Idaho teacher files lawsuits, says ovens her students used were ‘covered with’ mice feces, urine
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Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Michelle Chung’s classroom at Boise’s West Junior High has been infested for years, she says.
With mice.
She said she’s found mouse droppings and urine all over the room — in which she teaches family and consumer sciences — including in the insulation of ovens that students use to cook. Once, a repair technician found a mouse carcass baked into one of those ovens, one of her lawsuits says.
She’s raised the concerns repeatedly, but school and district officials have failed to take her seriously — and at times have blocked her from communicating with parents and other teachers about the problem, she alleges in two lawsuits against the Boise School District.
The school and district “knowingly disregarded” the infestation and resulting safety issues, Chung said in her first lawsuit, filed last September in Ada County’s 4th District Court. She called the district’s response “reckless and intentional.”
“West Junior High and the district have refused to take Chung’s complaints seriously, allowing mice to nest, urinate and defecate in the ovens and dishwashers of her lab room, which became saturated with mice feces and urine, as well as nests in Chung’s actual classroom behind the washer machine and in all the sewing machine covers in her curriculum closet,” the complaint reads.
In a second lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho in May, Chung accused the school district of retaliating against her for reporting the infestation and of violating her rights while she was out on medical leave for illnesses caused by the infestation.
In its response to the first lawsuit, the district largely denied Chung’s allegations. It accused Chung of “negligent and careless misconduct” in connection with the infestation, arguing that her behavior “caused and contributed to” the issue.
Ryan Hill, a spokesperson for the district, declined to respond to a question about what alleged behavior that was, citing the pending litigation.
The district has not responded to the second lawsuit. KIVI-TV Idaho News 6 reported on both lawsuits on Monday.
Chung, who is still employed with the Boise School District, first became aware of the infestation about six years ago, when she found a mouse in her work bag, according to her initial complaint. Since then, the infestation has worsened, the complaint says, with students at times finding decomposing and rotting mice under the sinks.
Chung repeatedly tried to notify teachers and parents of the safety issues in her classroom, but the district disseminated “false and misleading communications” suggesting that Chung was being “misleading,” according to her complaint last September.
While Chung was out on medical leave, the district barred her from communicating with her substitute teacher about lesson plans, and eventually from accessing her school email account, according to her second lawsuit.
The school did hire exterminators, according to Chung, but they placed traps outside the building, not in the classroom. Chung claimed that Principal Janet Cherry minimized the severity of the infestation, arguing that because the school is located between two fields, “we can never guarantee that mice will not enter the building and/or your classroom,” according to a 2023 email from Cherry to Chung quoted in Chung’s complaint.
In early 2024, an oven repair company found that the insulation in ovens in Chung’s classroom was “covered with mice feces and urine,” according to her initial complaint. At that point, Chung said she “had a complete breakdown” at the realization that students had been cooking in these ovens.
Chung is seeking tens of thousands of dollars in damages in each of her lawsuits. Her initial lawsuit is set for a jury trial, but not until June 2026.