Students spent many hours studying going into AP testing, but there was one thing they were unprepared for on test day: birds in the gym. 

Throughout the two weeks of AP testing, a group of birds was consistently heard chirping and seen flying over students. 

The birds have been living in the gym since as early as February. They were first brought to the school administration’s attention by Dance Troupe when they were practicing in the gym early in the mornings. When assistant principals came in to check on the birds at that time, they were met with silence and assumed that it was a one-time phenomenon. 

Come March, talk about the birds had largely subsided. Once in a while, someone would report that there was a bird in the gym, and the administration would try to open the doors and gently lure them out. Talk about the birds, however, suddenly increased during the first days of AP testing. Students were now reporting the existence of not one, not two, but three birds in the rafters of the gym. 

According to the school administration’s initial assessment, it was pretty clear that there was a hole in the right corner of the ceiling that the birds were using to go out and access food sources. 

After monitoring the situation for a few days, the school contacted the district’s facilities and Learning Support Services department. They also contacted College Board to submit an irregularity form in order to allow College Board to determine whether they want to score Westview AP tests differently than others. 

At the end of the first week of testing, staff from the facilities department came in and patched what administration believed to be the hole that the birds were coming into the gym through. However, based on the fact that they were still being heard well into the second week, administration now believes that there is either a nest inside the gym or another hole.  

“The best way to lure them out would be to blacken all the windows and open one door, but the gym’s natural light and giant rafter windows don’t really allow for that,” assistant principal Shannon Parker said. 

As for the birds’ impact on students, there was initially concern that they would fly too close to test-takers or even poop on their heads. However, for most students, the chirping of the birds ended up being a relaxing element in an otherwise stressful environment.  

“It was kind of white noise and not super distracting,” Parker said. “It was almost like testing in an aviary.” 

Anika Seth (12) said she felt comforted by the birds during her AP Statistics test. 

“I think birds are cute,” she said. Their chirps just meant they had a little family and were happy.”