Health officials rule out rodent infestation at St Leonard’s Boys’

Health officials have ruled out a rodent infestation at St Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School following an investigation into reports of droppings on the compound last week.

Chair of the school’s Board of Management, Rev Canon Dr Sonia Hinds, said environmental health officers found that approximately 98 per cent of the droppings were from lizards, with the remaining two per cent linked to roaches and mice.

The mice droppings were confined to a single classroom.

The Ministry of Educational Transformation and the Environmental Health Department were alerted after concerns were raised on Wednesday, January 7.

Officers from the Branford Taitt Polyclinic and the Vector Control Unit carried out inspections and treatment at the school.

Hinds said baiting was done and cleaning continued as recently as Monday. Environmental health officers advised that there was insufficient evidence to justify closing the school or conducting industrial cleaning of the entire compound, as the findings did not point to an active infestation.

However, recommendations were made for remedial work, which the Board has committed to addressing urgently.

The update was issued Monday evening.