School Clocks

When I was in grade school, the bell to signify the switch of class was very different than what many students today are accustomed to. Instead of a tone that is automatically signaled or is activated through the press of a button, we had a simple hand bell that one student was responsible for ringing at the beginning and end of each class. As you can imagine, this had its fair share of frustrations. In this blog, I will give a few examples of the troubles of a manual bell system and how a synchronized school clock system can help eliminate these issues.

With the manual bell system of my grade school days, the student who was responsible for ringing the bell would often get distracted, and the other classrooms would sit idly wondering why the bell had not been wrung. Additionally, this school still had standalone wall clocks in each classroom that did not have synchronization capabilities. Because these clocks were old, the battery would drain quickly and the school clocks rarely stayed perfectly congruent with one another. Often, at least one of these clocks would lag behind by a few minutes or more. This was not ideal because one classroom would often end up getting shortchanged on class time.

There are two main issues in this situation: 1. Discrepancies between clocks can cause issues, 2. Manual bell ringing is subject to human error. Schools that are experiencing similar situations are ideal candidates for a synchronized school clock system. A synchronized school clock system works exactly like it sounds—each individual clock in the school will show the exact same display, so that clock discrepancies will no longer be an issue. Depending on which system you choose, the slave clocks in your school clock system will receive their time via a master clock, an NTP (Network Time Protocol) server, or GPS. Regardless of which method you choose, you can be assured that every clock in your system will be correct and precise. In a school, this is particularly important because it is necessary for each teacher and student to get a fair and equal amount of class time.

Still, even if every clock in the school is matching, there exists the possibility that the student responsible for ringing the bell will forget when the time comes. Fortunately, a synchronized school clock system has a solution for that as well. If your school installs a wireless or wired clock system, or chooses this feature with an IP clock system, you will have a master clock which can be consolidated with the school’s bell system to automate all bell ringing activity. Depending on the manufacturer you choose, you can have 800 pre-programmable events, which will allow your school to establish a number of different bell schedules for all occasions—such as regular school days, early dismissals, assemblies, and two hour delays. With this system, the bell system will activate automatically without any effort on the part of a student or administrator, eliminating the problem of distraction and forgetfulness.

A synchronized school clock system can benefit any size institution that houses any grade level. Every school is responsible for the timely and organized scheduling of students and teachers alike, and this can be very difficult if the school is still using manual bell systems and standalone wall clocks. With a synchronized school clock system, these issues are a thing of the past—every clock in the school will display the same time, and bells will ring automatically. If consistency and reliability is what your school needs, look into purchasing a synchronized school clock system today.