MATTAPOISETT — A pilot program to secure student cell phones with magnetically locking pouches may come to Old Rochester Regional Junior High School following the acceptance of a $13,020 grant that sparked discussion at a Sept. 6 meeting of the Old Rochester Regional School Committee.

The junior high school was one of 80 schools in the state awarded this grant by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said Old Rochester Regional School District Superintendent Mike Nelson.

According to Old Rochester Regional Junior High School Principal Silas Coellner, who applied for the grant, there were 88 “cell phone infractions” last year.

“Looking at how much [cell phone use] impacts attention … so much of what happens in the school is affected by cell phones,” he said. “So, I thought this would make a positive difference in student engagement in our school.”

According to Coellner, the grant money would be used to purchase magnetically locking pouches from Yondr, a company that produces the equipment for use during concerts and in schools.

The pilot program would require that each student turn off their cell phones and lock them in magnetically sealed pouches at the beginning of the day. Cell phones would be inaccessible from 7:10 a.m. to 2:04 p.m. The pouches would then be unlocked when students leave school, explained Coellner.

According to Coellner, teachers will also be supplied with a velcro version of the locking pouch to model responsible phone usage in the classroom.

The current cell phone policy at Old Rochester Regional Junior High School requires students to turn off their cell phones and store them in lockers for the duration of the school day.

According to Nelson, new policy has not yet been written to address the use of Yondr pouches in the classroom.

Now that the grant was accepted by the Old Rochester Regional School Committee, the administrators at the junior high school will “fully develop the pilot program,” he said.

“At this time, the plan is to bring the proposed student handbook language back to the school committee at the next regularly scheduled meeting [on Thursday, Oct. 12],” said Nelson. “An official start date for the proposed pilot program has not yet been determined.”

However, some school committee members raised concerns regarding student safety in emergency situations if phones are locked in pouches.

“If there was ever an emergency … my biggest concern is that my child’s phone would be locked up and God forbid if he or his friends couldn’t use [their phones],” said Old Rochester Regional School Committee Member April Nye.

“If for some reason someone had an emergency where they had to open the pouch, could they open [the pouch] with scissors?” asked Old Rochester Regional School Committee Member Matthew Monteiro.

According to Coellner, the pouches are made from a fabric that could be cut with scissors.

Old Rochester Regional School Committee Member Joe Pires also raised concerns with student-parent contact during the school day if phones were locked in pouches.

“People are very well connected, including children,” said Pires. “Maybe there's a portion of the day when they go to the lunch room or whatever when they have that unlock feature [and] they have a few minutes to catch up on texts from parents or someone else.”

Pires and Nye did not vote to accept the grant.

“We’re looking at a grant available to bring on a tool and we can manipulate the use of that tool to enhance the control of cell phone use in [the school],” said Old Rochester Regional School Committee Member James Muse. “Looking at the policy is another story.”