“Just another bell change… or so I thought.”
It was barely 7:00 AM when the first teacher stopped by my office. “We need to shift the third-period bell by five minutes. The new lunch rotation isn’t lining up.” A simple enough request, right? As the school’s principal, I should be able to adjust a bell schedule in minutes.
But at our school… nothing is simple.
Our intercom and paging system has been around longer than most of the staff. Changing the bell schedule means filling out a paper form, sending it off to a vendor we hope still exists, and waiting; sometimes weeks, for a technician to physically visit and punch new settings into a wall-mounted control box that looks like it belongs in a museum. Meanwhile, I’m crossing my fingers that nothing breaks because repairing or finding parts for a decades-old system is a treasure hunt no one wants.
By lunch I had called the vendor, printed the form, found a stamp in the back of my desk drawer (why does that feel like a bigger victory than it should?), and dropped the envelope in the mail. All this… for a five-minute bell change.
I couldn’t help thinking: There has to be a better way.
Discovering the Future (Finally)
After school, I had a demo scheduled with G2. A colleague from another district recommended them, insisting their intercom system was “a lifesaver.”
And wow… she wasn’t kidding.
Instead of dusty panels and mailing forms, I saw G2 Communicator modern, web-based communication system I could access from any computer. Need to adjust bell schedules? With just a few clicks, done. Want to add more speakers, panic buttons, visual events or two-way communication later? It’s built to grow with your budget and needs. Everything felt intuitive and built for the reality of school life… Where minutes matter and safety can’t wait for a service appointment.
Within a few clicks, I could do what used to take weeks.
That five-minute bell change stopped feeling like a victory… and started feeling like the bare minimum.
Because schools shouldn’t have to fight their technology.
In today’s world, staff deserve reliable communication tools. Students and families expect schools to be prepared. And busy principals like me shouldn’t be stuck licking envelopes to make bells ring on time.
If your school is still wrestling with outdated intercom or paging systems, give yourself the freedom to move forward. Schedule a demo with G2. You’ll wonder why you waited so long.