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Pike Township board outlines implementation of IndianaSenate Bill 78; backpacks, lockers and cubbies to be used
Summary
District officials said they will follow Indiana Senate Bill 78 (effective July 1, 2026) with a secured-storage approach: elementary students will store devices in cubbies, middle-schoolers in lockers and high-schoolers in backpacks. Officials described exceptions, civil-immunity language and a 2028 Chromebook mandate.
District staff laid out how MSD Pike Township will implement IndianaSenate Bill 78 at the July 23 school board meeting, telling parents and board members the district selected a secured-storage model for personal communication devices and is working on operational details ahead of the Aug. 6 start of school.
"Senate bill 78 was passed in the spring and is effective 07/01/2026," Dr. Maggie Bishop told the board. She said the districtchose a secured-storage policy: "At the elementary level, students will place their personal communication device...in their cubby. In our middle schools, the secure location is at a student's locker. At the high school, the secure location is in a student's backpack and or locker." She added that devices "must be powered off, and it must be inaccessible throughout the school day."
Bishop listed the devices covered — cell phones, tablets, laptops, gaming devices, smartwatches and any personal communication device accessible through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth — and said the district created multi-page FAQs and visual materials in multiple languages to inform families and staff.
She described exceptions allowed under the law for documented medical needs or individual education plans: "There are exceptions that with medical documentation signed by a physician are allowed through a 504, ILP, or an IEP," she said, adding that the superintendent also retains authority to authorize device use in a large-scale emergency.
Bishop also told the board the law includes civil-immunity provisions for good-faith confiscation: "As long as we comply and there is no gross negligence, no willful or intentional damage, then the district personnel...has a level of civil immunity as it relates to personal communication devices." She said the district published policy 5136 to reflect the statutory change and is providing templates for administrators and office staff to manage communications within the new rules.
Board members pressed staff on practical details in a question-and-answer period: how exceptions will be identified to teachers without breaching student privacy, whether backpacks will be workable in a high school with 3,100 students and seven-minute passing periods, and how offices will ensure messages from families reach students promptly. Bishop described a staff-rotation phone-assignment system and said the district will document message timestamps to track delivery.
The presentation also noted a later phase of the law: "By July 2028, every Chromebook must be school-issued," Bishop said, meaning districts must plan for device provisioning in coming years. District leaders said they will continue to refine guidance after feedback from administrators and teachers and will share additional materials with families before school begins.
