‘Talk Light’ has drawn support

A stoplight is still regulating noise levels in the Athol Elementary cafeteria, according to the superintendent of the Lakeland School District.

Superintendent Chuck Kinsey talked about the device this month because the staff at Athol Elementary didn’t want to.

Not after the school became the unwitting focus of national media attention and conversation. And especially not after a local columnist lampooned the school, making fun of administrators, students, cafeteria workers and the entire small town.

The Spokesman-Review first reported on Athol Elementary’s use of the “Talk Light” in February.

“It got a lot of attention,” Kinsey said, “but in terms of the students and the community, there was actually a lot of support expressed. It’s not something that created division among the kids and the community.”

Still, the device, dubbed the “blab-o-meter” by the school’s now-retired principal, was momentarily a national talking point.

The Web site pigazette.com, or the Politically Incorrect Gazette, ran its take on the issue under the headline: “A Top Ten, Stupid, Educrat Notion.”

The brief article referred to Athol’s administrators as “Educrat dipsticks” who went “non-clinically bonkers” when they installed the light in the school cafeteria.

Marty Fortier, a columnist for the Coeur d’Alene Press newspaper, likened the Talk Light to “psychological torture” and referred to the device as the “zombie-o-meter” in a column peppered with jokes about the town’s name.

Many schools employ the Talk Light and similar gadgets to measure the level of noise created by students. Administrators can adjust the sensitivity of the device to go off in response to noise between 54 and 100 decibels.

When students get too loud, the light turns from green to red. At Athol Elementary, lunchroom workers then turned out the lights until students quieted down.

A February visit to the school proved that the device was pretty tolerant. The light remained green even when people couldn’t hear those next to them.

In an online forum at the Conversation Café Web site, parents debated the use of the Talk Light.

The school had said the light was necessary because of poor acoustics in the lunchroom.

Comments in the forum suggested the school fix that problem by purchasing acoustic tiles. Another joked that the Talk Light should be moved to the teachers break room.

Despite the national attention, Kinsey said the school has continued using the Talk Light.

“They see it as a non-issue,” he said. “It is used and the administration feels it is appropriately used.”