Ardrey Kell students headed home during ‘bat eviction’ at south Charlotte high school
Ardrey Kell High School has a bat problem.
About 22 bats — some alive, some dead — were recovered from inside the high school Monday morning, a spokeswoman for the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department told The Charlotte Observer. It is unclear where they were found inside the school. On Tuesday, a statement from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools said there were “ongoing incidents” involving bats at the south Charlotte high school.
CMS said in a news release it will switch Ardrey Kell High to asynchronous instruction Wednesday and Thursday “to protect the safety and health of students and staff at the school while bat eviction measures are underway.”
A decision on any additional closures at the school for the bat eviction will be shared Thursday afternoon, the district said.
Suzette Nedrich, of the health department, says CMS reported the Ardrey Kell High bats to the health department Monday, and the district called the vendor Critter Control “to assess and remove the bats.” They have been transferred to CMPD’s Animal Care and Control.
Bats are being sent to the NC State Public Health Laboratory in Raleigh for rabies testing, Nedrich said.
“At this time, there is no evidence of human exposure, but public health continues to investigate and expects testing results later this week,” she said Monday.
But it’s not the first time things have gotten batty at Ardrey Kell.
Nedrich told the Observer CMS hired Critter Control in March to assess and address ways bats enter the school following the discovery of two of the mammals. Then, there was no human exposure, either, and the bats were sent to the state’s public health laboratory, where they tested negative for rabies.
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Concerned parents posted on a private Ardrey Kell High Facebook page Monday asking what people can do to get the “bat issue addressed.” Some said that teachers helped remove the bats. CMS said that claim isn’t true.
“Thus far, there is no evidence of disease in the bats or any reported human exposure (e.g. physical contact, bites, etc.) within our students or staff,” the district said in a statement provided Monday to the Observer.
The district’s statement Tuesday didn’t say whether there was student or staff contact with additional bats.
Rules to handle bats
Bats often use buildings — including schools — as a refuge, according to Texas A&M University’s AgriLife Extension. Because bats can pose health hazards for people, school districts should develop a site-specific, bat-management plan that includes education, training, prevention and response strategies, the extension service says.
Bats are not dangerous and do not attack people, according to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. But they do carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans, including rabies.
The museum says never pick up a bat from the ground and encourages people to remember that bats are not aggressive when rabid or otherwise ill. So, even if they appear docile and safe, they should not be handled.
