Since the Rye City School District ramped up efforts to eliminate mice from Rye High School and Middle School over Memorial Day weekend, the rodents have remained a persistent problem, The Record has learned.
On May 26, the day after the long holiday weekend, an RHS teacher was bitten by a mouse that crawled up her pant leg, said an RHS teacher who asked to remain anonymous.
The teacher punched the mouse until it died and fell out of her pants, but the animal drew blood, and the teacher received antibiotics and a tetanus shot, the source said. The wound has since healed.
But mice remain in the school.
“Over the last three days, I’ve had at least 10 people tell me that either this week or last they’d seen mice and reported it,” the source said on Wednesday.
Superintendent Tricia Murray told The Record in early June that “the issue has been resolved” with the mice. Informed of reports of an ongoing mice problem, Murray said on Wednesday, “Since we engaged with the external pest management company, the district has seen significant improvement and no further incidents have occurred.”
A pest control company, which the district declined to name, removed several mice over Memorial Day weekend. Efforts to eliminate the animals continued throughout the spring and into this week, as students departed for summer break.
“Now that students aren’t in the building, there are snap traps all over,” said the source. “Every classroom and the hallways have snap traps. It’s very disturbing. If there’s not a problem and you’ve remedied the situation, then why have you put a ton more traps out?”
The district received reports of an increase in mice activity in late May, contracting pest control specialists for reinforcement.
“I am writing to make you aware that we have recently observed an increase in mice activity in select areas of our middle school and high school building,” RHS principal Andrew Hara wrote in an email to families on May 29, four days the teacher had been bitten. “While this activity has not disrupted the school day or affected students, we believe it is important to keep our community informed and to ask for your partnership in addressing the issue.”
Pest specialists identified potential points of entry and recommended new cleanliness protocols, including eliminating foods that might attract the pests.
“As part of our response, all students have cleaned out their lockers this week,” Hara wrote. “We also ask for your support in reminding students that any food brought to school should be stored in sealed containers and that no food should be left in lockers overnight.”
There was a concerted effort to keep food out of lockers and hallways through the end of the school year.
Attempts to keep the mice away have proven more difficult.
“I found it very interesting it said, ‘The issue has been resolved,’” said the teacher, referring to Murray’s previous statement. “As a matter of fact, it has not.”
