Well, some public school students are starting the new school year with a new rule.

No cell phones.

It's a growing movement in districts across the state as more evidence points to the negative effects of excessive cell phone use on youth, including increased anxiety and depression.

As senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports, the policy is being rolled out smoothly in some areas, while hitting a few hurdles in others.

It was really challenging to compete with students on their cell phones during instructional time.

So Middletown students returning to school today were met with a new district policy for cell phone use.

And a way for the day policy, which encompasses really any type of electronic communication device.

Students in Cherry Hill also starting school today, saw a similar policy change.

During instructional time.

Students are prohibited from displaying or utilizing a wireless communication device that would be cellular phone.

iPad Airpod earphones.

Both district superintendents feel their policies strike a middle of the road balance between locking phones away or letting them stay on the students person.

Cherry Hill Superintendent Kwame Morton Sr. says his policy came after polling.

Teachers and parents and having lengthy meetings with students.

Students agreed that the devices just presented a negative aspect to their to their day, but they didn't want us to completely and totally ban the devices all outright from school.

So the request was to try to find a happy medium, and that was allow students to maintain their devices in their bags on their person, but to just ban them during instructional time.

In addition to preserving quality instructional time, Superintendent Jessica Alfone says they're hoping to see a positive impact on students social and emotional health.

Students more than ever before have been experiencing mental health challenges, whether it be anxiety, school avoidance and all those things really have come on the heels of the pandemic and certainly the cell phone use and students having devices in their hands has definitely ramped up since that time, where many, many places, including education, really went to a totally virtual environment.

Those mental health challenges are clear in the work that Ashley Morolla does as a licensed professional counselor who works with young people.

We definitely see a huge increase in anxiety and depression.

We even see almost 50% of youth from 13 to 17 years old reporting cyberbullying going on online.

And these youth also know that being online is contributing to these feelings of anxiety and depression.

She sees the phone ban in schools as a positive.

All we can hope for is that more children actually get the opportunity to put their phones away, you know, shut it off for a bit.

Even turning off the notifications.

Right, will give them that relief.

But many districts in the state, including Montclair, are still considering how to move forward with phone policies.

The states left it up to districts to decide.

Parents in Montclair sent a letter to their acting superintendent asking for a more drastic step that would use a program called Yonder that locks phones away in a pouch.

My goal is to make sure that my child and his peers do not have cell phones in the classroom, distracting them while they are paying attention to instruction, while they're in the lunchroom, socializing and making friendships that will help them get through their day and through their next number of years of school.

And as more districts put policies in place, questions around enforcement will have to be considered as well.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Joanna Gagis.