Fairfax County Public Schools phone policy under Virginia law, serving ~180,000 students in Washington, D.C.. Virginia codified its phone-free school framework into statute. SB 108, signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger on April 6, 2026, upgrades 2025's HB 1961 / SB 738 from "restrict" to a full bell-to
Fairfax County Public Schools, the largest school district in Virginia, is a public school district headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia (Fairfax County), serving approximately 180,000 students across the Washington, D.C. area. Like every district in Virginia, its cell phone rules are shaped by state law — and by how well the policy is actually enforced on each campus.
Does FCPS ban cell phones?
Yes. Virginia has a statewide bell-to-bell phone-free school law (SB 108 (2026), strengthening HB 1961 / SB 738 (2025); supersedes Executive Order 33 (2024)), so every public school in the district must keep student devices off and out of reach for the entire school day — including lunch and passing periods.
For the full statute, scope, effective date, and primary sources, see our guide to Virginia's phone-free school law, part of our phone-free school laws by state directory.
Enforcing a phone-free day across Washington, D.C.
Because Virginia's law is bell-to-bell, the hard part isn't the policy — it's enforcement and documented compliance across every campus, every period. At 180,000 students, FCPS's scale is exactly where the enforcement method matters most: a policy that works in one classroom has to work across dozens of campuses at once.
Three enforcement models districts choose from
- • Physical pouches (e.g., Yondr): a per-student cost that recurs as pouches are lost or damaged, plus daily distribution and unlocking logistics multiplied by every campus — and little compliance data.
- • District storage (lockers, caddies, classroom bins): low hardware cost, but it relies on staff to police compliance period after period.
- • Device-level software (LockedIn): OS-level locking, campus geofencing, and automated reporting — deployed identically to every school in the district with no daily logistics.
LockedIn is a software-based phone-free campus solution built for districts like FCPS. It locks student phones at the operating-system level on the devices students already carry, ties enforcement to school hours and campus geofences, and gives administrators a live dashboard plus automated compliance reports — exactly what a Virginia district needs to show enforcement is real. There's no hardware to ship, lose, or replace across Washington, D.C.. Compare the options in our phone-free campus solution comparison or the LockedIn vs. Yondr breakdown, and model the math with our pouch-vs-software cost calculator.
What FCPS schools can do next
Any Fairfax-area school can go phone-free in under a day with LockedIn. Draft a compliant policy with our free phone-free school policy generator, then contact our team for a district quote. Title I schools in Virginia may also qualify for subsidized access.
Explore other Virginia school districts or browse phone-free school coverage by district.