Rodents at UHS: Are They Students Too?

As you may have noticed, rodents are a pretty big problem at UHS. Mice have been spotted in many of the classrooms by teachers and students. Is the rodent problem caused by student’s food or are there deeper issues behind it?

The food and nutrition classroom seems to have multiple mice. Foods teacher Cheyenne Warman-Neal has stated that 4 mice have been found dead just this year alone! All four mice have been found under the sink in kitchen five. She also said she has had to throw out food due to mice getting into it and eating it.

Areas with food aren’t the only places with mice. Science classroom 1198 with Biology teacher Alex Riley has spotted a mouse during the first semester.

Freshman Rudy Ibarra says it was running across the floor and it was a distraction to the class. Riley’s input on this is he had no idea what to do with the mouse. It came out of nowhere and ran across the floor. There have been no mouse sightings since then but he reports mouse droppings in drawers and cabinets.

Are rodents a multi-species issue? Cockroaches have also been seen around the school.

Cross Country runners Beatrice Biggs and Lavie Masha give details about the team’s pet roach, Jimmy. He was seen crawling around the locker room when the team decided to befriend the bug instead of murdering it. Lavie also states she had a live roach in her locker room locker and witnessed it crawl out of hers and into another runner’s locker.

If this seems all like too much to handle, don’t fear! Maintenance Supervisor Daniel Lance has a special procedure to take care of them.

There are various traps set up around the school to catch those little legs. Per district policy, he’s not allowed to use metal traps and uses glue traps as an alternative. There’s a log book in the main office of all the mice found.

Whenever Lance finds mice, he calls Terminix and they report to the school the next morning. When a mouse is caught, he takes them outside to dispose of them. Roaches have the same procedure, however, the traps are a hotel-like trap used to trick them into going inside.

In a building as large as UHS, rodents will continue to be a problem. Though, next time you see Mr. Lance, make sure to give him a big thanks on keeping the school rodents at bay!