Sweeden Man Kills Copperhead In Grayson School Drop Off Line

Jonathan Williams holds a copperhead he killed in the drop off line at a Grayson Co. school.

Darren Doyle, story: photos courtesy of Jonathan and Edd Williams
The best educators always have one thing in mind when they go to work each day, and that's simply to do the best they can to positively influence young people. Mentoring, leading, and teaching obviously have their places in that way of thinking, and for a Sweeden man, "kill venomous snake" has now been added to the list.

Jonathan Williams, Principal at Wilkey Elementary School in Leitchfield, killed a copperhead that was in the school drop off lane. 

"I was in the cafeteria when Ms. Scerena (Tomes, a school employee) came and asked me if I wanted to kill a copperhead," said Williams. "She said we had one in the car rider drop off line.  I figured in the middle of Leitchfield it was a case of mistaken identity and so  I said, 'Sure'."

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The copperhead as it slithers beside cars that were dropping off kids.

Copperhead killed in school drop off line.

​He said he didn't really believe that was the case, but when he saw the snake outside on the pavement, he knew it was indeed a copperhead.

A custodian brought Principal Williams a large floor scraper, a long handled tool used to scrape sticky substances off floors, where Williams then took care of the snake.

"It actually became a bit humorous to observe the variety of reactions from parents and students as they drove by," he said. "To be honest, I had never seen a live copperhead before but I knew what it was when I saw it.  Of course, we directed all the kids and parents that were walking in our school away from the area."

He said that faculty and staff members searched the premises for other snakes throughout the day and the eventual consensus was that the snake had crawled up inside one of the vehicles dropping off a student, which is disturbing on a different level.

"It's turned into quite the event, said Williams. "The kids, our staff, and our community have gotten a really big kick out of it.  Some folks have thought it was funny while others have been completely freaked out about it.  I'm just really glad the snake didn’t get into the school, that would’ve been very scary."