Montclair elementary school hires pest control service to help stop mouse infestation
Parents tell News 12 that children have seen the mice running through classrooms and hallways. They’ve been seen in bookbags, snacks and desks.
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Kids aren’t the only things scurrying around the halls of the Watchung Elementary School. Students, staffers and concerned parents are dealing with a mouse infestation.
One mother of a fourth grader told News 12 outside of the school that children have seen the mice running through classrooms and hallways. They’ve been seen in bookbags, snacks and desks.
“She told me that some of the children that get school lunch, that they did see droppings in the food. And there are also children feeding the mice in the bathrooms, which is disgusting," said a mother named Kim, who has a daughter in the school.
She’s worried someone is going to get sick from this infestation.
“It needs to stop now," she says.
The district is trying to handle the problem by hiring Alliance Pest Control Services.
On Tuesday, News 12 was told areas where pipes enter walls and ceilings have been sealed with silicone and that more traps have been set.
There was also a deep cleaning on Wednesday.
The company will be working over the weekend to see if more needs to be done.
Interim Superintendent Damen Cooper said in a statement, “We take this issue seriously and are working closely with the Township Department of Health, Alliance Pest Control Services and our District Building and Grounds team to implement a comprehensive remediation plan.”
Parents say the mice have been a problem for a long time and it was only because parents pushed that it’s now being addressed.
“It sounds like they’re taking it seriously now but it did take a lot of agitation," said one parent.
