Photo: Nigel Harris / iStock / Getty Images
An investigative report is shedding light on an incident where at least one Florida middle school student was bitten by wild rats while under teacher supervision. The rat attack reportedly happened at Buddy Taylor Middle School on September 6, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Investigators with Flagler Schools said agriculture teacher Lynette Monahan brought a group of students, some of whom weren't her regular students, into an enclosed school farm without informing their parents prior. The report states Monahan gave them a tour of the farm, let them feed animals, and then talked to them about pests. She reportedly demonstrated how to look for rats in a given area, as well.
While she was flushing out holes with a hose, three adult rats and several "eye-shut babies" rushed out, and the students started catching the wild rodents, according to officials. A student was bitten by a rat on his finger, leaving two puncture wounds, reporters learned. When he tried to tell Monahan, she was allegedly preoccupied and didn't seek immediate medical attention.
“I did not, at any time, hear the student say they had been bitten. I knew nothing about it or I would have acted accordingly as I do with all injuries, even if just a small scratch,” the teacher said in a statement. Monahan also claims she instructed students not to touch the rats until after they fled the flooded hole.
“The students were not instructed to catch the rats,” she said in a statement. “They were told NOT to touch them and I took the rats from them by the tail.”
Another student told Michael Rinaldi, the school district's head of professional standards, she was bitten three times on her hand.
Monahan told investigators she checked the students for injuries, claiming she didn't find any "punctures, marks, or scratches," and told them to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer. The report also claims the instructor allowed the kids to bring some of the rats back to the classroom. Officials allege she instructed some students to carry a bucket full of rats to a fence line without her supervision.
During questioning, Monahan reportedly called some parts of students' statements "a lie" and thought the ordeal would be a "good learning experience." Flagler Schools didn't confirm whether Monahan faced any discipline for the incident.