AUSTIN, Texas – A look into a rat infestation at an Austin elementary school revealed a problem that has persisted for more than a year and has only gotten worse.
The Austin Independent School District told KVUE earlier this week that the district's maintenance department has been treating Winn Elementary School near U.S. 183 and Manor Road for rats since December. After watching the story, a former employee reached out to KVUE, saying the problem started long before then.
"There were holes in the ceiling and the rats would come down into classrooms," said retired librarian JoAnn Furner, who worked at Winn Elementary for 13 years before retiring in January. "There were three classrooms that had holes in the ceiling, and the tiles were urine, and during the day they would come down, and then the classes would have to be removed."
Furner said often those classes would relocate to her library for several hours at a time because of a rat problem she said started in 2013.
"Over the last two years: last school year and this school year," said Furner.
Furner also claimed the principal and assistant principal at Winn Elementary knew about the infestation and did not take the proper steps to get rid of the rats.
"When I talked to the administration, they just stared at me and shrugged," Furner said.
Furner said that things escalated when a pregnant teacher at Winn Elementary decided she no longer felt safe teaching in her own classroom.
"They moved her whole room to another room, because she said, 'I'm not going back in there. I'm afraid that I'll get sick,'" said Furner.
After Furner reached out to KVUE, AISD responded with the following statement:
"Over the past 15 months, the district's pest management team has received occasional work orders to address rodents at Winn Elementary School. In the process of addressing the filed report, additional reports were generated, concerning the same matter.
"Due to the frequent work orders, exclusion work began in December. This work is ongoing, and with it comes increased activity."
Furner said she's thankful the district has stepped in to help.
"Maybe this will make somebody do something to help the kids, the teachers and the parents," Furner said.
AISD tells KVUE they will install more traps at the school over Spring Break. KVUE did reach out to Winn Elementary's administration for comment Friday, but received no reply.
