BOISE, Idaho — A teacher at West Junior High in Boise says years of unchecked rodent contamination in her classroom endangered her students’ well-being, ultimately upending her own health and derailing her teaching career.
Michelle Chung, who taught family and consumer sciences for more than five years at the school, said it all started in 2019 with a mouse that had hidden in her work bag and ended up loose in her pantry at home.
“In 2019, I took a mouse home with me in my work bag, and it chewed through the lining… it ran out into my pantry,” Chung said.
What followed, according to Chung, was a persistent infestation inside Room 113 — she described finding droppings in cupboards, nests behind machines, and dead rodents under sinks and in closets.
“My student actually found a half-decomposed, dead, rotting mouse on a trap under the sink, which then led me to inspect my room,” she said. “And then I found droppings on the counters, droppings on the oven tops, puddles of urine.”
Chung said her email complaints were repeatedly dismissed.
“And I still got the same response — ‘Hey Joe, get her some sticky traps,’” Chung said.
In March 2024, Chung said a repair technician discovered hundreds of droppings and urine-soaked insulation inside the classroom ovens. A follow-up inspection weeks later revealed a mouse carcass baked into one of the ovens.
Chung said the principal told her, "She said, 'You guys are fine to continue cooking. Just don't touch the oven,'" said Chung.
“At that point, I just thought to myself, you do not care,” Chung said. “Once she left, I rallied my kids, and I was like, ‘Nope, we’re leaving… I wouldn’t let my own children eat it.'”
Later, Chung said a state-licensed inspector entered Room 113 in full protective gear. Using ultraviolet light, the inspector reportedly found mouse droppings and urine on aprons, oven knobs, food containers, even keyboards.
“And so it just broke my heart to think that that’s… it’s child endangerment. Like, I don’t understand. Just fix it,” Chung said.
In 2024, Chung said she was diagnosed with three Lyme disease co-infections.
“So I had like a dormant infection, a current infection, and then an infectious disease infection,” she said. When asked if her doctor believed mice were the cause, she replied, “Oh yeah, 100%.”
Chung has since filed two legal complaints: a federal lawsuit alleging violations of the Family Medical Leave Act and a state tort claim over unsafe working conditions for both her and her students.
She said the Boise School District later reassigned her to Capital High School and locked her out of her classroom and email.
“I didn’t get suspended… they wanted to silence me,” Chung said. “It’s not that there’s mice that’s the problem, it’s how they’re handling it that's the problem.”
In a statement, a district spokesperson said: “I can confirm that Michelle Chung was placed on administrative leave on Friday, May 30th, 2025. Other than verifying employment status, we have no further comment regarding this personnel matter.”
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
