On Tuesday, Jan. 7, hundreds of students stepped into the NC building for the first time in two weeks, bracing themselves for the sound of the same shrill bell they had heard every day from the beginning of the school year to alert them it was time to get to class.
Instead, they were met with something else: a simple, dull tone, softly played several times in a row.
“There are mixed feelings on the sound of the new bell,” NC associate principal Sarah Smith said. “That kind of traditional bell is what many of us have grown up with and know to expect from school, so it’s not surprising that there’s been a reaction to it, [but] the change was never actually about the bell.”
In fact, the new bell sound is simply a byproduct of an entirely new public address (PA) system, which was fully installed and tested over winter break after much planning and budgeting by NC administrators throughout the first semester, Smith said. The main reason behind the change was the outdated and complicated nature of the old system; this hindered its ability to provide immediate communication, leading to safety concerns such as the inability to relay information to the school in the event of an emergency.
“I want[ed] to make sure that we have a PA system that’s reliable and that can be counted on in situations where we need to deliver messaging,” Principal Jennifer Tyrrell said.
Extensive testing over break ensured that the new system worked correctly and was able to reach every classroom, Smith said. Administrators continue to work closely with Interstate Electronics Company—the company that instituted the new technology—after its implementation to fix minor flaws, such as volume adjustments.
“Knowing that we have [the new PA system] in place is a really good thing,” Smith said. “It’s a real benefit to us in terms of the everyday operation and function.”
The updated system also has added benefits the old system did not, such as the ability to set customized volumes for each classroom and change the bell schedule more efficiently.
“PA systems are a really important communication mechanism all the time,” Tyrrell said. “It might take a little bit of time to adjust to the [bell] sound, and that’s natural when you have a new system, [but] the priority is a reliable PA system that delivers communication and mechanisms.”