During our interviews with Taos Schools leadership, Marcos Herrera, director of safety and operations, noted that in a crisis scenario, dispatchers are often overwhelmed with too many callers giving conflicting information, which can result in precious lost minutes and, in the most serious cases, casualties that could have otherwise been avoided. School shootings, particularly the Uvalde school shooting in 2022, show that time is of the essence in a crisis.

To illustrate Herrera’s point, when you dial 911 in Taos County, you’ll be transferred to a dispatcher at Taos Central Dispatch, which is located on Albright Street and has been chronically understaffed in recent years. A dispatcher will gather information from you, which usually begins with the question, “Where is your emergency?” Depending on the type of emergency, more questions will follow. The dispatcher will then relay your information to the appropriate first responders – whether that’s police officers, firefighters, EMTs, or in some cases, all three. Each of these conversations takes time; a dispatcher may even ask you to stay on the line while they coordinate an emergency response.

Now imagine a major emergency at Taos High School, which has an enrollment of about 750 to 800 students, most of whom have cell phones. Not only would emergency dispatch lines quickly become overloaded if even a cautious number of students called 911 at roughly the same time, but students would be distracted and potentially unable to receive life-saving instructions from teachers or emergency responders because they would be preoccupied with their phones. This could endanger the students themselves and possibly others, such as parents who could be lured into an even more unsafe situation. In some cases, students have even used their cell phones themselves to report threats, creating a whole host of emergencies that could theoretically be prevented by limiting cell phone use.

Taos Schools says all classrooms are equipped with phones to reach the outside world in case of an emergency. This is an important safety measure that must be regularly maintained and tested. Today, teachers should be well prepared to communicate clearly and calmly on the phone with a dispatcher in case of an emergency.

At the same time, it’s important that the district build into its new policy (which goes into effect September 3) contingency plans that take into account students who absolutely need access to their cell phones during school hours, such as when a family member is sick or otherwise dependent on a child for support.

But overall, research strongly suggests that the idea that mobile phones in students’ hands make schools safer is false.