Woodland Hills School District Cell Phone Policy (2026)

Woodland Hills School District in Allegheny County enrolled 3,228 students in 2024-25 according to federal data. It is one of the few districts in the region where staff hold phones all day.

Woodland Hills phone rules today

WESA reported on September 29, 2025, citing a survey by U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, that Woodland Hills is among districts that collect phones at the start of the day and return them when the last bell rings. It began at the middle school three years earlier and at the high school two years earlier. The PA Unplugged tracker lists the district as staff-held since 2024-25.

What the district said

"From the information I have received, it has been somewhat of a smooth transition," a Woodland Hills leader told the survey. "We would prefer it to be a state mandate, so it is consistent across neighboring school districts." Act 117 now supplies that.

What Act 117 requires of Woodland Hills 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	Woodland Hills today	What changes by 2027-28
No student use for the whole school day, including homeroom, lunch, recess and passing time	Collected at start of day, returned at last bell	Aligned with the whole-day rule.
The board decides how possession is restricted (taking phones is not required)	Staff-held	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	Write in all four required exceptions; a held phone must still be reachable for medical needs.
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	Policy text not found	Board policy posted, announced each year and verified to PDE.

Where LockedIn fits

Woodland Hills already runs the strictest model, with staff handling every phone twice a day. LockedIn locks students' own phones from an admin dashboard with nothing to collect, so the district keeps the whole-day rule while giving back the time spent collecting and returning phones, and it can run alongside storage during a transition.

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 Woodland Hills area

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