Wilkes-Barre Area School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Wilkes-Barre Area School District enrolled 8,228 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. When it tightened its phone rules, it chose strict enforcement over locking pouches.

Wilkes-Barre Area phone rules today

Superintendent Brian Costello explained the choice to the Citizens' Voice in January 2025: "We were either going to work together and enforce it, or we were going to get bags some of these other schools are using, these magnetic bags."

• Phones may stay on, but not out. "They can have them on. They can't be out," Costello said. "Keep it in your bag. If it comes out, and a teacher identifies you with that, or a staff member, you're going to be sent to the office."
• A first offense means a one-day suspension, with longer consequences after that.
• Enforcement was the issue. Costello said the high school "just weren't enforcing it the way we needed to."
• Buses: bus rules also ban phone use.

The Times-Tribune reported in September 2025 that the district prohibits phone use during the school day except in certain circumstances.

What Act 117 requires of Wilkes-Barre Area 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	Wilkes-Barre Area today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	No use during the school day; phones in bags	Little change in scope.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	In the student's bag, on or off	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	"Certain circumstances," not detailed	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	Handbooks	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Act 117 does not set penalties. Wilkes-Barre Area's one-day suspension for a first offense is a local choice Act 117 leaves alone, though Act 117 does require "appropriate enforcement and oversight provisions" at each building.

Where LockedIn fits

Wilkes-Barre Area relies on staff catching phones that come out of bags, with suspension as the penalty. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so a phone in a bag stays locked. That could mean fewer suspensions for the same rule.

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 Wilkes-Barre area

Act 117's definition of "school entity" includes private schools, approved private schools and nonpublic schools, so the Wilkes-Barre area'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.