THREE RIVERS — Three Rivers Independent School District is working to address a concerning issue. According to school officials, there has been 12 rattlesnakes found in various locations across school grounds, raising safety concerns among staff and students.
Maintenance staff at the district said they receive calls about snake sightings more frequently than most people would expect.
Humberto Arizu has been a maintenance man for five years. But, in the last five months the district has seen a dozen snakes - one bit him on his left wrist less than two months ago.
"It's cause everything happened really quickly," Arizu said.
The snakes are hiding in various places.
Arizu learned the hard way. He was bitten by a rattlesnake while repairing a water leak at one of the teacher's housing units.
"When I took my hand out when I closed it. The snake jumped out. It was inside," he said. "When I closed the valve back. I closed the valve and I took my hand out that's when the snake caught me. It caught me. I moved my hand and it fell and that's when I learned it was a rattlesnake."
He said he looked inside the water meter before putting his hand in, but still didn't see the snake.
"When I took my hand out when i closed it. The snake jumped out. It was inside," Arizu said.
He said the maintenance department gets more calls about snakes more than we may think.
Employees often find snakes, he said, in all kinds of places like near the front of the elementary school, on the playground, around the high school campus and even athletic fields.
He and others school officials are worried about student safety.
Kendra Pond and Emery Guajardo question their safety.
"I would run away first and then I'd tell my mom or like a coach," Pond, a third grader at Three Rivers Elementary, said.
The girls are focused on athletics and summer programs and they never imagined seeing snakes at school.
"I really thought - like - it's school like it should be safe, but I kinda know they're everywhere. So, it kinda makes me more aware of my surroundings like the ground more," Guajardo, a Three Rivers Junior High student, said.
Superintendent Les Dragon said the district is reaching out to snake experts and brainstorming how they can ehis this nightmare.
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