Saugus elementary school dealing with rodent problem

SAUGUS, Mass. -- There is a rodent problem at a local elementary school.

The rat problem at the Douglas Waybright School in Saugus became apparent right after the Christmas break.

School officials have had exterminators to the school and a special Hazmat team came in to help clean things up.

Town officials believe the problem is under control, but they still want to take more steps to ensure it doesn’t come back.

Health officials immediately got involved with inspecting the school. Almost all of the rats were found in a basement area used for storage that students and faculty do not have access to.

It is believed construction in the area behind the school sent the rodents scurrying for shelter.

Two rats were caught in traps in the cafeteria while all of the other rats were found in the basement.

Health officials said the school took the proactive step of temporarily shutting down the hot lunch program, a move that wasn’t mandated because there was never any evidence of rats in the kitchen.

Town officials said exterminators have been to the school daily and now have a handle on the problem.

“We’ve instituted a program of rodent control throughout the building, we’ve gone through and have made some improvements to the perimeter of the foundation so that the rodents would not have access,” said Andrew Bisignani, Town Manager.

Town officials said they have never had a problem like this at a school before. They will be asking for money to install a concrete floor in the basement. Right now, part of the floor is dirt and it is believed that the rats have been burrowing in it.

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