In the culinary cooking classes they are cleaning everything due to a sanitation problem, mice. They need to clean and sanitize everything because they do not know the location of the mice or what they have touched. Mice sightings have been reported by students in the lunchroom outside of the athletic hallway.

“Right now there have been mice in the [culinary] room,” sophomore Liberty Lauren said. “We are cleaning dishes so that we can start labs in the cooking classes.”

School officials are aware of the mice issue and advise that culinary students take proper precautions when handling the tools. They have been advised to sanitize everything so that contaminated items are not handled by students. Luckily, Culinary and Lifetime wellness teacher Marsha Tomlinson said, everything is almost sanitized and they are having their first demo today on baking cookies.

“I am very excited for this demo because they are excited,” Tomlinson said. “Usually we are cooking, but looking for the mice messed up our schedule. But actually, what really slowed things down the most was our sanitation and safety test ironically. Amazing that it has been this many years with no mouse issue, but this is an old school.”

Although the school does not handle pest issues, they do report it to the district. The district sends professionals who deal with those problems to the school. They perform tests to conduct a thorough investigation. If need be, they will also set traps in places where the pest sightings have occurred. The traps will not be visible for students to see.

“If a student does see a mouse, they should report it to an adult or an assistant principal,” assistant principal Moises Trejo said. “Culinary [students] should make the proper precautions for the food to make sure it is all sanitary.”