WASHINGTON — An uninvited guest was escorted out of an Anne Arundel County classroom after sneaking past the principal’s office and curling up for a nap inside an unsuspecting student’s desk. It was a 3-foot-long black snake.
“The fourth grade classroom at Overlook Elementary grew by one, unexpectedly” said Bob Mosier, spokesman for Anne Arundel County schools.
Mosier explained that the snake was found inside a desk at the school in Linthicum, Maryland after a student looked into her desk before putting a book away.
Mosier said the student immediately advised the teacher. “Everybody was pretty excited, from what I’m told,” Mosier said.
The teacher led the students out of the classroom, and alerted the administration. A custodian and volunteer then worked to kick out the slithering interloper.
“They turned the desk over, got the snake out, took it outside and put it over the fence back in the woods,” said Mosier, adding that the two “strongly admonished” the snake not to return.
Mosier said the student’s glance at the desk before reaching in was a stroke of luck: “Had that student reached in, we might have had something different.”
The snake was probably a nonvenomous black snake. It was found resting on books and papers inside the desk, leading officials to believe it couldn’t have been in the classroom for very long. It was the third day of classes for the students.
In a letter sent home to parents, school principal Angela Ricciuti wrote that teachers had spoken to students and that none appeared to show any signs of trauma from the event.
The snake did not respond to a request for comment.
