Mice, mold, heat issues: Parents, students concerned over slew of sanitary issues at Methuen schools

METHUEN, Mass. — Mice, mold, and heat issues are just some of the concerns brought forward at a Methuen City Council meeting on Monday night.

Students at the high school were dismissed just after 1 p.m. when the heat was broken inside the school. Many of the students said it was freezing.

“Everyone was like all jackets covered up everyone you could see they were all like, trying to get warm,” said Trey Sweder, a Methuen High School student.

Some parents voiced their concerns over these maintenance issues at the city council meeting.

“We have three buildings in less than 10 days with broken boilers, we have rodents running rampant, we have mold in at least two schools,” said Jade Jalbert, a parent.

“These are our working conditions and this is what affects the health and safety of our students and our staff – and between the rodent problem as well as mold issues, leaking roofs,” said Kara Blatt.

Blatt is the Methuen Education Association Co-President. She says these issues have been going on for years.

“They cut maintenance positions and how are they going to clean the buildings if we do not get properly funded by the district,” she said.

Methuen’s new mayor addressed these issues Monday night and says a plan is underway to get rid of the mice and mold in schools.

One change includes keeping all food in the cafeterias.

“There was a mention that there was a teacher who had an air fryer in the classroom, a George Forman grill in the classroom, different food preparation appliances, that is being stopped like that’s crazy,” said Mayor D.J. Beauregard.

The mayor also just created a new health and safety task force for schools – one of his top priorities since taking office.

“As a parent this is not acceptable, as a taxpayer it’s not acceptable and as a resident it’s not acceptable,” said Mayor Beauregard.

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