP/504 and English learner translation.
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	District policy (since 2019; collection since 2023-24)	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Where LockedIn fits

Sto-Rox collects and returns hundreds of phones by hand every day. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so the morning line and the end-of-day handback go away, and Emergency Mode unlocks every phone on campus at once, subject to counsel review.

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 McKees Rocks

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