Beep! That’s not the bell

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Natasha Aragon, Staff Writer
October 28, 2022

Here at Dulaney High School, bells are a persistent concern; they’re either too fast, too slow or nonexistent. Teachers don’t know whether they should just let students go, and students couldn’t care less whether the bells ring or not. 

During the first two weeks at school, the bell system decided to extend its summer vacation by not ringing. Resulting in a lot of people wondering what’s going on. The Dulaney staff fought with the bell system for the first two weeks to get it working, but in reality, the bell system is way more complicated than it seems. 

The bell system is old; it is two and a half systems combined together from entirely different generations. The recent age of technology would have no problem with this, but the bell system does not wish to work with another piece of technology from a different time period. 

Mr. Parker, the 11th grade administrator, said, “old school technology works on its hardline architecture, and infrequently does it want to play with another piece of technology.” 

To make matters worse, Dulaney has little opportunity to make any changes; to readjust the bells, administrators have to call other people from the county. Further, local troubleshooting is not an option anymore. The call out system is combined with the bell system. When two different technologies share a system they are unlikely to cooperate smoothly and effectively.

Last year during the fourth quarter of school, Dulaney didn’t have bells. Yet, everyone relied on their phones and managed to get to classes on time. So quite often students ask the purpose behind keeping the bells. 

Dulaney members claim that bells are a tradition. Despite it not always being accurate, Dulaney believes it manages to keep everyone on track. The staff members at Dulaney grew up with bells, and so have past students. This has always been the system used. 

“Even if it maybe has outlived its usefulness, it’ll probably be a part of school for a long time because it’s a part of the fabric of what school really is,” said Mr. Parker. 

Students will likely have to wait until Dulaney is rebuilt for the fate of the bell system to be determined.