Schools
The Birds Swoop Down on Corona del Mar Students
Principal Tim Bryan says birds have left the school seeking solutions ranging from sonic systems to placing spikes on light posts.
Corona del Mar High School officials say birds are causing havoc for students on campus.
“It may sound funny, but it’s a serious concern,” Principal Tim Bryan said at last week's PTA meeting. “We’re one food item away from a bird-related incident”
The birds --mainly seagulls--are usually known to fly farther north this time of year, but have recently been making their home around the school gym. They've been lured to the school by food in the trash and even the food being consumed by students. Bryan said there was also a recent incident in which a bird had been hovering extremely close to someone on campus who had been "walking with food in their hands.”
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The bird’s concentration of droppings has also been an issue, and have been clogging draining systems around campus that lead to the ocean.
“We were considering hiring a falconer, but it would probably take weeks for the seagulls to actually go away; if a falcon is only there for a day, they might come back," Bryan said. "Then there’s a chance that it might take out a seagull in the quad when the students are around, and we definitely don’t want that.”
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The school has enlisted the aid of the school district and contractors to help out with the bird problem, and solutions ranging from sonic systems to placing spikes on light posts have been tossed around.
Also at the meeting
- Assistant Principal Duncan McCulloch said three campus safety officers will be patrolling specific zones on the campus as part of campus security. “It’s the most effective way of having security on campus, other than just having people wandering the halls” said McCulloch.
-Guest speaker Ronanne Reeves from CSP Project Path handed out a survey to PTA members relating to their media advertisements. Project Path will be holding a workshop at the Central Library on Tuesday, Feb. 7 from 7 to 8 p.m. to advocate for teen drug abuse awareness.
-McCulloch also showed Corona del Mar PTA members a book that had been confiscated from a student, which had been hollowed out to hide tobacco products.
