Out of the three thousand students in Diamond Bar High School, very few pay attention to the noisy, ill-articulated announcements and the kiosks put in place for advertising on campus. These two misused means point out the ordeal of failed communication to students when it comes to school announcements.

First proposed to the school by district maintenance, the kiosks have proven themselves ineffective, but most of all, unnoticeable. This is mostly due to their locations, but also their lack of advertising aimed toward DBHS students. One kiosk is placed near the entrance of the school—behind a pillar—and the other is placed near the Career Center in a corner of the 400 building. These are places in which most students don’t walk by, or can’t see due to its position.

Areas near the lunch tables where a number of students eat during brunch and lunch, or in the LINC where students gather in the morning, during lunch and after school are places where the kiosks are much more likely to get noticed and gather the attention needed from the student population.

Moreover, most of its ads promote places such as Domino’s rather than school events, which is why we still see a sea of club flyers on the ground in the upper quad and elsewhere. The digital screens were supposedly going to reduce the amount of paper used for flyers, however, this clearly isn’t the case, and isn’t even close to happening.

Leo Club is currently the only club that uses the kiosks for advertising, and very few have used it in the past, according to DBHS Teach Coordinator Randy Thomas. The kiosks are less about keeping students aware of the events happening on campus, and more of a way for businesses to advertise to students.

These problems stem mostly from the company, SkoolLive, which installed the kiosks for free, in turn for advertising in the top and bottom sections of the screen. According to Thomas, when the company changed its software, many conditions not agreed on, such as ads unapproved  by the administration and less space and time for school flyers, occurred.

With the school making only a few hundred dollars over a span of several months, the kiosks have no value to DBHS.

On the other hand, loudspeaker announcements are another missed opportunity. While in theory all that is being done sounds perfect, in practicality, these announcements are inefficient, with many students along with their teachers paying no attention to them and many continuing on with the lesson, ignoring the interruption.

Instead, to captivate students’ attention, there should be a better form of something similar to the kiosks. As recommended by Thomas, encased, outdoor TV’s, like the ones used in Chaparral Middle School, are almost sure to catch Brahmas’ attention if placed around campus in the right spots. With such alternatives, the student population is more likely to notice school announcements and become more aware of events occurring across campus, while simultaneously reducing paper for flyers.

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