Director of Facilities Khalid Daniels said he has received roughly a dozen complaints about mice in the high school since November of 2024. Since then, Daniels has attempted to combat the mouse problem by hiring a company to set mouse traps and encouraging the community to seal the food students and staff bring.
Daniels contacted Home Paramount Pest Control to eradicate the mice in the school. “We have a pest control company that comes out weekly to address the mice and other pests, ants, roaches and things of that nature,” Daniels said. The pest company placed traps at numerous entry points to the school that mice could enter, such as the roof of the building.
Daniels said the mice are attracted to the food students leave in the school. “We have things like peanut butter inside the trap, which should be appealing to a mouse, but the mice here will just bypass that because there are better options for them outside of the trap,” Daniels said. “Leaving food out in the open is just like inviting the mice in.”
Daniels said it would be difficult to completely stop food from being left out in the high school. “I can’t really imagine a world where we would be able to limit the way folks eat food, especially because we don’t have a traditional cafeteria at the high school,” Daniels said. “I think what we could do is just be more mindful of our cleanup and hygiene with our food,” he said. “We’ve been asking faculty and staff to put their snacks and foods in plastic bins that mice can’t bite through.”
Daniels said when the weather is cold in the winter, “mice are typically looking for a nice warm place to enter.” However, Daniels thinks the warmer weather in spring could help deter the mice from entering the school.
Director of High School Admissions Amanda Deringer said she has seen mice in her office, and freshman Miles Schall has also seen mice in a math classroom and running around the catwalk above the gym on L1. Freshman Noah Jansen said he has seen mice in the Forum, in classrooms and in bathrooms.
Deringer said she has seen many “glue traps, which are barbaric, and the little mice that get trapped in there pull themselves apart,” she said. “It’s very sad.”
Sophomore James Fitzgibbons said the mice have been a long-standing issue, and he used to see mice in the lower school. “Now in the high school, I think it’s even more of a problem with people eating lunch in the hallways,” Fitzgibbons said.
Sophomore Ananth Mangalam said mice entered the debate office because the debate team left food in the space. “When we stopped eating food in the debate office, all the mice left,” Mangalam said.
Fitzgibbons wondered whether the current solutions are effective. “I’ve seen more mice than traps,” he said.
Daniels said future plans to remove the mice involve working with the GDS administration and students. “I think it’s a continuous process of working with the school leadership team and the students, in turn, to figure out what works best,” Daniels said. Daniels said the school will continue to work with Home Paramount Pest Control and will follow the protocol that the pest control company recommends, which is weekly visits to address the mice problem.
Jansen said he has noticed fewer mice in the school since the pest control company installed mouse traps. “I haven’t honestly seen any mice in a while, which is really good,” he said.