A small San Luis school got rid of its skunks, but not before raising a stink for the maintenance director who asked a student to gun them down.
No one, other than the skunks, was hurt, and the unnamed employee has been disciplined, said Centennial R-1 School District interim superintendent Mark Maksimowicz, who was fielding calls Monday following tips to Denver media about the incident.
The shooting — at Centennial School, for grades pre-K through 12 — happened last month.
Two skunks had holed up under a house on school grounds. The maintenance employee asked a teacher whether the teacher’s teenage son, an avid hunter, would kill the varmints before they sprayed or scratched a student.
“He (the maintenance worker) didn’t have the heart to shoot them himself,” Maksimowicz said.
The teen performed the task without incident, but the shooting was later reported to the school board, Maksimowicz said.
The student was not disciplined, and Maksimowicz wouldn’t discuss the punishment given the school employee. The sheriff’s department was notified, but no charges were pursued, he said. The skunks were shot in the morning, but no students were in danger of being hit, he said.
“Someone is trying to make a bigger deal out of this than it was,” he said of the tipster. “It wasn’t a big deal, but it won’t happen again.”
About 200 students attend the school in the small town in south-central Colorado.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
