In the large auditorium that is Old Hall, with its hundreds of small desks and lofty light-blue walls, a man of medium stature sits at a table at the front of the room. Soon, the hall is filled with hundreds of gossiping, excited students, and this man, David Kim, takes on the Herculean role of Arlington High School's only permanent substitute teacher.

As the sole invariable overseer in the study hall that accommodates the entire school, Kim's role at AHS has been revamped from prior years; he must now enforce the new, stricter regulations of Old Hall while attempting to keep track of students and quelling the inevitable chaos that erupts when teenagers are placed in a single room with no specified work. Due to severe reductions in funding, AHS has slowly cut back, from extracurriculars to substitutes. Because of these cuts, stress levels have gone up for students and teachers alike. Joseph Sancinito, a history teacher, highlights that "there is an added pressure on teachers to not be absent ... since [in Old Hall] nothing gets done."

Since teachers are surprisingly human, absences often become unavoidable. Even with one or two missing teachers in a given day, Kim faces hundreds of students single-handedly. In doing so, "getting things done" has taken a backseat to simply keeping order.

In an attempt to create fluidity in both the students' and Kim's schedules, a series of new rules have been enacted in Old Hall that have the room looking vastly different than it has in past years. Students are now allowed to use iPods, a well-received factor that has Molly Kennedy-Spencer, an AHS junior, feeling as if "the school has found common ground with the students."

Kim also supports the idea. He believes music can help kids be productive, saying iPods "could be used to blot out conversations noise and keep working."

The new rules are not all fun and games, however; the transition from classroom-based studies to a large, single hall has come with skipping and tardiness.

To alleviate pressures of monitoring and accounting for students, kids must sit with their classes in organized rows. Although fully rational, it is quite the transition from the "laissez-faire" environment of prior years, where desks were randomly arranged and noise level was not the substitute's personal concern.

Besides the rules, there is an emotional change in the participants of Old Hall.

"There's just something about being crowded into a large room under minimal supervision," Kim says. "There's a physiological element that's scary for the students, because they're in a noisy environment -- not only with their own class, but several classes, and it would be harder to concentrate through that."

Volume is certainly not a factor that is easily disregarded, even for the most diligent and concentrating of workers. Noise level is a problem that is accentuated by the structural features of Old Hall, with the wide, tall room being a catalyst to a roar not unlike that at a professional football game.

Controlling noise is only the tip of the iceberg of Kim's responsibilities in Old Hall.

"I have become much more a flow-management person than I was as a substitute," he states. "I have duties that are more directing people to the right place at the beginning of the period. I have the role of being responsible to put in the data as I finish my check off sheets. I have the informal role to coordinate when teachers can arrive and put them in context of the situation."

Attendance alone takes at least half the period, during which, as a substitute teacher of four years at AHS, Kim would rather direct his efforts into helping students with work. "The kids I knew on a classroom basis probably already sense that I don't have the same time to smile, kid around," he says sadly.

Students have found moments away from friends and schoolwork to sympathize with Old Hall's head honcho. "It is an absurdly tough, seriously undervalued position," comments Chris Opie, an AHS Junior. Even such strong words can be considered an understatement.

On an average day, Old Hall sees at least two absent classes per period, a minimum of 50 students. Based completely on unforeseen absences, Kim receives a notification of absent teachers about 15 minutes before the start of the school day, during which he must organize attendance and scheduling. "I fear I will be mechanized into a continual, narrowly defined management role," Kim says.

With a few months of school already checked off their calendars, students are adapting to Old Hall. "I have seen kids being calmer, getting to their seats faster," says Kennedy-Spencer, who has Old Hall on her weekly schedule.

Even minor improvements can significantly change the course of Kim's day, relieving him of stress that directs his energy away from the students and into systematic organization. So what does Kim want to help him deal with the new changes in Old Hall?

"A printer. Unless they get a printer in Old Hall itself, attendance taking will continue to take up most of the time," Kim says humbly. Perhaps a printer would be an earned gift to a man who takes on one of AHS's most strenuous positions on a daily basis.

The writer, a junior, is a member of the AHS honors journalism class.