Christ the King Elementary School has a mice infestation, says Riverdale South NDP MLA Jan Stick.
Using a line from The Night Before Christmas, Stick asked Education Minister Scott Kent what was being done about it during Question Period Tuesday.
“Some poison measures were taken but were unsuccessful. They’re still stirring,” she said.
“It was reported to me by a parent and a constituent that mice are running across the carpeted classrooms, across desks and keyboards during the time the children are in the class.”
Kent said he had only learned about the problem that morning but promised “to report back as soon as possible.”
Three mice have been reported at the school since Dec. 1, said Education spokesman Chris Madden.
Christ the King’s school council is “satisfied” with the response by the department and school administration, said chair Valerie Royle.
Shortly after the first report, a contractor came in with a special camera that was used to peer inside walls to look for mice nests. Then an exterminator was called. He left tamper-proof traps with warfarin, a poison that makes mice
“dry up and disintegrate,” said Royle.
“We were satisfied with that. It’s winter and we have 350 kids feeding mice, unfortunately. We don’t have a cafeteria so all the kids eat their lunches in their classrooms.”
Neither Royle nor Madden had heard about the mice scampering anywhere but the floor. One was captured by a teacher while class was in session, said Royle.
“It was captured and released. Then a raven came and ate it.”
Stick told the legislature that parents at the school council meeting were told “that all schools have mice and not to worry.”
But that’s not how Royle remembers it.
“It’s not an unusual thing to have mice in buildings in the winter in the Yukon. It’s winter time, so mice come in ... given that we’re located next to a field, next to a forest, where mice live,” she said.
Stick wants to see the school fumigated over the Christmas holidays.
Contact John Thompson at
johnt@yukon-news.com