With the new addition of the phone ban, it has given students and staff a hard time receiving updates about clubs, sports and activities throughout the day. This has become a challenge as students can no longer get direct messages from their coaches or sponsors. In response to this issue, the school has implemented afternoon announcements. The normal announcements still occur during second hour, but now they additionally happen at the beginning of sixth hour.

“I think it’s a great way to communicate,” principal Jon Schultz said. “I don’t think it takes too much time away, because we only make them on emergency times.”

These announcements are not made everyday. They are only made when a sudden change is made to events happening directly after school or times that buses will leave for different sports. Though Schultz is optimistic about this new system, not everyone feels the same. Some people view afternoon announcements as a nuisance, and think that they’re not helpful due to the earlier announcements or the fact that they can check their phones as soon as the bell rings. 

“I feel as if they’re not really as necessary, we already had them in the morning,” sophomore Juliette Scott said. “I feel like they may be a good reminder, but I feel like they’re not something that is absolutely vital.”

With the announcements of when the buses for sports team will leave, many student athletes find these new afternoon announcements to be quite helpful. Many changes occur throughout the school day, and coaches have to get their message across to their athletes or else things will be all over the place. By having the new announcements in place, these students can get the information they need later in the day, and are less likely to forget as the day progresses.

“I think that they’re helpful since we can’t check our phone for updates from coaches, so they’re nice to catch up on what I missed,” senior Marissa Inman said.