Substitute teacher Veronica Luther posted the video above to Facebook Monday showing a rat running through a classroom she was assigned to at John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento. Her video has gotten almost 5,000 views and she claims that the school district was nonchalant about whether they would be able to sanitize the classroom after the incident.
The rat can be seen in the video sitting on desks, scurrying across the room, and running up a wall.
Sacramento City Unified School District Spokesman Alex Barrios denies that, telling KCRA that the room was in fact sanitized, traps were set, and parents were notified. But, he says, "We cannot put rat poisons all over campus because that poses a threat to our students. We also cannot have rats dying on the campus because they ate the poison."
He also says he couldn't guarantee that Luther would never see another rat, which she demanded. "This school is in the pocket area. This time of year when there’s a lot of rain and their habitat has been destroyed, they’re running all over the pocket area," Barrios tells KCRA. "We just can’t make a commitment to a guarantee we can’t fulfill."