A Bell Schedule sets when your school bells will ring, which is determined by the periods set in its default and exception schedules. Your school bells are activated by a Bell Controller's Relay that is hardwired to your facility's existing PA or school bell system and from OneVue each relay is assigned to a Bell Schedule.
You will set up your bell schedules with default and exception schedules. If you just learning how to set up your school bell schedules from OneVue, the below information provides an overview.
Learn how to create a new bell schedule.
A Default Schedule is the bell schedule for the majority of the school year.
You may have more than one default schedule when reoccurring periods are different on the days of the week. For example, if you have six periods Monday through Wednesday and eight periods on Thursday and Friday, you would create two default schedules specific to the days of weeks they are effective.
An Exception Schedule is for those days the bells are to be different from the default schedule.
You can set an exception schedule not to ring bells for a specific date range or for a period schedule that is different from the default schedule.
For example, you may not want the bells to ring during winter and spring break or other scheduled days off. You would create an exception schedule for the day off. Or for shorter days, you would create an exception schedule with the shorter periods and set the date range the schedule is effective on.
Examples of common events that exception schedules are created for include:
Scheduled closings
Early release or delayed start days
If an assembly requires a shorter class schedule
Teacher in-service days
Testing or exam days
Within a schedule, each period sets when your school bells will ring. A period can be set to only include a start bell or both a start bell and an end bell.
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Each schedule can have up to a maximum of 48 bell events.
If a schedule only has start bells, the schedule can have up to a maximum of 48 periods.
If a schedule has both start bells and end bells, the schedule can have up to a maximum of 24 periods, which totals up to the maximum of 48 bell events.
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Each period is assigned to a ring type that specifies the series of ring tones generated by the school bells.
You may choose to assign a unique ring type to specific periods. For example, you may want a ring type unique to the start or end of a period or to the start and end of a lunch period.
OneVue provides several standard ring types and custom ring types can be added. A custom ring type is configured to a specific ring pattern by setting its duration, repeat delay, and the number of rings.
A Bell Controller has two relays that are hardwired to your facility's existing PA or school bell system to activate school bells. From OneVue, each relay is assigned to a Bell Schedule.
In some cases, you may have a PA or bell system that serves two locations in the school, such as one for middle school classes and another side dedicated to grammar school classes. In this situation, each relay is wired to each of the locations independently of each other and each relay is assigned to its unique bell schedule specific to its location.
A bell controller stores a 7-day schedule in its local memory for each of the two relays. Each night after midnight, the 7-day schedules are downloaded to the device.
A bell controller connects to the facility’s network hourly to download pending schedule updates, transmit its operating condition and events to OneVue, and synchronize its time with an NTP time source.
To ensure the bell rings at the right time, a bell controller has an internal real-time clock that synchronizes hourly with its NTP time source.
Learn how to assign a bell schedule to a bell controller relay.