On May 8th, Arrowhead’s Advanced Placement Spanish students took their AP test. Advanced Placement German students took their test on May 11th. Because of this, North Campus did not have bells ringing between classes.

During Spanish testing, juniors and seniors did not have any bells to indicate the beginning or end of their classes.

German testing impacted periods 1 – 7, with the bells resuming for the rest of the day. On May 15th, there will once again be no bells at North Campus for periods 7 – 10, though the bells will ring for morning classes. The AP testing does not affect the bell schedule at South Campus.

In an email sent out to Arrowhead’s entire staff and faculty, Associate Principal Becky Gordon said, “We will not have bells functioning during those AP Exams as the bell sounding tends to disrupt the students taking the exam and at that point they may also miss pertinent information.”

In the foreign language exams, there are listening sections that require the test-takers to answer questions based on what they have heard. If a student can’t hear what is being read to them, they will not have all the information they need to answer each question to the best of their ability.

Junior Brady Jager said he was caught off guard when the bell didn’t ring after his first period class. He wasn’t aware that there would be no bells on May 8th, and was confused as to why a few students were getting up to leave before the bell.

Because there are no bells, some students leave their classes early, or arrive late. While in class, students and teachers aren’t always watching the time close enough to know when class time has finished.

Jager said, “I haven’t been late to a class, but I know a couple of my friends were late or almost late. The problem is that we’re all trying to pay attention to the teacher, and the teacher is trying to pay attention to us, so we don’t always realize the time. In one class we didn’t even know it was time to go until we heard other people in the hall. That’s why it’s so weird to not have the bell as a crutch.”

Other classes are let go early. Without the bells ringing between classes, there are no consequences when students are let out of their classes a minute before when the bell would actually ring.

Jager said at the end of the day, he saw clusters of students standing at the front of the building by the door, waiting to be allowed out of school.

Some students are let out a few minutes early by their tenth hour teachers so the kids can go home, but Jager said this is pointless because other staff keeps these students from leaving the building until school is officially over.

“It’s more inconvenient than anything else,” said Jager. “The school day feels a lot more relaxed without the bells, but I wouldn’t want no bells to become a permanent thing. I’d rather have the bell than have to watch the clock really close to make sure I’m not marked tardy in my next period.”

After May 15th, foreign language AP testing will be over, and the bell will go back to ringing regularly.