It’s definitely no secret by now that there have been changes to the bells and the new installation of clocks at ERHS. In almost every single classroom, as well as the hallways of indoor buildings, there are now newly installed digital clocks with a built-in bell system. These new clocks have the time of course, as well as the date, and a properly calibrated bell. Ever since the beginning of the semester, and especially towards the end, the bell schedule has been extremely off, sometimes late, sometimes early, and sometimes not even going off at all. With these new bells, the bell rings almost the exact second class ends. These new clocks also provide several other benefits other than the factor of the new bell system.
These new clocks’ benefits include the time and the date displayed on an easy to see digital display. To most, the addition of easy access to the date and time is probably considered a very minor change, but for the class periods where Chromebooks are not in use and the situation regarding the banning of phones, these clocks are incredibly useful to students who want to check the time without the worry of getting caught on their phones or Chromebooks. This change is also especially pivotal to teachers who had a hard time keeping students’ attention in class since there weren’t many ways to check the time other than their phones. Now, teachers are able to focus on teaching with students who pay attention since they aren’t constantly pulling out their phones to check the time.
Another potential benefit to these new bells is that they could result in more timely arrivals of students. There has been much negative feedback about the bells so far, the reason being that they are incredibly loud, so loud you actually can’t miss it, which may result in fewer tardies, especially with the two-minute warnings right before the official late bell rings.
During a feedback interview, Jeremiah Ward, a freshman at ERHS stated, “I don’t like the new bells, they sound off compared to the old ones,” Ward shares.
In another interview, Kingsley Gao, a freshman at ERHS stated, “The new bells don’t sound as calm or clean as the ones from last semester.” This shows that while the new bells definitely provide many benefits, they aren’t as well-liked as they may seem.
