NEWPORT — The process to evict a colony of bats from the attic in Richards Elementary School is scheduled to be completed while the students are on spring break, which begins April 28th.

At a public forum at the school on Tuesday, Jeff Traynor of Monadnock Pest and Wildlife Services and several other experts answered questions from the public about the bats and the attic area in the school where they have been hibernating.

Traynor, a licensed wildlife control agent, said he anticipates it will take between four and six days to complete the eviction work but that time table is weather and equipment dependent. He told the public that now is the ideal time for the removal work because the bats are coming out of hibernation and will be leaving the attic to search for food.

“It is really the perfect time because we are doing this when there will be the minimal amount of bats in the structure,” Traynor. “If this were September there would be a different number than there are now.”

The bat issue became a concern late last year. Right after the winter break, in early January, Richards was closed for a day because a bat came down from the ceiling in a classroom when a staff member was present. No students were involved.

Traynor and Dan Bergeron, chief of the Wildlife Division at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, said during the winter, bats will typically move around seeking warmer air.

“We get more bat emergency calls in certain winters and this was one of those winters, across the board statewide,” Traynor said.

Bergeron said it is likely there are bats in many of the buildings in town but usually they do not get into living spaces because those areas are sealed off.

When bat guano was discovered in the attic area, a company was brought in to do a comprehensive cleanup in December.

A question at the forum whether illness among staff could have been related to the presence of bats, Bergeron said they could say whether it was bat related.

The eviction process involves a close examination of the structure to seal off the openings and to install one-valves that allow bats to leave but not return. Later the valves are removed and the openings sealed.

“This the most effective way to deal with this situation,” Bergeron said.

The bats will try to reenter the structure and it is possible some bats may find their way in, Traynor said.

“I fully expect the bats to try to get back in,” he said. “I want, as much as possible, to make a bat-proof envelope around the structure. We can get pretty close to doing that and reduce the odds (of bats returning) significantly. You just have to stay on top of this.”

If they are unable to return, the bats will find another place to roost.

“After a few days, they will look elsewhere,” Traynor said.

Earlier this year, the School Board voted to spend up to $75,000 to evict the colony of Big Brown Bats, which are a protected species, requiring the removal process to be nonlethal.

Monadnock Pest and Wildlife Services of Peterborough, N.H., submitted a bid of almost $65,000, which was accepted by the board. As of early March, the district has spent $21,000 on the bat problem.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com