After a one-year absence, students heard school bells chime once again in between classes, starting in October. The bells serve to signal when class starts and ends, reminding students not to be late.

“The students asked for the bells back,” said Assistant Principal Donna Lee. “The bells were not ringing last year because dismissals or transitions to classes were staggered by area, so if we rang bells it would confuse people.”

Many students enjoy the fact that now they can be alerted when class has started and ended, but at the same time, complaints arise that the new sounds are unpleasant. Initially, the bell sounds consisted of a train whistle and a doorbell chime.

“I think it was a really good idea to bring the bells back because that way students can keep track of time, and during lunch everyone is back to their classes early again,” said sophomore Lorenzo Jaime. “But I don’t like the sound they chose for the bells because it makes the Prep sound like a train station.”

Another important service of the bells is to ensure that late students will not interrupt class time, now knowing when to enter and leave classrooms.

“Students are getting to class on time more frequently, especially in Directed Studies where students are no longer interrupting their classmates’ learning environments when they are late,” computer science and directed studies teacher Dean Morrell said.

The bells additionally make teachers certain of dismissal times, causing them to not hold students back when class is over.

“I like the bells because now the teachers can dismiss us after the time that we are supposed to be dismissed,” said sophomore Giulia Francez. “Before the addition of the bells, the teachers usually held us behind until they said it’s time to go, but now with the bells, they don’t typically do that and just let us go when the sound plays.”

Following student feedback, the train whistle was removed from the bell signals after one week.