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A Minnesota school district was forced to vacate a rented building due to a major bat infestation, according to YRT-News.
The Austin, Minnesota, school district had to close its Community Learning Center, which they leased space for at the Queen of Angels Roman Catholic Church. In a letter to parents on August 31, officials said they closed classes September 1 through 12 and resumed on Tuesday (September13). The programs offered at the Community Learning Center, which include preschool classes, adult education classes and more, will now be held at other locations for the rest of the school year "out of an abundance of caution," according to the letter.
According to Austin Superintendent Joey Page, church officials told the school district about the bats in late August. Experts say it can take up to a week or more to remove the animals from a large public building like a school on a library. However, that depends on whether the bats want to leave. They decided to make the move after learning how long it would take to remove the animals. “The response time for this is going to be way too long for us,” Page said. “We have to send our children to school and start the year for them.”