Mice in School- by Alia

There is no reason for there to be mice running around Hammond Middle School. Mice are a dirty kind of rodents that carry diseases. These diseases may be very harmful to student or teachers. This school should be inspected by pest control and they should get all of the Mice out of Hammond Middle School. Also mice can make a building dirty by their droppings. Out of 80 students 54% have seen at least 1 mouse in the school and that is just too many. A school this great should not have this kind of problem.

The diseases that mice may carry can be very harmful and cause a lot of problems in humans. One disease that mice may carry is "Antiviral infections which cause hemorrhagic fevers" (http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Rodents/mice.htm). "Hemorrhagic fevers make blood vessels more permeable - that is, more likely to leek - causing bleeding that can range from relatively minor to massive" (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hemorrhagicfevers.htmlicfevers.html). Mice can spread their diseases in many ways including: biting, infecting human food with their droppings or urine, indirectly via the dog or cat bloodsucking insects"(http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Rodents/mice.htm). It is not healthy at all to be eating in a school that has mice and 66% out of the 80 studentssay they don’t feel comfortable eating in a school with mice.

Imagine what a new student would think walking into a very nice school and finding mice droppings on the floor. It doesn't matter how clean a school looks, it only matters how clean the school really is. If you have mice in a school, they can pollute the school with their droppings which also may cause diseases. "Mouse droppings are smooth with a pointed end and are 1/8 to 1/4 in long"(http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Rodents/mice.htm). Not only do mice make the school dirty but they also damage school supplies and other things. Ms.Hamberger, a teacher at Hammond Middle School, retells her story. She says that one time her students were going on a picnic and she put the students' food in her closet. Later, she checked the food and they were eaten by mice. This is very bad and should not be going on in a school. "Mice can damage food, books, documents, and clothing. Damage to a structure occurs when rats and mice gnaw on structural components, including wiring, wood, and plastics" (http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/entomology/444-512/444-512.html). This can be very dangerous. For example, if mice and rats chewed on electrical stuff such as wires that may cause fires and that can be really dangerous in a school with students. Statistics say 83% of students think that not enough is done to prevent mice. Some suggestions are maybe putting mouse traps and mouse poison, closing the doors by the trash bins, and ban food from lockers, classrooms, and outside the cafeteria. 88% of students say that if they had a pest problem at home then their parents would not ignore it, so the school shouldn’t either.

In my opinion a good educational school should not have any kind of pests because they are dirty and dangerous. I think Hammond should do more to prevent mice from coming into Hammond Middle School.