By Evan Shertzer –
“It’s not pleasant.”
According to Amanda Stoltzfus, Ag teacher at Penn Manor, the mice running around Penn Manor High School are not welcome.
Over the past few weeks, the mouse problem has started to increase. During classes, students hear them scratching and gnawing around in the ceiling, smell their nests from a few yards away and sometimes find them running around during class.
Scott Appel, a sophomore, has heard the mice during class.
“I didn’t know of any before hearing them in the classroom,” said Appel, “I have not seen any right now, but heard probably about seven.”
Matt Ferrick, a junior, also has had encounters with the mice and knew they were in Penn Manor for a while.
“I caught about six or seven mice last year,” said Ferrick, “I’ve seen about 12. I’m not scared of them.”
Over the past week, there have been preventative measures to take care of the mice.
“Since we’ve cleaned and received traps, we have seen a decrease in the mice population,” Stoltzfus said, “we haven’t seen them in our office anymore.”
Stoltzfus doesn’t think the strategies are solving the problem, but thinks it’s definitely helping.
The mice infestation isn’t just happening one area of the school though, it’s widespread.
“Teachers have food in their refrigerators and desks, which attracts the mice,” Leighton Dickenson, head of the Janitors at Penn Manor, said, “once they have a food source, they go back to their nest and tell the other mice and then they go to that food source.”
Since mice are attracted to food, one of the most likely places for them to be would be the cafeteria’s kitchen, but according to Dickenson, that isn’t the case.
“The kitchen has basically no mice because they lock everything down in there and close all the doors,” Dickenson said.
So with the recent measures to get rid of mice such as traps, cleaning, and locking things up, Penn Manor’s furry little friends might soon be extinct.
I believe the mice problem has alot more to do with the students who carry their food out of the cafeteria and eat as they walk through the hallways, stairwells and leave food,wrappers laying all over the school. It is not the teachers who have their food in refrigerators and know how to use a trash can. Maybe the policy of not having food leave the cafeteria should be enforced, then and only then the mice problem might go away!