In the proverbial rat race, the rats are winning at Malibu High School (MHS)—but, district staff say, not for long.
Since the school is under renovation and under a multimillion dollar reconstruction project, students, teachers and administrators have noticed an infestation of rats the likes of which has never been seen before in the institution’s history. To be fair, MHS has always had rats, but this latest scourge has had an overwhelming number (and degree) of sightings, with witnesses describing seeing up to 10 at once and droppings discovered throughout the campus. At a meeting Wednesday night, Oct. 25, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District officials said it would take two weeks to get the rat problem under control.
With game two of the World Series on Wednesday—featuring local squad the Los Angeles Dodgers—scarcely a dozen parents showed up to hear how the school is tackling the rodent problem. It’s so severe that Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati has resorted to the authorization of using poison that rankled some of those in attendance.
“I was asked to ramp up given the conditions, given what I’ve seen and information from teachers, parents and students. We’re being overrun,” Drati acknowledged.
“Right now, I feel we need to use the poison we’re using as a part of the exclusion process,” he continued, defending the controversial practice. “I need that combination. That’s what I feel is necessary at this point and I’ll take responsibility for that. I can’t be patient and allow the rats to flourish.”
SMMUSD Director of Maintenance and Operations Roosevelt Brown explained how the infestation erupted.
“We’ve disrupted their natural habitat,” Brown described. “They’re looking for shelter in other places so they’re coming into the buildings at an alarming rate. I have to make sure the campus is clean, papers picked up, garbage can lids closed. I have to do exclusion work, which is attack places where they enter—close up gaps and holes. Put on door sweeps.” Brown finally went to Superintendant Drati to authorize the use of pesticides “because of the alarming rate these rodents are coming in.”
Brown continued, “We’re very conscious here about pesticides.”
Part of the school’s emergency plan is using bait boxes out of access of students and teachers. The boxes contain the rodenticide Terad3 that contains VitaminD3. According to Brown, Vitamin D3 bait is not a potent pesticide.
“It kills them, but very, very slowly,” Brown said. “We’ve been trapping and seeing results. We see a change of color in the droppings so we know we’re getting results. We could have done this quicker with a more lethal method, but we weren’t allowed.”
Before the district resorted to the use of chemicals to end the vermin infestation, snap and sticky traps were used; however, Brown explained that it caused a major problem for teachers who would arrive in the morning to find rats in traps.
“The major activity happens overnight when no people are around,” Brown described. The district currently has an additional custodian for four hours in the morning to check the traps, disinfect and clean up so the teachers will not be affected. After what he called “a few hiccups,” Brown says they are making progress, saying fewer rodents are being caught.
“We have not used pesticides on the campus in a couple years, but my data is showing an alarming rate of rats. The Healthy Schools Act allows me to move to pesticides for the safety of our children. That’s the only reason we moved to the pesticide,” Brown explained.
Kian Schulman, an environmental activist and a founder of Poison Free Malibu, claimed that the Environmental Protection Agency calls for exclusion techniques first and disputed administrators’ claims of trying other techniques first. Schulman said she saw four open dumpsters on campus and suggested using bins with roll bar locks to keep rodents away. As of now, school officials said the problem is so bad that rodents have been gnawing through some garbage bins.
“We object to the use of B3 poison—a questionable pesticide to use,” Schulman adamantly told those gathered. She also said sticky traps have been criticized and are an inhumane way of killing animals.
Some of the trash bins on campus are accessible to the public, which could exacerbate the problem.
In the meantime, SMMUSD officials are encouraging frequent hand washing to protect against germs and have provided hand sanitizers in every room. They are also asking everyone on campus to be vigilant about throwing away trash and keeping lids closed.
Activist Jennifer deNicola—known for her long battle over PCBs found on school campuses—concluded, “We have total faith we’re going to work this out.”