Mice, not mouse, MICE in my classroom-and its my responsibility alone to handle it
Today was my first day back from break, everything seems normal, I park my car in the school parking lot, make copies for the day, and walk into my classroom to find a live MOUSE squeaking by my desk. I freak out. I look closer. My desk is covered in mice turds; the floor is covered; under desks there is evidence of mouse activity with little mice feces here and there. Disgusting. Mind you, I have plushies that are now infested - plushies I bought with my own money as emotional supports for my students working through trauma that have been a huge resource for classroom management and SEL. I have papers to return to my students. The perimeters have mice bites around the edges. I think to myself, “can I even return this to my students, is it even ethical? Students would benefit from feedback, but is this now a biohazard? My whole freaking classroom is a biohazard!”
Class starts in 10 minutes, and I don’t want to touch anything. It’s gross. My students come into class (I teach high school), and nobody seems to notice the droplets in the ground. As everyone is getting settled in, I see the mouse by my desk. That evil, but deviously cute mouse. All of a sudden two students scream MOUSE!!! But they’re pointing to another part of the classroom, away from the previously identified evil mouse.
From there it was a shit show, both literally and figuratively. We were able to identify at least 4 separate mice in the classroom, but who knows, there might be more, and I dread what awaits me tomorrow.
Anyhow, I figured this is something that needed addressing, and I was worried that as a biohazard, my students and I would get sick in a mouse infested classroom. Perhaps we could be relocated to another room or hold class in the library instead. Mind you in some of my classes, I have one or two students with a baby on the way, and this is no environment for them, let alone anyone else. An admin stopped by to assess the situation and verbatim said “This shit is way above my pay grade, not my fucking problem” and left. That was it. I am hoping, praying that custodians address the issue, but we are low on staff, and last time a student vomited in the classroom, the custodian sprayed Lysol on it and called it a day.
Oh, I would go to my union rep for help, but he was mysteriously fired a few months ago without a real reason after standing up to the superintendent (another story in itself, but basically we have a new superintendent with a grand plan to fire any and everyone with a masters degree in order to save costs on spending. Yes, it’s totally illegal, and this same guy was fired from his previous job for money laundering and fraud, but it’ll probably take about 3 years before anyone does anything about his illegal activity in this new district of his because of bureaucracy and that he has friends in high places. The corruption is so bad)
Looking back, I left half a bag of individually wrapped chocolate in a sealed bag in my class over break, but that’s all for food. What should I do in this position? I don’t want to deal with literal shit for the rest of the year (pun intended). This is my last year at this school because I’m on track to get my masters next year and know I’ll be on the chopping block to keep my job anyway, but I also don’t want to get blacklisted preventing future job opportunities next year. I adore my students and genuinely love what I do. My coworkers are awesome, pay is pretty good, I just can’t stand the shit. It really feels like teachers have to look out for themselves. I’m used to that, but a mouse infestation is beyond what I can handle on my own. It gives me the ick. Any advice on what to do moving forward?