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Refugio Elementary School students relocated due to bat problem

Refugio ISD Superintendent Melissa Gonzalez said the winged mammals are a pretty determined bunch.

REFUGIO, Texas — Students at Refugio Elementary School have been relocated to a former Catholic school as maintenance crews continue to clean up their current school building.

It was just last week when work crews began the tedious job of patching up the building after bats made their way into its walls. Thankfully, Refugio Independent School District officials said the bat problem is close to being cleared up.

The crews sealed any possible holes, cracks and crevices to make sure the bats didn't return, but they didn't get the hint.

Refugio ISD Superintendent Melissa Gonzalez said the winged mammals are a pretty determined bunch.

"We felt like we had the building pretty secure and then over this weekend we noticed a sudden increase in the number of bats in the building," Gonzalez said.

The district brought in an Austin-based company for a follow up to again remove the bats, but this time students had to be relocated. So with safety in mind, the superintendent reached out to a community partner to temporarily move the elementary students.

Our Lady of Refuge opened its doors.

"It's something we've learned through Hurricane Harvey that we have to rely on our community resources and our community partners to make sure that our children have everything that they need," Gonzalez said. "We were just extremely grateful to Our Lady of Refuge for allowing us to have our students housed there today."

Gonzalez said there are maintence crews and pest control workers doing all they can to make sure the bats find other accomodations to roost. They don't want the bats to go too far away,  because come mosquito season, they'll have jobs to do.

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