Today at Dos Pueblos High School, a swarm of yellowjackets formed, and DPHS faculty placed caution tape closing a section of the H-Wing. The swarm formed after one student stepped too close to the underground yellowjacket nest and resulted in more than eight students being stung.

“My evaluation of the situation is that during the passing period when everyone was going to classes … ,” said Ian Perry, the DPHS Assistant Principal of 11-12 grade. “Then someone came through the meadow and walked nearby them.”

Tennyson Riley (11) was in the middle of class when he was stung by a yellowjacket and decided to “tough it out.”

“I like, tried to swat them off my leg, because yellowjackets are not a friend of mine, and then it came back for revenge … when I wasn’t paying attention,” Riley said. “It flew down my shirt, I don’t know if it left a mark or not and I didn’t look, but it hurt, so I squashed it.”

Over the radio, Perry was initially told that the swarm was of honey bees but he was surprised when he arrived to see a yellowjacket’s nest.

“We have a lot of honey bee swarms that happen to come through our campus,” Perry said. “But honey bees are nice, yellowjackets are not.”

As a safety precaution Perry decided to put caution tape around the area, so students wouldn’t  have “stirred them up again.”

“So we decided, … let’s get the classrooms that are most affected … out of there for the rest of the day,” Perry said. “Then the [removal] company is going to come after school and then they’ll spray the nest … and destroy it, and cover it back with dirt.”