Rats and mice were a big problem at the beginning of the school year.
“One Monday morning, when I came to my room and began working on my table, a rat came running through the room,” Blackney said. “I screamed like a girl. A week before that Monday a rat was eating a chocolate bar that the cheerleaders and dancers were selling.”
Biology teacher Brittany Bailey saw two rats in her room.
“A rat chewed a hole in my ceiling and they chewed my computer wires,” Bailey said. “I often get the custodians to put some sticky traps in my room.”
English teacher Polly Birkhead also witnessed two mice.
“A mouse ran around and went behind my bookcase,” Birkhead said. “We almost caught the mouse fifth period.”
The problem’s main source started with the students.
“Students eating food and being trashy may have caused this problem,” Birkhead said.
Bailey thinks there is another reason.
“I had an insect collection,” Bailey said. “I think the rats saw my insect collection in the summer and came here to feast on the insects.”
Although the rats and mice caused some problems, the rat problem is pretty much taken care of according to assistant principal Rebecca Hitchcock and several teachers.
“The rat problem is not a big problem now,” Hitchcock said. The rats did not really cause much harm to anyone.”
Birkhead agrees that the rat problem is lessening
“In this part of the school, the English hall, the rat problem is taken care of,” Birkhead said.
Several things were done to solve the rat problem.
“We cleaned out the lockers and the benches to stop the possibility of the rats coming here,” Hitchcock said. “Students should not take any food to their classroom, because that’s what caused most of the rats.”
Teachers enforcing some rules also helped solved the rat problem.
“I am strict about students eating my room,” Blackney said.