BENTONVILLE - Old High Middle School is nearly done evicting some unwanted tenants, Bentonville School District officials said Thursday.
Technically, however, the bats that were discovered in the school's attic last month are not being forced to leave. The usual procedure for dealing with bats is to allow them to leave at night, when they go hunting for food. Homeowners - and in this case, the school district - are supposed to then block the bats' ability to re-enter the structure, according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Web site.
That's essentially what happened at Old High, said Scott Passmore, the district's director of facilities. The areas along the roof line where bats were able to get in have been fixed so the creatures can get out but can't return.
"Last week, most of them were already gone," Passmore said.
Once the bats are gone, the bat feces - called "guano" - will be removed. The school district contracted with a company called Unlimited Wildlife Solutions to fix the roof line and remove the bat guano at a cost of about $ 58, 000. Earlier this month, the school board authorized the school district to spend no more than $ 125, 000 on remediating the problem. Passmore said he believes the only additional expense above the $ 58, 000 will be the cost of reinstalling insulation. The insulation was removed as a precaution to make sure that all evidence of the guano would be removed.
Old High Principal Marilyn Gilchrist told board members during a Curriculum Committee meeting Thursday morning that the school has not been disturbed at all by the bat problem or the remediation.
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