Arcata High School has recently introduced an addition to its infrastructure, sparking lots of curiosity and conversation. A new bell system has been installed throughout the entire school, but not without a few hiccups.
Last week, students and teachers alike were quite startled by an unfamiliar sound marking the start of our school day. In place of the singular tone we have become accustomed to, we are now confronted with a daily jump scare to punctuate our daily routines.

“I personally don’t like them as much as the old bells. They kinda sound like something from a cartoon, it’s weird,” sophomore Ruby Smith said.

Another area of contention has been the volume of the new system. In some places, like the parking lot, students complain of not being able to hear the bell at all, while other classrooms, like room 104, left students and teachers alike questioning the resilience of
their eardrums.

“It was too soft, and then it was too loud, and now it’s at an okay volume, I guess,” French teacher Davena Bagnall said.

Luckily, admin has confirmed that they are working out all of these kinks. The volume issue was fairly easy to solve through trial and error, and Principal Ron Perry said that department heads will be meeting soon to collectively decide on a sound for the chime.

There are many benefits of the new system. The first is a digital clock display that can be synched between all classrooms in order to eliminate the inconsistency of analog clocks. This is also helpful because it turns out many individuals in Gen Z have difficulty reading the latter…

In addition, there is a feature that allows admin to relay messages on the screen during events like lockdowns. This will likely be very beneficial in times when the office cannot directly talk to students over the loudspeaker.

“I think that it’s good that everyone now can hear the bell and hear announcements that are coming through the intercom, just in terms of our safety,” Davena Bagnall said.

So, while there are many small issues to iron out, overall this new system is providing a beneficial and much-needed technological improvement to campus.