Every day, at the beginning of first block and at the end of fourth block, announcements are made by two different announcers: Vallen Ellis, in the morning, and Dakota Messer, in the afternoon. In the past, John I. Burton used a large intercom system that had large speakers, so everyone could hear. However, the school now has a phone system that is often too soft to be heard in noisy classrooms. Furthermore, the announcements themselves are frequently unorganized. Ultimately, Mrs. Becky says that the purpose of the announcements are, "so everyone can be informed of school events and changes." But, are the announcements effective? According to some, they are not.
So, why did the school change the method of communicating the announcements? According to Mrs. Becky Sturgill, the leading lady of the school's office, the school changed its method of communicating because many classrooms did not have intercoms and a new phone system was already being put in place. Mrs. Becky went on to say that she thinks Burton should have stayed with the older intercom system. She thinks it would have been best to just add extra intercom systems in those rooms. Ultimately, this would have prevented the issue of students struggling to hear the announcements. Dustin Pilkenton, a sophomore at Burton states, "I find the current intercom system to be highly ineffective due to problems hearing it over my fellow classmates. I believe that John I. Burton High School should convert to a true intercom system rather than using phones."
Mrs. Becky also provided some insight as to why the announcements seem unorganized. She says that the announcements are a collaborative effort between herself and other staff members at John I. Burton. These announcements are usually written the day before, but emergency announcements are made on the day they are announced, if necessary. The announcements are randomly put in a folder, but Mrs. Becky tries to order them by date. According to Dakota Messer, the morning announcer, the way these statements are organized should be changed. The school should use one individual paper or a packet rather than several small papers to avoid wasting paper and to make it easier for announcers to comprehend what needs to be said. The announcements should be sent to Mrs. Becky or somebody else for review before being put into one collective paper that is easier for the announcer to understand and read. However, the only problem with that plan is that there are emergency announcements that cannot be planned for from time to time. The people who send in emergency announcements should just write the emergency statements on a separate paper. This paper can be put together in a folder with the main announcements.
Written by: Cody Messer
Co-Written by : Dustin Pilkenton