The Brief
- New Haven School District Superintendent Dr. John Thompson said this sighting took place the week of April 14, but the actual report didn’t make its way to his office until Friday.
- He said the classroom in question is next to an area under renovation, on a campus of roughly 3,100 students.
Union City, CA
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A recent class instruction period at James Logan High School in Union City turned into a lesson on ducking and dodging after a rodent dropped from the ceiling.
A parent sent cell phone video of the incident to KTVU, showing the small critter walking on the ceiling, then losing its grip and falling to the floor below. It narrowly missed a handful of students and staffers.
“I’ve had a child here at this school for the last seven years,” said parent Mike Maine, as he waited in his car to pick up his daughter, a junior, from school. “That’s the first negative thing I’ve seen about this school in the seven years that we’re at. We’ve had some fighting and some bullying, but to see that, it’s like wow.”
New Haven School District Superintendent Dr. John Thompson said this sighting took place the week of April 14, but the actual report didn’t make its way to his office until Friday.
Unexpected guest
“I was horrified. We never want students in any position where they’re around any kind of pest, particularly a rodent falling from the ceiling. It’s a terrible thing to watch,” he said.
Thompson said he immediately called one of the rodent control companies under contract with the district to do remediation work.
“They were out on Monday and we think they resolved the problem. We work with them regularly to make sure that we don’t have any problems,” said Thompson.
The superintendent, in his sixth year at the district, has launched an investigation as to the rodent’s origins.
He said the classroom in question is next to an area under renovation, on a campus of roughly 3,100 students.
That construction could have unearthed varmint, now affectionately called “Spidey,” from a previously unknown lair.
Campus construction
“We’re doing some construction in the area and that screws up critters from the outside. That could be it, I’m not sure,” said Thompson.
No students were injured during the unscheduled classroom excitement and the rodent was ultimately caught in a bag and carried off.
District officials said they’ll keep an eye out for other rodents, although right now, there’s just one confirmed sighting.
Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station’s South Bay bureau. Follow him on the Instagram platform, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU.
