The Prince William County School Board voted to adopt a bell-to-bell cell phone-free education policy on December 4, 2024. The Cell Phone-Free Education policy took effect on August 1, 2025.
All technology from home must be silenced and left in a backpack.
These devices can create many problems and disruptions in an elementary school environment. If a student is using their cell phone, it may be confiscated and sent to the office for the student to pick up at the end of the day. Repeated offenses will result in a conference with parents and administration. Penn follows the Code of Behavior regarding cell phone use.
Possession of communication devices by students or staff on PWCS grounds is a privilege, not a right, and any staff member or student who brings a communication device on PWCS property consents to these rules and to the school division’s right to confiscate and/or search such devices as provided in these rules.
All cell phones and personal electronic communication devices must be turned off and stored away and may not be used at any time within the school building or on school grounds or during any instructional periods, regardless of location, including field trips.
Dual-purpose watches may be worn at school, but wireless/cellular features must be turned off during the school day (e.g., must be placed in airplane mode).
Students are permitted to use their cell phones and personal electronic communication devices(s) while on school buses, while in parent/guardian vehicles, and before they enter or after they exit school grounds.
Cell phones and wireless communication devices may be used on school buses, provided the device does not distract the driver, compromise safety, or violate the Prohibited Content and Use for All Students provisions detailed below.
