My school experience was quite the opposite. My dad taught elementary school and always had animals in his class. The school embraced this to the point that when any living creature wandered onto school grounds, instead of panic and/or killing it, they would call him on the intercom system to come capture and relocate. Believe me when I tell you this was quite the feat down here where the typical mentality is that the only good snake is a dead snake. Most often it was a hatchling racer or grey rat snake but over the years he built up with quite the tally of diverse creatures. When I was in middle school I had a pair of hatchling alligator snapping turtles delivered to the elementary school so my dad could make sure they arrived safe and sound. It was another typical day as far as the students and faculty were concerned though they were pretty interested to learn people shipped such creatures in the mail.