COLUMBIA, S.C. — Richland School District One leaders are responding to concerns about rats in several schools after parents complained on social media.
During Tuesday night's Richland One board meeting, the director of maintenance services for Richland One, Melvin Henry, spoke to the issues parents and students are having regarding rats and feces being found in classrooms and cafeterias of Richland One schools.
"We must exclude these pests from our facilities. We must seal up, we must keep doors closed," Henry said during the meeting. "But I want to let you know we are taking it seriously, very seriously. Because you're right we should not have this, and we will not," Henry added.
But parents like Owens are upset rodents and rodent feces have been found in some of the district's schools.
"It is the fault of the district, it's a lack of maintenance, it's a lack of oversight, it's a lack of putting first things first," said Richland One parent Lorien Owens.
Over the last several days, parents have posted on social media sites pictures of what they said is evidence of the rats.
Maintenance Service Director Henry spoke to News19 Wednesday about what the district is doing in response to those concerns.
"My information was purely from pest control inspections," Henry said in regards to his statements made during the board meeting.
He said the district already has a routine to make sure rats don't become a big problem. "Our contract is set up as such that our pest control company visits those sites every month without fail," he said." They are to review the pest sightings log, see if there is anything on the uptick at that site so they can take appropriate action at that time. We also have folks that will come back based on a work order that is turned in."
However, some still aren't satisfied.
"We are looking for the basics here, this isn't some big ask, this is basics," Owens said.
Owens feels this problem is part of a pattern of issues with the maintenance of the schools, including possible mold and leaks.
While Richland One attends to the rodent issues and concerns, Henry hopes a collective effort can help eliminate the problem.
"We need to work together. We don't need to be threatening each other. We need to be talking and we need to be communicating. My presentation last night was intended to be a wakeup call." Henry concluded.
News19 did confirm with Richland One that having food in the classrooms–such as snacks for students–has been cited by the pest control vendor as attracting rodents.
Additional efforts were also made to DHEC on the matter, which said it would be conducting an in-person investigation for this particular case.