First Grade Teacher Opens Backpack And Screams When She Sees What’s Inside

It was the second day of school, and first grade teacher Jeannette Zirbel was busy cleaning out backpacks while the students were at lunch, as the kids often bring Clorox wipes and tissues to donate to the classroom. One backpack was particularly heavy, so Zirbel assumed it was loaded up with supplies.

She opened the backpack … and came face-to-face with a pair of eyes.

“I screamed, and my first grade teacher friend and I zipped up the backpack and took it to the office,” Zirbel told The Dodo. “The staff in the office and my principal were in disbelief, too.”

Somehow, a little boy in Zirbel’s class had managed to bring his pet snake, Aphrodite, to school with him without his parents’ knowledge. He had been talking about Aphrodite earlier in the day, but Zirbel had no idea the snake had been in his backpack all along.

“This will mark my 30th year of teaching, and that is clearly the craziest thing I ever found in a backpack,” Zirbel said.

The principal contacted the child’s mom, Samia Rhine, who immediately left work and rushed to the school. Her first concern was making sure that Aphrodite was OK and getting her warmed up, as snakes need a warm environment, and she was rather cold huddled up in the backpack. Her second concern was having a chat with her son and making sure that he knew bringing Aphrodite to school wasn’t the best idea.

“I said, ‘You cannot take this snake to school,’” Rhine said in a video on TikTok. “People are scared of snakes!”

Rhine made sure her son apologized to Zirbel, and she, of course, apologized as well. She’s still unsure how her son managed to sneak the snake past both of his parents, but she definitely plans to ensure it never happens again.

Luckily, Aphrodite was OK from her little adventure and is back home safe and sound, where she belongs.