Saved by the (nonstop) bells

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Each day, the bell rings to once at 7:40 a.m and again at 7:45 a.m to signal the start of the school day. However, Tuesday, Jan. 31 it rang for almost 16 minutes. 

The initial bell to walk to class went off at 7:40 a.m., but students were surprised to hear the bell ring a second time. Turns out that this ringing did not stop until 7:56 a.m after ringing a total of 99 times, or 297 dings. 

“[The bells uncontrollably ringing was due to] a bug in the new software. They did an update yesterday on the software. [In order to get the bells to stop], Tom Israel, who is in charge of the bells, rebooted the system,” Principal Ms. Becerra said. 

While the bells weren’t a huge problem, they were an inconvenience. “The bells were pretty annoying. I thought it was funny that the bell rang 99 times and there are 99 days until my AP World History exam. My conspiracy theory is that Mr. Tavernia planned this,” sophomore Shreyan Singha said. 

Ever heard of the saying 99 bottles of coke? Well, today’s rhyme should go “99 rings of the bell.”

The first-period bell rang a total of 99 times on both the east and west sides of campus Jan. 31. (Photos/Zoe Horwitz)

(Video/Irene John)

Zoe Horwitz, a junior at American Heritage, returns to the Patriot Post for her third year as the Sports Editor and Assistant Editor-In-Chief. Besides reading and writing, she spends her time playing with her dog or tutoring younger students through Learn with Peers, a non-profit organization she helped found in 2020. During her freshman year, she co-founded FALIA (Food Allergy/Intolerance Awareness) at school, a club that advocates for those with food allergies. Zoe also plays lacrosse, as she plays for a club team and American Heritage girls varsity lacrosse team. Zoe is very excited to be contributing to the Patriot Post.