No matter where you go, there’s always a grapevine, always a rumor mill, and always hearsay. But lately at Barnstable High School, it’s starting to feel like back-fence talk is the only source of information. Take this winter, for example. When trying to find out whether or not school was cancelled due to inclement weather, where did you turn for information?

Did you get the phone call from the administration saying school is closed the night before? Some received one call about activity cancellations, and some heard school was cancelled, but all were delivered the information at different times of the day. The rest of us were among the many confused students, teachers, and parents who had to dig through various sources for our information, like the local news, social media, and word of mouth.

You would think that with all of these different communication outlets, important school information would reach students and faculty quickly and clearly. But rather than making our lives easier, it actually seems consistent, reliable and timely information is one of our school’s greatest problems.

Why isn’t there a new schedule next year? Do students have to take a gym class to graduate? How strict is the passbook policy? Can we use our cell phones at lunch? Is that “A average exempts you from finals” policy still active for this year? Are we ever going to have another TGA wellness activity? Without addressing these concerns formally and out in the open, teachers and students discuss these rumors, and alleged school information becomes fact amongst the school’s population, creating uproar over essentially nothing.

It may purely be that our large size hurts us when attempting to reach an entire school system, but with myriad methods we have access to—like the morning announcements, notices and fliers given to us in TGA, and the school website, we shouldn’t be wondering where to turn, and which source has the correct information. We don’t know what information is the right information, because there’s no one central information system that comes straight from a trusted source, like the BHS administration.

On top of that, there’s no formal address of school-related changes. There’s this huge gray area that’s breaking the crucial communication link between administration and the rest of the school. And it’s leaving students trying to separate rumor from truth with information from six different teachers, that was supposedly sent in an email six weeks ago, that your TGA teacher was supposed to hand out but forgot about it…see the problem?

Poor centralized communication is an issue that needs to be dealt with because students and faculty are confused. The blame doesn’t fall on one group in this building though; it’s a multi-tiered problem coming from all different directions. Students talk about policies and spread rumors-turned-information to other students, who discuss them with teachers who aren’t really sure what’s actually going on because they haven’t heard anything else from the administration about said issue anyways.

But we do believe there’s hope. Last year, we had really grown to appreciate after school activity announcements at the end of the day, because we were awake and paying attention. Teachers and guidance counselors who tweet or use text messaging services to get in touch with students are great—it shows us that you’re paying attention to how we interact with each other, and are making an effort to reach us in different ways. In fact, we would actually like to see more of that. We feel a direct top down communication route, starting with the principal and house masters, is essential to improving this communication conundrum.

Try communicating with us electronically. Many students’ families don’t have land lines anymore, and very few of us listen to voicemails for more than a few seconds before hanging up the phone. Instead, why not send a biweekly mass email that would go out to students and parents? That way information can be referred to quickly, and over again as needed.

While some students may not read emails, most will read a Twitter feed. Maybe offer a stipend for a teacher to manage PR, including those mass emails and an official Twitter and Facebook account for BHS, that lets students know about school delays and closings, game cancellations or changes, and anything else a student might need to know.

And TGA teachers: please turn on your morning announcements, and give students notices that you find for them in your mailboxes. For the most part, announcements are a primary source of information, and if we miss them, we’re uninformed (we know, we have to pay attention to them, too). It’s also frustrating when we get notices that we were supposed to get weeks ago, and end up missing out on important deadlines or events. Additionally, don’t pass around alleged information. If something’s under wraps or unconfirmed, leave it there. This is high school, and rumors spread like wildfire through the halls. In order to diffuse them, we need accurate information, not “this might happen next year.”

For students, get informed. If you have questions, talk to an administrative assistant in your house office, or a guidance counselor for clarification. It should be a priority for you to seek accurate information, rather than spreading around supposed policy changes and other rumors.