Students, Teacher To Superintendent: "Class Stinks"

A second-grade teacher and students in the Ledyard Center School have relocated to a new classroom after a foul odor was detected in their classroom at the end of January.

"It was an odor similar to that of a dead animal and we traced the smell down into the tunnel below that classroom," said Sam Kilpatrick, the school facilities supervisor, who said they found a dead mouse in the tunnel. "Whether it was the dead mouse that was causing the problem, I don't know for sure."

Kilpatrick said that initial air quality tests did not detect methane gas, which is what would be detected in the presence of a dead mouse. But, he said, the results could have been compromised when they opened the windows to ventilate the room.

Kilpatrick said Ledge Light Health District and Mystic Air Quality Consultants, of Groton, both inspected the room. Mystic Air Quality Consultants performed two standard air quality tests and one 24-hour, multi-component indoor air quality test after the smell didn't go away.

"The smell was so bad but it was a normal-sized mouse," he said and estimated it was two inches long.

"The smell was still there when we took the mouse away but it was fading," he said. Kilpatrick said the room has cabinets made of bare wood and that it was possible that the smell had permeated the wood.

Kilpatrick sprayed the bare wood with a laquer to "seal in" the odor and asked Mystic Air Quality what they would do if their grandchildren were in the classroom.

"The last thing we want to do is put kids and teachers in a classroom that is not healthy."

The results of the final and most extensive air quality test were "well within acceptable limits," according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Graner.

"The smell is no longer existent and it's 100 percent safe," Graner said.

That said, the room was converted into a storage room indefinitely.

"We decided to relocate the class. It just seemed like a reasonable resolution for the teacher and we had an alternative."

According to Kilpatrick the odor was limited to the one classroom and was detected under a wall that separated the room from the hallway. And, he said, a pest control management company inspects the school buildings every month.