Nov 4 right after the flag football tournament at Southeast Middle School, the school yard CLOSED. 

But the main thing, gophers make holes in the grass area in the yard which then students can trip, fall, and possibly break something, so Southeast saw this as something bad so they closed the yard.

Then the yard closed because of gophers which made Southeast call in some workers to try to get rid of the gophers by trapping them and putting gas into the ground.

The gophers make holes in the big grass area  which causes students to fall/trip when playing in the grass area.

P.E teacher Mr. Munguia said “We would like to see some type of progress everyday to see that the workers are getting to the end goal which is the yard being open again.” 

Since then, the yard has stayed the same but workers work on it from time to time but still very slowly.

A student who plays in the yard by the name Osvaldo Coyazo has spoken on the yard situation by saying “The whole yard should not have been closed if it’s only the big grass area that they are working on… they at least could’ve left the basketball courts open.”

Every 8 out of 10 students would say that the yard should not have been closed but instead let them use it every once in a while.

A lot of students in after school sports complained because of the little to no space and because the ball kept getting stuck on or in tables when the students practiced in the Quad area.

During PE, students and teachers found it difficult because every class takes up a lot of space. PE moved to the lunch area, the lecture hall, and the gym which leaves them with little space.

Mr. Munguia said “There is very limited space because there is 6 PE teachers so there is 6 stations and we need to work with such little space which can affect student safety because of it.”

Kids during lunch complain to the admins about the long closure; they want to be in the yard to either play or walk around. Instead those same students walk around the lunch area and the kids who want to play go to a small space. It is a safety hazard for kids to be playing while more kids are walking close to those same kids.

The yard may reopen in the first month of the new semester.

Update: Jan. 12

The Yard has finally opened again but workers still are trying to find gophers.