HHS Updates Its Intercom System 

HHS started 2024 off with a noise no one would describe as a bang. Over Winter break, a new intercom system was installed throughout the school.

The school replaced its intercom wiring. The project had an estimated cost of $100,000, and the majority of the cost was funded by school safety grants from the federal government.

“It was quite a bit of money to basically update all our intercoms. We updated the wiring, so they were pulling wires like crazy. So we were able to take the old wiring so we don’t have that and everything’s new. (The sound) is all so clear,” Linden said.

Most students described the new bell sound as too quiet and calm while many teachers seem to like the less intense sound. Freshman Eva Magallanes prefers the new bell over the old one.

“It’s definitely a lot quieter, but I think that’s good because it used to be blasting so loud,” Magallanes said.

Principal Jeff Linden is in charge of running the new system and is still learning all the features it includes. He is very excited about the opportunities, convenience, and better communication that the new system provides.

“The nice thing is with this system, I can do it from my computer. I don’t have to run to a phone system to do it,” Linden said. “The analog system was a headache to use. For me to turn (the system) off and on or to change the schedule on it was a task that was not easy. So just knowing when the bells go off and on and knowing when I need to shut it off or when I need to turn it back on. The time got behind so then I had to update the time constantly. So not having to worry about that is super nice. It’s one less thing on my plate.”

The change proved to be a necessary one in 2023 when the school went into a lockdown and Linden could not communicate the lockdown to the stagecraft room, shop class, Tiger Lounge, auto shop, and the auditorium, so he dashed to the places that didn’t have the intercom system at all or might not hear it.

“I don’t have to run to the main office and say ‘Hey, everybody, this is what’s going on.’ Now we hit a button and it just goes and so that’s going to be a nice addition too and it’s going to promote safety. We got intercoms where there weren’t intercoms before,” Linden said.  

Delta Fajardo is relieved to have swift communication throughout the building. 

“I’m glad that they are all over the place like, especially in the area of the auditorium and all that. It was desperately needed. And then the outside part is also helpful. But it’s kind of low, a little bit quiet. It doesn’t stick out the way I feel like the bells should. It’s just so calm and serene. 

Intercoms outside of the school were also added to communicate with people outside of the school, specifically in a situation where they need to know not to come into the school.

“So (the money) is worth it to have that kind of safety outside. You know, what if something happens and we need to notify people outside? For kids’ safety I could see the value,” Fajardo said.

The process of getting new intercoms started a few years before Jeff Linden set foot in HHS, but the system will save him time and allow him to work on more important tasks because he will no longer have to readjust the bell time every month when it gets behind.

“This was something that was in the works prior to me coming here. It’s something they’ve talked about because the old system is an analog system from 1997, so it’s 26 years old now. We got (the new system) updated and modified and into the digital world a little bit. It’s on a digital timer where it connects to whatever your phone time is. There’s no more pressing what seemed like 1,000 buttons to get it to do what you wanted to do. So now that’s all digitized. It’s all streamed on the web.”

The upgrade was organized by HPS Director of Technology and Operations Trent Kelly. He worked to get funding for the project and made sure the transition between the systems was smooth.

“We are making some updates and modifications to the high school that were needed because we did have the oldest system (in the district)…  (Mr. Kelly) is the one that would contact these companies. He has the connections, we would come in, I would talk with Mr. Kelly and the company and we would talk about the needs of the school and how the system would work,” Linden said. “We got some input from our office staff because they’ll have to use the system from time to time and know how it works, and so providing some training and things after we got it in place was nice. Mr. Trent Kelly did that for me. He said here are some people and some companies we’ve worked with in the past. You know, we tried to stay consistent with our systems throughout the district, and that worked out pretty well.”

Linden looks forward to implementing new features included in the system, such as playing quiet music through the intercom and controlling the doors to the school.

“I went a little bit over budget. It costs quite a bit of money but at the same time it’s worth it and you know where you have a digital system now, it’s much nicer to run. There’s some features to it that we didn’t have before, Linden said. One thing we’re working on with the company is to have the bell schedule open and shut doors for us. So you don’t have to click a button. You don’t have to do it manually. So that’s something that’s like another phase so we’re excited if we can get that to go. That will be nice to wear and will relieve some of the stress off the main office of having to do that manually.”

The upgrade has created a more convenient process to operate and utilize the intercoms. Linden has added a ‘clean up bell’ for hands-on classes like stagecraft, auto shop, art, shop, woodworking, and Family Consumer Science.

“The nice thing about this system is that it’s not analog. It’s not digital. How our old system was analog and you couldn’t really change the tones (of the bell sound),” Linden said. “We could see that we could do a lot of nice things with this. So yeah, changing the schedule is easier, than changing the tones and the pitches of the tones. And now we have some cleanup bells in other areas to help the teacher know if (the class) has a project, maybe it’s time for the kids to get ready to move on to their next period.”

Overall, Linden is excited about the changes the new intercom system brings.

“The sound quality is much clearer, so you can hear what’s going on and you don’t feel like you have to yell, and you can actually just talk and it’s just nice. But I think overall it just brings an extra layer of safety and the ability to communicate throughout the building as well and be able to personalize what we do. Now we have a bell in the cafeteria to where they know the time you can go to your next class. We didn’t have that before and now we can just have a bell in only this one room or lower (the volume) here.”