Layton » The rumor spread with speed: A school resource officer saw a student with a gun during lunch, used a Taser on him and the student collapsed on the cafeteria floor.

Within 20 minutes of the incident last school year, half of Northridge High School had heard the news and nervous parents were calling the school's office.

There was just one problem: It wasn't true. But the rumor spread quickly via cell phone text messaging after one student misinterpreted what happened when an officer restrained a troubled student in the cafeteria. That student used his cell phone to text his friends, who texted their friends, and so on.

"We tried to get word out to students. We tried to make announcements," principal Steven Hill said. "But they wouldn't believe us over the text message."

Hill is hoping a new service that will allow Northridge to send out its own text messages will help the school triumph over such rumors in the future. Northridge is one of a number of Utah schools that are starting to use cell phone text messaging as a tool rather than see it only as a menacing distraction. Throughout the state, coaches notify their players of schedule changes via text messages, and some teachers have even started incorporating texting into their lessons.

Still, other Utah schools hold firm in their belief that cell phones should be kept out of class, period.

"They're still more of a distraction than a benefit," said Ben Horsley, Granite School District spokesman.

Jordan School District spokeswoman Melinda Colton said Jordan also is trying to keep cell phones out of the classroom.

"It's not really something we would probably sanction," Colton said of using cell phones for lessons.

But some other districts and schools are beginning to embrace the philosophy "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

On a recent school day, Northridge English teacher Travis Lund asked his students to do something unusual in the middle of class -- pull out their cell phones.

Lund then questioned them about papers they're researching. Students typed their paper topics into their phones, and their responses instantly appeared on a Web page Lund projected onto a screen at the front of the room. They spent another 10 minutes having a discussion -- via text messaging -- about their papers.

"Instead of fighting it all the time, I try to embrace it just a little bit," Lund said. "It holds their attention. It's something different."

He said it also prompts more class participation than he gets holding traditional discussions.

"It allows everyone to have input because some people are shy and wouldn't speak up," senior Lindsey Christensen said. "It saves time. You can see what everyone is thinking without having to go around and talk."

Most students agree it's one of the best ways to grab their attention. Many students also have unlimited text messaging payment plans, meaning texting for lessons doesn't cost them or their parents extra.

"Texting is such a big part of life right now," said Suzy Jordan, a student council member and senior at Orem High. "Everyone pretty much has a cell phone, and most of those kids have texting on their phones. It's just something they're constantly looking at."

In fact, many students say they send and receive between 50 and 100 texts a day, both during and after school. Stephanie Adamson, Northridge senior and student body president, said that's part of what makes advertising school activities via text messaging so effective.

"Personally, I'd rather read a text than listen to an announcement over the intercom," Adamson said.

Recognizing that, Northridge, Viewmont and Woods Cross high schools have all started using a service called Frogzog to inform students about school activities and events via text message. The way it works is students text a keyword to a designated number and get messages back about school events and activities. The service is free to the schools and doesn't cost students extra if they have unlimited text messaging plans.

Orem High also has a text messaging system that came in handy earlier this year when a boy from nearby Timpanogos High disappeared. Orem High was able to send out a message that reached about 430 people, said Assistant Principal Joel Miller. Many who received the message went to look for the boy and eventually found him.

Miller said students are still not allowed to use cell phones during class, but he called mass text messaging "a great tool."

Many educators and students, however, acknowledge that texting during class -- for personal reasons -- continues to be a problem. Lund acknowledges he sometimes spies students thumbing keypads beneath their desks or in their backpacks and purses. But learning to control that is just part of the challenge of working with a new technology, he said.

He said he hopes he can teach students how to use their phones appropriately, partly by incorporating them into his lessons.

"Twenty or 30 years ago, kids would pass notes and draw pictures, and you had to control that," Lund said. "This is an emerging technology that eventually we'll have to embrace and accept."

lschencker@sltrib.com