Walking into room 131, the distinct smell of decaying meat overwhelmed Eric Jensen’s ninth period Environmental Science class. Mr. Jensen searched through the cupboards frantically looking for the source of the rancid stench as his students ran around the room opening as many windows as possible to lessen the smell. With a shriek of victory,  Mr. Jensen pulled out a bag of a two week old, decomposed fish and ran to the trash can.

The rotten fish incident, which took place on Wednesday, Jan. 21, was just one of the many pranks the Science Department played on each other in the last few years.

“Not that he would admit it, but Mr. Paige did this to me because I changed his milk carton from the cafeteria with one that had been sitting in the refrigerator for a couple months, ” Mr. Jensen said.

“Every day I get two chocolate milks,” said James Paige, another science teacher. “Mr. Jensen switched one of them with an expired one from Nov. 17. I opened it, drank it, and then vomited in the trash.”

Not only did Mr. Jensen prank Mr. Paige with spoiled milk, he also happened to change the computer background of Tom Ludovice, another science teacher, to an embarrassing picture and has been sending embarrassing e-mails pretending to be his colleagues.

“Do we have tomfoolery in the office? Absolutely,” Mr. Jensen said.

Typically, the male science teachers have been the ones participating in the practical jokes. Some of the pranksters include Mr. Canavan, Mr. Ludois, Mr. Paige, Mr. Pintz, Mr. Ludovis, and Mr. Jazak.

“Mr. Jensen hacked my computer without me knowing and typed Mr. Pintz an e-mail saying ‘I love you’,” Mr. Paige said.

Unfortunately for Mr. Jensen, his constant pranking backfired on him.

“Mr. Ludovice has been stealing things from my desk. He then created a riddle for me to discover where those things were hidden,” Mr. Jensen said. “Lo and behold, they were all with the skeleton in the closet of his classroom.”

Although the pranks have escalated during the past couple days, the science teachers deny a prank war exists.

“This time of year when we’re not outside as much, playing these little tricks on each other helps lighten the mood. It’s bringing a little levity to the office,” Mr. Jensen said.

Even though Mr. Jensen claims the pranks are dying down, his colleagues disagree.

“More will be coming, and hopefully [students] won’t be collateral damage,” Mr. Paige joked.