Wissahickon School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Wissahickon School District in Montgomery County enrolled 5,210 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. Its Digital Wellness page frames phone limits around attention and wellbeing.

Wissahickon phone rules today

Wissahickon's "Cell Phone Use: Protecting Attention, Wellbeing, and Healthy Habits" guidance sets three levels:

• Elementary: phones may not be used at school during the school day, including on the bus. They stay off and in backpacks.
• Middle school: phones and other devices are deactivated and stored in the student's locker during the regular school day.
• High school: in every classroom, students place phones in caddies during instructional time. The page says this "preserves digital access when appropriate, such as before/after school and during lunch."

The district's Code of Student Conduct bars class use without teacher permission and recording students or staff.

What Act 117 requires of Wissahickon 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	Wissahickon today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Elementary and middle no use; HS lunch and between-class use	End high school lunch and passing time use.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Backpacks (elementary), lockers (middle), classroom caddies (HS)	Extend a whole-day method to the high school; caddies only cover class time.
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 on the Digital Wellness page	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	Teacher permission	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	Guidance and handbooks posted	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Where LockedIn fits

Wissahickon's elementary and middle schools already run a full day without phones. For the high school, LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so it runs alongside the classroom caddies and covers lunch and passing time.

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 Ambler

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