How Butler County’s school districts are approaching cellphones
Across Pennsylvania, momentum is gaining to restrict K-12 students’ cellphone use during the instructional day. Each side of the General Assembly recently passed legislation to implement a statewide bell-to-bell ban on mobile device access for K-12 students, including a House bill which passed last month with broad bipartisan support.
Lawmakers and school administrators say that such a ban would substantially reduce distractions in the classroom and improve student mental health.
However, some school districts in Butler County have taken matters into their own hands, and have already enacted — or are planning to enact — policies enforcing a “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban.
Knoch and Karns City Area school districts have announced to their respective families their intentions to implement such a bell-to-bell cellphone ban for the incoming school year. In Knoch’s case, the district had already banned the use of cellphones for students at all schools below the high school. The policy change would extend the ban to Knoch High School.
Butler Area School District may soon follow. At its meeting June 13, the school board had a first reading of a proposed policy that would create a districtwide, bell-to-bell cellphone ban.
“I anticipate it will be in effect for this school year,” Butler Area School District superintendent Brian White said.
Two other school districts — Seneca Valley School District in Butler County and Slippery Rock Area — implemented similar bell-to-bell cellphone bans at the start of the 2025-26 school year. After one full school year, both districts have reported positive results.
Seneca Valley Intermediate High School counselor Lisa Graham testified before the state Senate’s education and health committees in November 2025 to tout the benefits of the district’s bell-to-bell cellphone ban, and how to positively apply it at the state level.
“Three months into the new bell-to-bell policy, the impact has been noticeable and overwhelmingly positive,” Graham said. “Last school year, students spent most of their lunch period on their phones. Staff frequently commented on how discouraging it was to see entire tables of students sitting together, yet interacting with no one. This year, the lunchroom feels completely different. Students are talking, laughing and playing games.”
Alfonso Angelucci, superintendent at Slippery Rock Area, is reporting similar results after the first year of his district’s cellphone policy.
“The implementation of the cellphone ban has had noticeable improvements on student behavior. Last year, there was a significant reduction in negative behaviors related to cellphones, including cyberbullying and peer conflict,” Angelucci said. “We are very proud of our student body for how they adapted to this change. While we did have a lot of questions and general concerns at first, the majority of our students have done an excellent job following this policy.”
Freeport Area School District, which straddles the Butler/Armstrong county line, beat most other school districts to the punch by implementing a similar ban on electronic devices on any school district grounds. The policy, which was last revised in June 2022, prohibits use of any electronic device on school grounds during the instruction day except during lunch, or under special circumstances.
“We have had our ban in place for a number of years now,” said Freeport district superintendent Ian Magness. “Our students have been very responsible to date and we deal with violations as they arise.”
Moniteau School District currently has no policy on the books banning the use of cellphones or other electronic devices during the instructional day, according to Deanna Panza, secretary to the superintendent.
“We do not have it as a policy at this time, but we are looking at the possibility,” Panza said.
Mars Area School District does not have a ban, but at a school board meeting July 28 officials said they anticipate one being handed down by the state.
“I don’t really want to predict, but I think it’s most likely coming, that there’s going to be cellphone ban legislation coming for the commonwealth,” superintendent Mark Gross said.
Section 237 of Mars’ school board policy manual states that students are allowed to use “personal technology resources,” including cellphones, only in very limited circumstances, and are generally not allowed to use them during instructional time unless granted permission by a teacher and only for educational purposes. Use of personal electronic devices is also not permitted in private spaces such as restrooms or locker rooms.
