the Associated Press | Posted: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 12:00 am
POWELL - The Powell High School has a problem you wouldn't expect in a newly built school whose mascot is a panther.
Mice have invaded the building.
The unwelcome visitors are some of several issues district staff is experiencing with the new school, which cost more than $20 million to build and opened this fall.
Sand and dust also have seeped under doors and windows of rooms, including one of the maintenance rooms and the library.
The mice have been a problem for several weeks. The school's custodial staff has caught as many as five mice per night over the past few weeks, and, according to head custodian Mike Brooks, three were trapped in the same glue trap one morning.
"We know we have a problem," Scott Campbell, coordinator of support services for the school district, said. "It's getting a little better, but mice are remarkably good at finding their way in."
The mice and sand problems can be attributed largely to the school being built on an open field on the outskirts of town, Campbell said.
Recognizing that the mice could raise health issues, Campbell said the staff is doing "the best job we can of cleaning."
Brooks said he has used "a lot of steel wool" in an effort to block their entry into the building.
Sand is also causing difficulties with the school's heating and cooling system, which uses water from wells drilled on the school site. The wells have been pumping more sand than anticipated, causing problems with the heating and cooling system filters.
Possible solutions include redrilling the wells.
Campbell said the problem would not prevent the system from handling a cold day, and the staff is making progress in addressing the problem.
Other problems with the air conditioning, plumbing and a gas leak have been corrected, Campbell said.
"The contractors have been doing a good job of addressing the problems," he said.