Within a week of starting her job at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus in Northwest D.C., Kiesha Lewis saw a rat sprint under her office door and into a wall.
She shared the space with a colleague who was unbothered by the rodents. Lewis bought sticky rat traps and the coworker put them in corners of the office. He would often ensure the room was free of rodents before Lewis, the middle school community development coordinator, arrived.
When that coworker left the school this spring, Lewis worked from the one part of the large middle and high school campus where she never saw an animal or droppings: the front of the cafeteria.
Despite pleas to school and city leadership, Lewis said the broader issue has lingered. She isn鈥檛 planning to return to the school campus in the fall.
鈥淩odents do carry diseases and even if you don鈥檛 come in contact with the rodent, if you come in contact with their droppings or their urine, it has the potential to have people get sick,鈥� Lewis told WTOP.
Lewis doesn鈥檛 know how many rats the office traps caught, because her colleague would throw them away and put down new ones, assuring her it was OK. Other co-workers, she said, shared 鈥渢hat this problem with the rodents has been going on for years and that it hasn鈥檛 been addressed.鈥�
In one adult bathroom, there were holes in the walls. Sticky traps, Lewis said, were used to patch them.
She alerted the city鈥檚 Department of General Services directly, writing in a late April email that in her time at the school, 鈥渕ore than seven rodents have been captured in my work area alone.鈥� She stressed that the issue isn鈥檛 related to the operations or maintenance staff, and the 鈥渟ituation is clearly beyond what routine maintenance can address.鈥�
The result, she said, was a 鈥渕ass trapping effort.鈥�
In a statement, D.C. Public Schools said campuses routinely get preventive pest control services, and the school system works with the Department of General Services to 鈥渁ddress any concerns between scheduled visits.鈥�
The Department of General Services, meanwhile, said there have been biweekly service visits, trapping efforts and installation of bait stations at the Columbia Heights campus, home to Lincoln Multicultural Middle School and Bell Multicultural High School.
鈥淒GS has identified gaps in existing cabinetry that may be allowing rodent movement and will begin exclusion work in July to seal these passageways and address the source of the activity,鈥� the statement said. 鈥淒GS also identified opportunities to strengthen housekeeping and pest prevention practices and has encouraged staff to sanitize workstations daily, properly store food, and reduce clutter, particularly in areas where food is prepared and stored.鈥�
A D.C. Health food establishment inspection report from mid-May found rodent droppings and dead insects in glue traps in the school cafeteria.
The school, Lewis said, doesn鈥檛 have a policy preventing students from eating in other parts of the campus.
鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 help their efforts to try to mitigate rodents,鈥� Lewis said.
For students, Lewis said 鈥渋t鈥檚 almost an expectation鈥� that rodents or droppings are going to be present. Some co-workers are afraid to sound the alarm because of a fear of retaliation, she said.
The building, Lewis said, needs remediation, 鈥渘ot only to kill the rodents that are there, that are living in that walls and the ceiling, but also to find the points of entry.鈥�
Lewis said she鈥檚 afraid of the rodents, so the possibility of their presence made it hard for her to concentrate. Friday will be her last day with the school.
鈥淚 have no interest of going back in the building because I do have a phobia of them,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to take the chance of seeing another one or one crawling into my belongings.鈥�
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