C.B.S. parent pushing for new school as district fights rodent problem

A parent of a studentat Frank Roberts Junior High School in Conception Bay South says the school is rat-infested and needs to be replaced, despite claims from the school district and government that everything is fine.

The school,built in 1969, currently holds 660 students.Sabrina Green, who has a child in Grade 8and serves on the school council, says the building has been in disrepair for years and isdealing with a rodent problem.

"The kids come in in the morning, there's rodent excrement on the desks. [If] there's any kind of snacks in the lockers, [they] are chewed on. Kids are complaining that their lunches are getting eaten by rodents," Green saidThursday.

"I have a video from the music room, and behind the radiator, there's a dead mouse in a trapnext to a child at a desk trying to do music class. It's not OK."

Green says rats have also been reported several times on the school's front step and are likely nesting in the building's foundation.

Since the school doesn't have a cafeteria, students eat during recess and lunch at their desks which Green says is unsanitary in the conditions. It's one issue among many with the school, she added.

"My child has to walk around in a space where there are two garbage buckets just taking mouldy roof water into the hallways," Green said.

"The windows on the bottom level of Frank Roberts cannot be opened because rodents are bold enough to just pop in in the middle of instruction time. So the teachers, they won't open them."

Green says the 54-year-old school needs to be replaced. Some parents have planned a rally for next week to highlight their concernsand have asked other parents to keep their students out of classes next week to protest the conditions.

"We need a full replacement. We have four feeder schools.C.B.S. is not slowing down we're not getting any smaller. Frank Roberts can't be fixed at this point," she said.

School passed health inspection: Haggie

Newfoundland and Labrador English School District CEO Terry Hall says he doesn't agree that the school needs to be replaced.

"I get that a lot of people would like to have a brand new school. We do build schools when required, but just because a school is old that doesn't mean it's not safe or it's not a good learning environment," said Hall.

"The district wouldn't put people in a school that they thought wasn't safe."

Hall said the district is doing whatever it can to control the rodent problem, which he says is not rats, but mice which he says is common in larger buildings this time of year.

Education Minister John Haggietold reporters at Confederation Building on Thursday that the school had a health and safety inspection on Wednesday. The building was in good condition and passed cleaning protocols with an excellent grade, he said.

PC MHA Barry Petten, who represents Conception Bay South, scoffed atHaggie's commentsand challenged him to say that to parents at the rally next week.

"What I've heard, the pictures I've seen, the parents I've talked to, the teachers I've spoken to. You can't minimize this stuff, and I take great offence to that," Petten said.

"These pictures don't lie."

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