Aside from chickens and students, LASA has become home to a new group of critters: ants. Found in holes in the walls and scouring hallway floors for food, ants have established colonies throughout the entire campus. Now, teachers have had to take precautions in order to prevent the infestation in their classrooms.
Upon walking into his room one morning, LASA U.S. History and Government teacher John Goodell was shocked to see thousands upon thousands of ants crowded around a desk. Before this, students were allowed to eat food in his classroom as they pleased. However, the privileges have since been revoked as it led to an insect invasion.
“I don’t like to name names, but [someone] brought Popeyes chicken wings into my classroom,” Goodell said. “I did not ban food at this point.”
Goodell is not alone in his insect concerns. Adela Sifuentes, LASA’s building manager, also recognized the problem and explained that Goodell’s plan of removing food from classrooms is the first step teachers can take.
“I think this year has been a little crazy,” Sifuentes said. “I think what can help us from not having all these issues in classrooms is [not allowing] so much food. Students constantly eat food, leave their food behind, and don’t pick up after themselves.”
Chloe Cardinale, LASA girls varsity soccer coach and Great Ideas teacher, explained that keeping food out is more challenging than it seems. In addition to a growing ant infestation, she has also found roaches in her room.
“I’ve had an ant and roach infestation since August, which I have not had in previous years,” Cardinale said. “I have tried to curtail students eating in here, but that’s a losing battle as well.”
Goodell also has had limited success clearing his room of the ants and explained that the infestation always returns. This prompted the reinstitution of a no-food rule in his room during class time that had previously been lifted.
“I banned food in my class for the rest of the semester,” Goodell said. “Ants went away. I brought food back the second semester, and it got so bad.”
Because of the insect problem, teachers have complained to the administration in numbers. While faculty members do hear complaints about the critters and recognize the cause, many do not think it is as big an issue as some claim.
“To me, infested means they’re just non-stop everywhere,” Sifuentes said. “I haven’t seen that anywhere, and nobody has reported that that’s the issue.”
The school is currently attempting to control the issues as they arise by requesting pest control companies, such as ABC Home & Commercial Services (ABC), to help resolve the issue. However, Sifuentes explained that the arrival of ants is inevitable.
“We’re trying to control [it], but it’s not something that we can get rid of,” Sifuentes said. “We can contract ABC as we’ve done, we can put in work orders for the service center, but it’s just something that is going to happen no matter what building you’re in.”
While these infestations might happen elsewhere, the school’s condition also adds to their severity. Cardinale believes that LASA should be torn down and rebuilt to fix the ant problem to provide students with a safe and clean environment.
“That’s what they did at Ann Richards, that’s what they’re doing at Travis,” Cardinale said. “The infrastructure of the building is falling apart. It’s really hard to seal a building that hasn’t been kept up for decades from anything, let alone tiny ants, so they’re plugging holes as they’re coming in through other holes.”
Considering all the issues, Goodell explained that a new campus must be built. If not, he believes nature could reclaim LASA.
“Fundraise for a new building, this place is gone,” Goodell said. “Eventually, it’ll be like Jumanji where it’s been subsumed by the forest.”
