When Melanie Cheng saw a dead mouse in the staff room of Graham Bruce Elementary school last year, the mother of three was disgusted — and curious about the extent of rodent activity in other Vancouver schools.
Thanks to documents obtained by CBC News, Cheng — the chair of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council — now has the details of the more than 300 complaints about mice and rats logged last year by staff at dozens of schools district-wide.
From repeated complaints of a “dead rodent smell” in the office at Champlain Heights Elementary last fall to a “rat and mouse infestation” in Killarney Secondary’s cafeteria kitchen this spring — rodents were spotted in more than 80 Vancouver School Board (VSB) schools.
Teachers complained of “droppings and mouse poo,” students moved rooms to escape the distractions of live mice and the scent of dead ones — and at Nootka Elementary staff said they couldn’t work in rooms where the “smell is intoxicating.”
Cheng says she found the details alarming.
“I was completely shocked. I was blown away by some of the findings of this report. Some of the details. I was shocked to see that it was very widespread throughout Vancouver … whether you were in a new building or in an older building,” Cheng told CBC News.
“I’m incredibly concerned from reviewing this and the details of it about how it’s impacting the learning environments for staff and students.”
‘Reality for residents and businesses across Vancouver’
The school board released a spreadsheet of the complaints along with dozens of pages containing hazard reports, emails and pictures of damage caused by mice and rats.
The documents cover the time period between September 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025 — which may explain why Cheng’s encounter at Graham Bruce (which occurred prior to those months) is not part of the data.
CBC News has turned the spreadsheet into a searchable database that readers can search by school or by keywords like “smell,” “droppings” or “infestation.”
In a statement, the VSB said the district spent $280,000 last year on pest control, which is part of ongoing facilities management for 18 secondary and 89 elementary schools which serve approximately 48,500 students.
A spokesperson said the annual budget goes up and down; the money includes salaries for two full-time staff who “work year-round on pest prevention and site specific responses” to tackle pests including birds, ants, raccoons, mice and rats.
“Rodent activity is not unique to schools but unfortunately a reality for residents and businesses across Vancouver. The Vancouver School Board takes this issue seriously and has strong measures in place to reduce the presence of rodents in and around schools,” the VSB said.
“The District will continue to use best practices in pest control prevention and work with school staff to minimize the impact of rodents on teaching and learning.”
‘Possible dead rodent’
The documents highlight a perennial source of complaints for parents, students and teachers.
Stories about infestations at schools in other parts of the Lower Mainland have made headlines in the past, and last year, Surrey — which split $480,000 for pest control between two vendors — sought an external contractor to deal with pests that included bed bugs.
According to the documents obtained by CBC News, Gladstone Secondary had its own bed bug issue last September when a student brought the insects into the school: “So far two chairs (have) been removed because they had activity,” the report said.
Cheng said a few of the complaints to the VSB stand out for her — chief among them sightings of mice in the cafeteria kitchen at Britannia where staff prepare meals delivered across the district as part of hot lunch programs.
She also noted complaints of “possible dead rodent,” “mice lurking” and “mouse smell” at Eric Hamber Secondary — a brand new seismic replacement building unveiled last year following a $94 million investment by the province.
And at Oppenheimer Elementary, staff caught four rats in under a month in December in traps placed in the ceiling above the school library.
‘I think it’s possible to keep rats out’
University of B.C. School of Public Health professor Kaylee Byers has studied the physical and mental impact of rat populations. She says people tend to have a less negative view of mice, but living and working alongside any type of rodent takes a toll.
“Mice can also make you sick,” she told CBC, citing the death of the late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, last February of what was determined to be rodent-borne hantavirus.
“Rats and mice — living alongside them — that’s an environmental justice and social justice issue as well. Where are they most often? Who has the ability to manage them? Where are we investing resources as a society to help folks who are most at risk?”
Byers says the constant presence of rodents in the buildings where people work, study and eat can lead to a sense of hopelessness. As a city, she says Vancouver will likely never compare to rat-free Alberta — but she says that shouldn’t stop people from trying.
“Are we actually thinking about numbers of rats, or are we thinking about rats in our spaces?” she says.
“I think it’s possible to keep rats out of the spaces where folks are vulnerable to them. So, in our homes and in our schools. And that comes down to waste management. It also comes down to exclusion … going around the perimeter of schools and finding out where rats and mice are actually getting in.”
‘This room is pretty chronic with mice issues’
An email exchange between one of the VSB’s pest control staff members and the supervisor of operations for the board highlights the challenges staff face in trying to keep mice out of some classrooms.
The email includes five colour photographs of a room full of boxes, cards, stuffed animals, books, tubs of supplies and what appears to be a box full of dirt-covered green onions.
“This room is pretty chronic with mice issues. I’ve been there off and on for over 5 years. The surrounding rooms don’t have problems with mice. Even the kitchen that is 2 doors down the hall doesn’t have a mouse problem. The issues with this room are clutter and food storage/cooking,” the email says.
“I’m unable to place glue boards or poison in this room because the walls and corners are 2 feet deep in stuff … So the combination of lots of hiding spaces and food in the room is contributing to the ongoing mouse problems.”
Beyond the internal complaints, Vancouver Coastal Health inspection reports show five secondary school cafeterias cited for non compliance so far this year for either showing signs of rodent activity or failing to keep the premises free of conditions that could harbour pests.
Cheng says throwing money and resources at a seemingly impossible problem isn’t enough. She feels independent oversight is needed to track the progress of the board’s attempts to control the presence of rodents in schools.
She says the district advisory council has a seat as stakeholders on the VSB’s facilities standing committee, but they do not have a seat on the board’s health and safety committee. She thinks that should change.
“We need transparency. What is being done? What are the protocols? There are particular areas of concern that I would suggest need to be improved from reviewing this,” she says.
“If we are going to be a place of learning for young kids, if we’re going to be a safe and inclusive space, then we need to address these issues and ensure that no teacher has to walk into a classroom worried about what they’re going to find.”
