In mid-February, Aragon will install four new televisions on campus, one in each hallway and locker room. Leadership adviser Melissa Perino introduced the issue in the beginning of the school year to improve communication between Leadership and the student body.
Perino says, “At the early GSC meetings, like in September and October, the club representatives let Leadership know that it was somewhat challenging to be getting their announcements in on time and that they wished that there was a way to have daily communication, similar to the system we had last time but improved.”
Daily announcements used to be given over the speakers, but sometimes teachers would either teach over or classrooms simply could not hear.
When thinking of ways to best improve communication, History teacher and technology coordinator James Smith says, “That’s why we decided [on] the video signage. Two big televisions, I think they’re 55-inch televisions in each hallway that will have the announcements.”
The reason they decided on a television in each hallway and the locker rooms is because it is especially hard for fifth period P.E. students to hear the school news and this would make it more accessible.
However, P.E. is not the only class where students have trouble listening to the announcements. Some teachers choose not to spend class time playing the weekly video announcements. Freshman Dante Fuenzalida says, “My teacher doesn’t always have time to show us the video announcements and I miss important information.” Although video announcement will not be playing on the hallway TVs, the information will circulate on a slide show throughout the day.
ASB Vice President Collin Liu says, “I believe [the purpose of the TV is] to display daily club meetings so that students [will] have a better idea of what was going on. The new TVs are intended to display all club information such as advisers, officers, meeting locations, and times.”
Sell adds, “I think that they will still only be showing live announcements once a week in class and we only have one day to film a week, so I’m expecting us to just film more content that we can air on the TVs during passing periods throughout the week.”
Although, the TVs will not be showing video announcements, but rather announcements from clubs, counselors and school events. Smith says, “One thing [the TV] will certainly have [is] the announcements and upcoming events as a slide show. If you’re interested as you’re walking down the hallway you can see a display of student work.”
The new form of communication was brought up in a weekly meeting that Perino and Smith attended. Smith says, “Administration was certainly receptive to that idea. And then I went and priced it out, what it was going to cost to get all the equipment and then we went to, or rather Dr. Kurtz went to, the PTSO and asked them for funds, [and] they were forthcoming.”
There is a very lengthy process to follow the initial proposal. Smith says, “[It includes] trying to coordinate, getting the funding, then getting the purchases and checking if there are issues with the purchase, and then getting the maintenance people to actually install them and where they would be installed.”
The final step is predicted to be carried out within the next couple of weeks. Smith adds, “All we’re waiting on now is the installation. Our district [has] a service group, and they rotate among the several schools once a month, so it’s usually during that time when they’ll install it.”
The announcements shown on the new TVs in the hallways will differ from video announcements because they will only broadcast slides. This also provides a less distracting and feasible method of reading announcements.
Smith says, “The TVs will probably be static [and shown] through a Flickr account and Apple TV. I will also help with the mechanics of it.”
The announcements will be displayed throughout the day. However, student works alongside announcements will also be projected.
Smith concludes, “The student government will for the most part be initially responsible for [the televisions]. [They will] just broadcast slides to the televisions. [Slides] will be on a loop so they’ll constantly be displayed. We might also be able to display student work like photography. [Thus] we also want to use [these new resources] as a place to showcase student work. “
