Classroom fire! My friend and colleague is a science teacher. Her classroom had a fire and she had to remove all of her animals and is caring for them at home. Please donate to help her as she provides their care and perhaps a solution for her classroom that will allow her to be able to return them! She shares her story below ♥️

I have spent some time contemplating on how to address what is currently going on in my teaching career and this is what I want to share.

This is my 18th year teaching. I went to college to be a veterinarian, to specifically specialize in herpetology (reptiles), with a pre-vet track that resulted in a BS in biology. My senior year of college my mom and brother died within 6 months of each other and vet school was no longer on the table. I was very lost in what my career path would be and a board member from a local private school for children with learning differences suggested that I give teaching a try. This person had experience with my teaching style as I had been teaching horseback riding lessons at the barn that he kept his horse at and thought teaching children science would be the perfect job for me. So in the summer of 2008 I started my career as a teacher.

I am a firm believer that ALL animals change lives. They offer something that people do not and that is an unbiased, unconditional, presence for everyone no matter what has happened in their lives. Some teachers are into drones, some are into legos, some are into computer technology….. animals are my thing. They always have been and they always will be. I know that they change lives and I strive to provide children with the opportunity for that to happen.

In my 18 years of teaching I have always had reptiles, of many different types, in my classroom. I’ve had snakes, frogs, turtles, tortoises, and have even hatched baby turtles. I also have had fish, axolotls, piglets (who were visitors), hatched chicks, and had chickens and ducks at school in which we sold the eggs to put money back into the school. I’ve even brought my horses to numerous schools to give kids an experience that they would never be able to have in their life.

In those 18 years I have never had an animal escape or have any lights/ heat emitters cause any fire damage. I spend THOUSANDS of dollars, of my own personal money (the school pays for nothing in regards to my animals) to make sure that every animal that I have receives the top tier, most appropriate care. I have veterinarians that I consult with regularly with questions and a number of reptile experts that I regularly have conversations with. I have made sure that every animal has what they need to be in the least stressful, most positive environment.

During non-school time I drive to school at least every other day to take care of my animals. None of my animals require that I go in and let them out, feed them, on a multiple time per day basis. The animals that do require that have automatic feeders on their tanks. Anyone and everyone can tell you that my animals mean the world to me because of the positive impact that they have on children.

I am a life science teacher and I use every animal in my classroom to teach my lessons with. Every. Single. One. Genetics? Let’s talk about ball python color morphs. Adaptations? Axolotls are one of the only organisms that can regenerate any part of their body. Ecosystems? Let’s look at all of the bioactive snake and turtle tanks in the room and let’s identify everything from a decomposer to a second or third level consumer and discuss the niche that each organism has in that ecosystem. Reproduction? Did you know that some species of snakes give live birth? And our guppies also give live birth. Let’s compare the parental responsibility of the fish to the rats in the room. Why are baby fish born ready to swim and live like an adult fish but the baby rats are born with their eyes closed and no fur? Cells and growth? Let’s analyze snake skin and turtle scoots to see how their growth is different from a mammals. Let’s measure snake skin after each shed cycle to see how much our snakes have grown. I could go on and on about how all of these animals are used.

In addition to instructional tools, these animals offer a sense of peace to children who are emotionally disregulated. I have had kids walk around my room to just look in my tanks and need time to cool down, and it helps them find their peace. I’ve had kids come in and just hold the snakes in their lap while they do work (which they were refusing to do prior) because it helps them be centered. I have kids who start their day coming to my room before they even go to their first period class as a way to start their day positively, giving them the opportunity to leave the bad from home at the door and focus on something that makes them happy to get them through the day.

My animals give children experiences that they never would have anywhere else. In a world of technology, social media, and screen time, my animals allow children to hold, touch and handle things they would never be able to. I have had children come in with a fear of snakes and leave being able to handle them appropriately and regularly and have developed a love for them because they were taught how to understand a very misunderstood species. Students have learned how to hold them, recognize signs of stress, what not to do when handling, and the importance of washing hands before and after handling. I developed an entire curriculum for a small animals class to teach kids how to take care of different animals, essentially making them the perfect pet sitters. My kids leave that room knowing how to water test freshwater tanks and the importance of the nitrogen cycle and the effect it has on the life of any freshwater aquatic organism.

When visitors come to our building, whether they be prospective students, board members, guests of other teachers, or future employees, my classroom is the first room they are brought to. Everyone loves my room. Teachers on their planning periods or after school would come to my room and just take a few minutes to walk around and see the animals because they were overwhelmed, having a bad day, or just needed something positive in that moment.

Before this happened I was in the early process of writing a grant to have a floor to ceiling enclosure installed in the school that was to house Nanner as a complete bioactive enclosure. It was to include plants, a functioning pond with aquatic life, decomposers, and a place for students to experience Nanner in an ecosystem in which all organisms depend on each other.

The accident that occurred early Thursday morning has been devastating, to say the least. A lot of misinformation has been shared and a lot of things have been left out. I’m not here to point fingers, I’m not here to lay blame, I am not here to say anyone is not doing their job. I’m here to present some facts that will clear up many misconceptions that are out there right now:

- every snake tank in my classroom had a lock system on it and all snake tanks were locked and closed, with snakes inside of them, when I left school Wednesday afternoon.

- all light fixtures were secured to the appropriate places. The tortoise heat fixture (it was a heat emitter, not a lamp) was secured to the side of the enclosure. It had been in the same place for the past 3 years and was something that could not be easily knocked over. It was clamped to the side of the enclosure, up off of the bedding high enough as to not cause a fire due to overheating.

- Bedford country fire department (2 members), myself, and the head of the janitorial staff walked my entire room and checked every plug and fixture in November 2025. There was one cord that was not up to code, which was removed at that time, and another one was purchased right then and there with approval from Bedford county fire department. With that, everything else in my room was passed as up to code.

- pythons, of any type, have pits in their face that are heat sensors. They do not see well at all and move/respond to infrared radiation that is detected through those pits. When the infrared levels get too high or too low their instinct to remove themselves from that environment kicks in and they will do what they need to to get out. In my 18 years of keeping reptiles I have never had a snake escape an enclosure with a lock system on it until this event.

- when I arrived to my classroom at 4 am Thursday morning, I went to the tank that Nanner was in (it was not the tank that was on the media, that tank had been disinfected and left to sit for a period of time to dry. Nothing was in that tank). When I got there, both locks had been completely removed from the tank. One was popped of and in the sink, the other was popped of and in between the wall and the cage. These locks are made of metal and tuck under the plastic lip of the tank itself and tuck under the lip of the screen itself. So when you try to lift the lid, you cannot because the locks are secured on other parts of the tank. When i picked up the locks they no longer fit on the tank because the metal had been stretched. She pushed on the screen so hard to get out that she bent the metal locks. Her light fixture and the 3 other snake light fixtures on that counter were all in the places that they should have been in and were not disrupted.

- Cameras from the school hallway were reviewed (to be sure that no one had gone into my classroom) and exactly 20 minutes after the fire was visible through the glass on my classroom door, my snake was seen exiting my classroom. She left the room because it was so hot in there. So hot that it melted the tank next to hers.

- when the fire fighters arrived to the building, they took the hose and blasted her from outside the doorway all the way to the back corner of my room, which is where their video that they posted on social media starts.

- her cage, that she left from, was on the opposite side, opposite corner of my doorway. None of my snakes have ever been put on the floor of my room. She found the doorway because that is where the least amount of infrared light was and she was instinctually escaping the heat.

- the remains of the tortoise enclosure and lamps did not leave any evidence that would directly indicate that the heat fixture was knocked over. The entire light fixture (which had an outer metal casing) that the fire started from was completely gone. There was no more metal, no more socket. The only think that remained was the heat emitter itself. The actual uv light that was on the other side of his enclosure was fully intact and was off at the time because it was on a timer.

When Nanner was removed from the room, her face had black soot all over it, in the shape of the screen holes of her original tank, not the tank the fire department put her in. There are perfect circles of soot on her face that match the screen holes. After she was bathed to remove all of the soot from her body, her nose, where she pushed on the screen is purple and bruised.

My tortoise, named bowser, was literally melted in half. I had that tortoise for 8+ years and he was the size of a golf ball when I got him. He died being about the size of a basketball.

I have since had to remove all of my animals from the school. They are home, with me, because rehoming is not an option. These animals have provided hands on, interactive opportunities for children and have taught them so much that they deserve to continually be cared for the best way possible and I know I can, and have, provided that for them. They are currently all under observation for upper respiratory infections and my local vet has an Oxygen chamber ready if it is needed along with antibiotics.

I am devastated for many reasons right now - all of my teaching tools are now gone, many children will now not have the opportunities that many others have had, 18 years of teaching material is

Gone. I have overwhelming guilt that an exorbitant amount of money is going to have to be spent to fix all of these things, even though this was an accident and not mine, or anyone else’s “fault.” I never wanted this for my school, my admin, or my county. I was so excited to be able

To share my classroom with a new group of students this year and continue to educate them beyond what was required. Because that’s what good teachers do, and Forest Middle is full of teachers that go above and beyond every day.

I’m sorry, to everyone that this has negatively impacted. And I’m especially sorry to the students that will no longer be able to have this experience. My heart hurts so much for you.