At least two Buddy Taylor Middle School students were bitten and one of them injured by wild rats, while two dozen students were exposed to the rats as a teacher was flushing them out of a hole with a water hose at the school’s farm.
The activity was neither part of a lesson plan nor of the curriculum, though the teacher had been placed in an unusual circumstance due to standardized testing that day. She was required to supervise students that would not otherwise be her responsibility, filling time that was not curricular to start with.
Most of the students were not part of the teacher’s agriculture class, and therefore were not as familiar with the farm as others. No medical attention was sought for the injured student even after the student said he told the teacher of the bite, though the student wasn’t sure he’d been clear when he told the teacher. “She thought I was just goofing off,” he would later tell an investigator.
On a doctor’s advice, parents took the child to the emergency room that night, since the bite had broken the skin.
The teacher, Lynette Monohan, who has been with the district for 13 years, received a written reprimand and is now required to follow a more formalized pest-control process at the farm, which has been in operation for many years. The agriculture program is currently suspended, but only temporarily so.
The school district was made aware of the incident on Sept. 8 by Toussaint Roberson, an assistant principal at the school, after the victim’s parent reported the bite to the school. The school filed a report with the Department of Children and Families. The district’s Mike Rinaldi, coordinator of professional standards, launched an investigation, which concluded on Oct. 3. This account is based on that investigation report, including statements by all the parties involved.
On Sept. 6, Buddy Taylor Middle School was testing students. On those occasions students not doing any testing reported to the gym and were assigned a supervising teacher for the testing period. Monahan “took the students assigned to her and several other students not initially assigned to her to the agriculture classroom,” the investigation states. Monohan said she took 26 students.
Several students volunteered to feed calves after having a look at the pigs and rabbits. Monohan explained the feeding system, allowed some students to hand-feed corn to sheep and goats and allowed others to gather eggs from the chicken coop.
“I explained how I have dealt with potential rat situations and demonstrated how I use a hose in any hole to flush out the area to look for inhabitants so I know here to place the cornmeal/baking soda mixture,” the teacher wrote in a statement.
“I tried 3 or 4 holes and the last one had rats in it. 3 adults came out and ran into the rafters. After that some juvenile rats with eyes barely open came out and students began to try to catch them and I told them not to and that I only I only pick them up by the tail. Some students had already grabbed them and I took the rats from them and placed them into a 5 gallon orange bucket they could not get out of. I explained how they are wild animals and can carry disease. A student inquired about rabies and I stated that it is a possibility but they would not act normal…”
Some students asked to take some of the baby rats home, which the teacher allowed with parental permission. Apparently, that had been allowed previously–which suggests that the rat operation was not a first at the farm.
Monohan instructed students to take the older rats in the bucket and tip them over the fence. (She was reprimanded by the district for allowing the students to do that unsupervised.) Since she never heard back from parents about the baby rats, she took those herself and tipped them over, “much to my heartbreak,” she wrote.
“I was told of one young lady who stated she was bit,” Monohan continued. “I inspected her hands and fingers and she said she was fine. There was no punctures, marks, or scratches. She was told to use hand sanitizer as well as washing with soap and water. I was never informed of any o1her students being bit or an injury or I would have immediately sent them to the clinic, contacted a parent, and informed administration.”
A different student, a boy, was injured by a rat when the bit made two puncture wounds. The student wrote a statement about the incident, reproduced from the statement’s transcription, as handwritten by the child: “We were helping Mrs Monohan and then she started flooding rats and then 2 baby was found and then a kid picked it up and then we walked out the shed and found more baby rats and then one escaped and i heard someone say get the rat so i ran picked it up got bit throw him and they got him i think and Mrs Monohan was focusing on the rats and was not fully aware about me much after i told her i got bit and i got rabies so she said you don’t got rabies.”
Monohan was not aware of the bite until late the next night, when she read a text from a different student at 10:30 p.m. “Please tell me you are not gonna be layed off I need you at BTMS,” the student wrote, mentioning that the injured student’s mother had called the school to report the rat bite. The texting student implied that the school would be shutting down the agriculture section for a while.
The next day–Friday–Monohan saw the student who’d been bitten, describing him in her statement as bouncing down the hall waving at me and saying hello Miss Monahan.” When she asked him why he’d not informed her of the boite, he said he had, but she must not have heard him, she reported. “I explained that had I heard him I would have acted immediately, and he should have gotten my attention.”
She said the students were not instructed to catch the rats or to touch them, though some statements by students say otherwise: “Mis. Monahan askt me if i cold grab thar talls [meaning tails] and put them in a bucet. I sed yes so whal we are doing this a rat bit me it did not bracke skin and did not hert,” the second student who was bitten wrote.
An eighth grader interviewed about the incident by Rinaldi said she was bitten three times, none of the bites breaking skin, and that no one wore gloves during the operation. She did not inform the teacher. Based on statements collected in the investigation, that brings the number of students bitten up to three. Only a handful of students were interviewed by Rinaldi.
“I am a good teacher and I would NEVER risk losing all I have worked for by neglecting ANY student under ANY circumstance,” she wrote. In a text, she’d written that “The rats are nocturnal and would not have even been out had I not been showing the students a nuisance pest and impacts for agriculture and how to locate them to remove them by various means such as different traps, poisons and how some poisons work faster and not harmful” to others.
She had been placed on administrative leave pending the resolution of the investigation. The investigation found she had used “poor judgment by leading students into a closed farm area where rats were flushed out of a hole with a hose, thereby exposing students to an unsafe and potentially harmful situation jeopardizing the students health and welfare,” resulting in the bite.
The investigation also concludes: “The exposure to the removal of feral pests was not part of a presented lesson plan nor was it in approved curriculum. There was no prior communication with parents regarding this activity. Some of the students present were not on your roster and had no reasonable expectation to the exposure to the removal of feral pests.”
But in light of the context of the trip to the farm, that judgment appears disingenuous: it was clearly not a regular school day. Teachers were made responsible for students they were not usually responsible for, in circumstances that, due to testing, did not follow the day’s normal course or curriculum. Misjudgments aside, the reprimand does not take those factors into account.
The agriculture program was suspended during the investigation. “It remains suspended until all students undergo a safety training,” a district spokesman said, today. “Trainings are being done this week. Waiting for signed permission slips to come back from parents, giving the school permission to take the students out to the ag area.”
JimboXYZ says
Wild rats ? Really, take them home ? Are the teachers at that school really that stupid ? Maybe read up on the Bubonic Plague, nobody should be around rats as they are potential disease spreading pests. Let birds of prey (owls & hawks) & snakes do their thing ? Otherwise, animal control should be involved. In England, they turn terrier breed dogs on them rather than poisoning the rats.
maddie says
i really don’t agree with this at all as one of mrs. monhans students she has warned us about the rats and has told us multiple times to stay away from them idk how stupid you have to be to actually go and grab a wild rat after being told not to it’s common sense that u don’t grab a wild animal mrs.monhans is a amazing teacher and if she was to get fired by this a lot of people would be mad.
Robin says
And Florida wonders why it has a teacher shortage?
This testing period was part of the school calendar; there should have been planned activities in place prior to the testing.
Grammar lessons and writing and editing lessons perhaps?
I’d love to know how many outstanding teacher vacancies currently exist.
Derrol says
I couldn’t agree with you more. Anyone blaming the teacher should be put in her shoes. She was assigned a group of students, probably during her planning period, and was trying to engage them in a subject unfamiliar to them.
I rather Doubt that JIMBO XYZ is a teacher!
bob says
and I agree with both of you
Atwp says
Too much responsibility for the teacher.
Pogo says
@Cats Wanted: Apply at farm
Next.
Atwp says
Pogo I love it. That is comical and uplifting.
Mark C says
What a farce. “Some of the students were not on your roster…” Exactly. They were imposed on this teacher. Who was trying to do a nice thing by providing a unique experience to these students. She could have sat them in a class room and let them stare at their iPADs for half the day. Teachers have grown accustomed to being thrown under the bus by politicians, but the district needs to own up to its own shortcomings in instances like this. The decision to dump 26 students with a random teacher is not a quality learning environment for the students nor is it a quality work environment for the teachers.
bob says
agree
Inane commentor says
Perhaps the school board can terminate the rat’s contract.
I don’t think getting bit by a rat is the end of the world. It’s a life lesson. The parents are somehow responsible for not teaching their children to not handle wild animals I’m sure… or perhaps an assistant principal was informed about the rats and did nothing to protect the students.
I'm not a rat..... says
Now isn’t that the truth. This incompetent school board can see how this mess can cost us!
Ld says
The school should require safety training and permission from parents for this program. This article brings awareness of risks with wild animals that all children and adults need. Kids bitten should be seen and a rabies series done if doc recommends.
Toto says
This is a really unfortunate incident. Ms Monahan is an amazing teacher and is known to be pretty thorough explaining safety steps with her classes. This agriscience program is a rare opportunity for students, and I truly hope it’s not discontinued. Flagler County is so fortunate to offer this to kids. It’s one of the most desirable class offered. Kids can get a little wild when outside, and sadly, shit happens.
TR says
With everything going on with the school board, i think a law suit is coming. Hope they get a lawyer soon.
Wow says
Holy wow. They shouldn’t make it out of third grade with that level of writing. Is that what the school calls “literate” today? Gulp.
Stephen Playe M.D. says
Fortunately rats don’t carry rabies. Actually, cats and dogs are much more dangerous.
Brian says
As I read this article, the further along I got I thought to myself, “Is this a joke? Some sort of goof?” This would be hilarious, if it weren’t so troubling. Children grabbing rats by their “talls” and putting them in a “bucet”. “I sed yes so whal doing this a rat bit me it did not bracke skin and did not hert”. I would certainly concur with the statement that the “poverty of the writing suggests that BTMS has other grave academic problems on its hands”. Maybe it’s a good time to suspend the curriculum of hand-feeding corn to sheep and goats and gathering eggs from the chicken coop, and place much more emphasis on English classes.
Mary Fusco says
Brian, totally agree. My 4 children all went through 12 years each of public school. We lived in a rural community in NY. In fact, we had a working farm directly across the street from our house. They spent their youth there feeding and interacting with farm animals. Children are in school to bring them to their full potential, whatever it is. If these children could not take the state tests time would have been better spent working on education. I certainly would not blame the teacher because 26 kids is a lot to monitor.
jake says
“The district’s Mike Rinaldi, coordinator of professional standards, launched an investigation…” Yet, his investigation wasn’t very thorough since “Only a handful of students were interviewed by Rinaldi.”
Sounds more like “we have to blame someone” so let’s blame the teacher that was placed in a situation that “…was neither part of a lesson plan nor of the curriculum, though the teacher had been placed in an unusual circumstance due to standardized testing that day. She was required to supervise students that would not otherwise be her responsibility, filling time that was not curricular to start with.”
Except for the “rat bite”, it sounds like the kids had a great experience, one they wouldn’t normally have. Real life, things happen, move on, and stop blaming people for every little thing, especially a teacher, doing her job, teaching.
bob says
district shits its pants again
Me says
Wild animals can carry rabies. The children should have been taught to never touch a wild animal. For the future safety of the children they should have City Palm Coast Animal Control go and speak to the children on what to touch and what not to touch and it also sounds like the teacher needs some wildlife training herself.
Irritated Citizen says
I work close to the agricultural plot. Everyday. Do I think the district is perfect? No. Have I personally worked with this teacher and thought they were fine and professional? Yeah sure. I think this situation was not handled perfectly on all fronts. At all. There is absolute poor judgement on this situation and a clear sense of being over comfortable.
But what is handled worse is the absolute disrespect and journalistic immaturity to put a student’s academic position on display for a whole community to see. A whole county. I can appreciate the desire to keep this school district on a standard that the entire community wants, and it is important to understand where our tax money goes, how our kids are being taught, what kind of shortcomings are out there that we need to address. But if I had posted this kind of comment about a child’s writing, even with the intent to hide the student’s name, I would be fired. I would be brought into an office, embarrassed by my superiors for the complete and utter lack of awareness and fired.
Wow says
I understand your point. But don’t you think the taxpayers deserve to see what Florida education is accomplishing at the middle school level?
Irritated Citizen says
I absolutely do, but that information is all public to a certain degree. I think we should be entitled to see teacher’s, admins, etc.’s credentials. People don’t have the right to have insight or actual hands-on access to any student’s academic situation that isn’t that person’s particular child. BTMS has a lot of public information that people can access that shows where they are operating at academically in a general capacity. I also believe that when a school messes up, they might try and burry a sticky situation. The public should be aware of those potential shortcomings. I personally don’t think this is that, the school delt with this 2 months ago. It’s just nasty to me to showcase so blatantly a student’s level and then make a comment on that. What if that kid has an IEP? I mean the fact I have to ask that question just shows the article based on 2-month-old information goes too far.
Mary Jane says
Not only is the Flagler County School Board messed up but now we see the teachers lack the same common sense as its Board.
Skibum says
What a haphazard, totally disorganized and random instructional MESS! If the school’s adults cannot do better than making stuff up on the spur of the moment when given an unscheduled opportunity to supervise a large group of students, they THEY need some mentoring and supervision before being allowed to chaperone young school students in an unplanned activity. The school’s principal and teachers need to sit down and come up with some structured guidelines for activities that are appropriate, and the type of things that are not acceptable for an unscheduled time period when no formal instruction is being given to students, and then write it down for teachers so everyone is on board and mis-steps like this fiasco never happen again.
Steve Vanne says
Get a couple of cats.
Gavin says
Mrs Monaham is a awesome teacher she will always be there for you she’s always helps with making up work and she has had a ful lesson about not touching the rats and any wild animals it is a barn so there for there will be rats or bugs just like anywhere else it’s commons sense so it’s not Mrs monahm fault…
CELIA PUGLIESE says
Total lack of proper monitoring and common sense that can lead to a health endangerement issue.
Alexander Roberts says
Mr Monahan Is a great teacher she is always their for me and she always helps other but she warns us on the rats she says if u see the do not touch the or walk away. But it is all so common sense to not grab a rat and the kid didn’t even tell Mrs Monahan the same day he go bite so she didn’t know . But Mrs Monahan is the greatest teacher I’ve ever had and she teaches us how to live in the world and she teaches us to plant plants and take care of animals. But it is a barn so there is gonna be rats either way so that’s all I got to say she is so awesome and the best