Baltimore-area schools are joining districts around the nation that are trying to rein in pervasive interruptions and behavioral challenges caused by students’ cellphone use in class.

Policies banning cellphones at school or limiting phone access during class time have been increasingly implemented across the country, with some school districts requiring students to lock their phones in pouches until the end of class or the end of the school day.

On Tuesday, Baltimore County Superintendent Myriam Rogers said middle and high schools will have the option to join a pilot program this fall to restrict cellphone use during class time. Every classroom would receive cellphone pouches for students to lock their phones in during class.

Gboyinde Onijala, a Baltimore County Public Schools spokesperson, said nine schools have signed up so far. Some county schools began using the pouches last academic year, and the pilot is expected to increase participation, she said.

The system plans to review the pilot and discuss next steps for the spring semester. Onijala did not immediately provide the cost of the program.

In addition, Anne Arundel, Carroll and Howard counties are considering adopting stricter policies.

“The use of cellphones is out of control,” Anne Arundel County Superintendent Mark Bedell wrote in a May community letter. Cellphone distractions are a source of “immense frustration for our teachers, parents, administrators, and many students,” he said, noting that school officials are in the process of creating new guidelines for next school year.

In Carroll County, school board members on Wednesday debated banning phones in classrooms, on buses and during lunch in middle and high schools. Board members were alarmed about students filming fights and recording teachers without their knowledge. Cellphone use is not allowed in elementary schools.

Chloe Kang, a student member on Carroll County’s school board, said Wednesday that most students want to keep their cellphones in school but added that it might be beneficial to ban them from middle schools.

Howard County’s school board planned to discuss policies Thursday night. The Baltimore City Public School System has tried locking phones in pouches until the end of the day in at least one school and uses pouches at two others. Baltimore City’s school board plans to revise its policy for the upcoming academic year.

In March, Harford County Public Schools updated its policies to require middle school students to keep their phones in their lockers during the day. High school students can have their phones on them but they must be turned off or silenced in “educational environments” like classrooms.

Nationally, Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order Tuesday directing the state education department to create policies for “phone-free” educational environments. The order, citing concerns over social media’s impact on youth mental health, stopped short of banning cellphones from school.

Baltimore County has an “off-and-away” policy requiring phones to be off or silenced during instruction, but enforcement is inconsistent, according to a school survey with 5,000 teacher and staff respondents. Many of those surveyed said they favored some limits on phone use during the school day but there wasn’t a consensus on who would enforce it: teachers or administrators.

“Administrators are not willing to take away cellphones and neither are teachers,” Cindy Sexton, president of the Baltimore County teachers union. “Parents don’t necessarily support the no cellphone policy so it’s a multifaceted problem.”

Nearly 6,000 Baltimore County parents, students and community members responded to a district survey on cellphone use. The majority of respondents agreed phones distract from learning, but there was “very strong opposition” about a school-wide phone ban, Rogers said.

“One response that came through loud and clear was that they do not support the ban of cellphones for students,” Rogers said.

Those who opposed confiscating phones for the school day cited safety concerns and property rights.

Ramona Basilio, a Baltimore County Parent Teacher Association chair and member of the district’s social media workgroup, said school officials and parents need to find a balance between a complete ban and total freedom of when students can use their phones.

“[Parents] want to get in touch with your child for all sorts of reasons, namely concerns: anxiety, safety. You want to know what your kid is doing,” Basilio said. “But how do we balance that with how they are abusing the cellphone?”

Other parents want their children to have full access to their phones because it’s their property that has an expensive price tag. Basilio said the PTA is supportive of the pilot program in hopes it reduces discipline issues and learning distractions. The county’s current off-and-away policy is “clearly not working,” she said.

“It’s just like giving a child a delicious ice cream cone all day and say ‘Don’t lick it,’ ” she said of the policy.

Rogers, in her announcement of the pilot program, cited concerns that excessive social media use was negatively impacting young people’s mental health.

Last month, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for warning labels on social media platforms stating that they lead to significant mental health harms for adolescents.

A 2022 survey showed that teenagers spend an average of three-and-a-half hours per day on social media, according to Murthy, while a 2019 study found children and adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of mental health problems, including symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Baltimore County joined Howard, Harford and Prince George’s counties in a class action lawsuit against Meta, Google, ByteDance and Snap Inc., arguing the social media giants’ addictive platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, are exacerbating a youth mental health crisis among their student bodies.

“The research is clear on cellphone use for students in schools having a profound impact on their mental health and well-being,” Baltimore County’s Rogers said at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

A lack of support from parents and inconsistent enforcement from school staff makes it difficult to limit students’ phone use, some teachers say. There was more support for a “multi-step infraction matrix” for phone use in class or launching an educational campaign for students and families about the negative impacts of phones in school, Rogers said.

“What’s ultimately happening is students are not getting the instruction that they are there for,” Sexton said.

Reporter Thomas Goodwin Smith contributed to this article.