Upper Darby School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Upper Darby School District enrolled 12,356 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. Its superintendent has argued for treating high schoolers differently, which is the part of the policy Act 117 changes.

Upper Darby phone rules today

Upper Darby's rule is Policy 237, Electronic Communication Devices:

• Elementary and middle school: no use during the school day in buildings, on district property, on buses or under district supervision.
• High school: no use in classrooms or education-related activities. Students may use phones before and after school, in the cafeteria at lunch, in hallways between classes, on buses if the driver allows, and in the library or study hall if the teacher allows.
• Approved use, K-12: principal-approved educational, safety, emergency, medical or security use, or use under an IEP or 504 plan. The principal may also approve use for "other reasons determined appropriate by the building principal."
• Confiscation: a confiscated device is not returned until a parent or guardian conference.

Superintendent Daniel McGarry told the Delaware Valley Journal in July 2025 that many high schoolers juggle activities and care for family members, making an all-day ban impractical. "If you want to get kids to act like adults, you treat them like adults," he said.

What Act 117 requires of Upper Darby 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	Upper Darby today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Elementary and middle all day; high school lunch, hallway, library and study hall use	End all high school use during the school day, including lunch and study hall.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Off and away; confiscation until a parent conference	No change needed in method; decide whether to add storage for the high school.
Required exceptions: documented medical need of the student or an immediate family member, IEP or 504, English learner translation, limited teacher-approved instructional use	Principal-approved medical, IEP/504, educational use	Add English learner translation and a family member's documented medical need. Narrow educational use to Act 117's three conditions.
Optional: a principal may approve another exception for up to one school day, with notice to the superintendent within 5 days after	Principal may approve for "other reasons"	Cap at one school day with notice to the superintendent 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	Annual notice through the handbook	Add a staffed contact method and emergency sign-up to that notice, sent on enrollment too.
Tell families, teachers and students about the policy each year; verify to PDE within 5 business days that it is posted online	Policy on BoardDocs	PDE posting verification.

McGarry's point about students caring for family members connects to one of Act 117's exceptions. Act 117 allows limited use when a student needs a phone because of the documented medical condition of an immediate family member, which covers some of those situations without a general high school exemption.

Where LockedIn fits

Upper Darby's high school relies on staff seeing phones during class. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so lunch and passing time could be covered without new storage. It can run alongside confiscation for repeat issues.

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 Upper Darby

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