Reading, writing, and rodents. It's what your child is learning and seeing scurrying around some schools in the School District of Palm Beach County.
WPTV first reported exclusively on this video we obtained in early December.
The video showed a hungry rat crawling around inside a vending machine at Atlantic Community High School. The mother of the student who shot the video, Latoya Johnson, told us at the time that she “was horrified actually to see that at a public school that this would go on.”
Now, we've learned that this was not the first rat-related problem the high school faced this school year - or with that vending machine.
In an email obtained through a public records request, an employee for the district wrote that with this vending machine, "the rodent problem IS NOT a recent problem."
The email, dated Dec. 6, 2018, the day after our story aired, described a conversation between a district employee and Right Choice, the company that refills the vending machine.
"She shared with me that she has seen holes in packages of snacks, prior to today, when refilling the machine. Also on at least 1 occasion, she has seen a dead rat in this same machine. She has also seen a live rat, running around, in the bottom of this same machine. She was able to discard of the dead rat and for the next incident, she was able to shew the live rat, out of the machine."
It goes on to add that "on each occasion" the representative for the company "called and reported this information to her supervisor" and "told them that this was a problem that needed to be dealt with."
A district spokesperson told us that the "vending company never told the school about the issue with the vending machine."
When reached by phone, Right Choice declined repeated requests to comment for this story.
In all, Atlantic Community High School has submitted eight work orders for pest control related to roaches or rodents between Aug. 1 – Dec. 31, 2018, according to records reviewed by WPTV.
The school has submitted work orders for instances including a mouse that “was seen in hallway of 2nd floor landing,” a “rodent & roach problem” at concession stands for the football field, auditorium & gym, and a rat that “was seen on the stairwell.”
Records reviewed by WPTV show Atlantic Community High School is not the district's worst offender.
We reviewed records of all work orders placed over the first half of this school year, from Aug. 1 – Dec. 31, 2018.
WPTV did not review records for charter schools or private schools within Palm Beach County.
Throughout the district, Watson B. Duncan Middle School stood out with the most requests, placing twenty-three work orders for exterminator services related to rodents or roaches on sixteen different days between August and December of 2018.
"Our kids spend more time in school than they do at home, they should have a safe clean environment for them," said Miranda Villegas, whose sister attends Duncan Middle School.
Work orders placed by the school show that on at least one occasion, students saw the critters first-hand.
A report from October noted that a rat "crawled across room C-10 with kids in the room" and called it a "very bad situation." Another, from December, requested pest control citing a rat "in the cafeteria in stage area."
Claudia Diaz, a mother of a sixth-grader who attends Duncan, told WPTV that her daughter has "seen them when she’s out in PE running across the fields and stuff.”
District-wide, more than 300 work orders have been submitted by various schools.
While some schools did not submit any requests for pest control services related to rodents or roaches, other schools had multiple requests over the first half of the school year.
Roosevelt Elementary School requested pest-control services in August, with school officials writing “we have RATS in Bldg. 3. It is terrible.” The request also noted that “PreK and Kindergarten students are housed in this building. Teachers actually saw the rodents today. HELP please.”
A teacher at Boynton Beach High School reported "feces falling from the roof to her desk. She also hears scratching sounds in the ceiling."
On the north side of the district, a work order from Palm Beach Gardens Elementary placed in October complained of "big rats and raccoons outside of the school" and that "it's not safe there are kids playing outside of the school. This is a safety issue.”
Atlantic Community High School wasn't the only school to have rodents roaming about in a vending machine, with a report indicating "multiple rats living inside the Pepsi machine" at Jupiter Community Middle School.
The School District of Palm Beach County declined multiple interview requests for this story.
In a statement, the district wrote:
"The Palm Beach County School District makes every attempt possible to prevent rodent entry access points. It is inevitable that rodent and insects will sometimes find their way into our structures. The District has an Integrated Pest Management Program, which is our process to solve pest problems while minimizing risks to people and the environment. This includes a walk with school staff, custodial, maintenance and vendor services (if needed) to exclude any new entry points found."
