Throughout the past year, various complaints have been expressed regarding the noises coming from the classroom’s air-conditioning system during the school day. The culprits: birds living and nesting near the outdoor air-intake vents.

Sophomore Kelsey Foresta said bird noises in some of her classes in Buildings 2 and 3 make testing and taking notes a challenge sometimes.

“It’s very distracting because I can hear birds chirping and moving around the windows during class when [we’re] doing something,” she said. “Especially when it’s silent or [the class is] taking a test, it can be very annoying.”

Sophomore Tyanna Tizol said the birds aren’t helping her math studies.

“The birds are really loud in [math teacher Susan] Orton’s room, and it makes it hard for me to focus when we are taking notes on new math topics, ” Tizol said. “It’s really annoying when the class is quiet like when we’re taking a test and all I can hear is the birds. Honestly, it sometimes makes me lose my train of thought.”

Senior Gianni Valenti said the noises in the journalism room make it hard to concentrate as well.

“In yearbook I spend a lot of time proof-reading people’s stories and that takes a lot of concentration,” he said. “It can be very annoying to hear birds chirping all period.”

In addition, sophomore Abby Connor said she believes the nests may pose a threat to the quality of the air in the classrooms.

“It’s not like I have anything against the birds,” Connor said. “I just don’t want to breathe in all the dust and nasty stuff that the air coming in may blow off of their nests. It’s really kind of gross when you think about it.”

With plans to install new air-conditioning in some of the buildings this summer, the noises may cease. Until then, the birds still seem to always have something to ‘tweet’ about.

By Alana Mayott and Shelbi Winslow