Update: The Bradley School was open for business Tuesday morning and the following message was sent to parents Monday night:
“Dr. Knapton, Acting Superintendent,
I’m calling to inform you of the recent implementation of our Integrated Pest Management Plan at Bradley School. Our outside contractor will be at Bradley School this evening to administer non-chemical pest management methods, such as baited traps and bug sniffing canines. Results will be gathered tomorrow morning by 7:00 a.m. All schools will open on schedule unless otherwise notified.”
Original post follows:
Derby’s Bradley School got the all-clear from a pest management company Monday, saying no bed bugs were found in the building over the weekend.
Bug Busters, an Ansonia-based company, was brought in after an alleged bed bug was discovered at Bradley School Friday.
The company will perform more tests this week just to be safe, the school district’s acting superintendent said.
An e‑mail sent to parents on Friday from the school’s principal, Christine DiGrazia, said a “suspected bed bug” was found in the library. The insect was disposed of and never inspected directly by Bug Busters.
“The school district’s director of facilities was notified,” DiGrazia’s e‑mail said. “He has made arrangement for a pest-management company to install traps over the weekend to detect any problems.”
Bug Busters Inc., detected no further problems, Erica Baldelli, the business’ office manager, said Monday.
Baldelli said the company set up monitoring equipment at the school over the weekend but discovered no other pests.
She said places like schools don’t often get infested with bedbugs because of the insect’s feeding habits.
“Bedbugs like to feed on you when you’re either sleeping or in a stable position,” Baldelli said, noting it takes three to five minutes for one of the bugs to complete a meal. “In a school setting, it’s highly unlikely an infestation would be able to break out.”
School Response Questioned
Phone messages and e‑mails were sent to parents Monday morning informing them of the results. But for some, the information came too late.
After DiGrazia’s initial e‑mail was posted on the Valley Indy’s Facebook page Friday, readers debated the school system’s response to the situation, with some parents saying they weren’t comfortable sending their children to school.
One of those parents, Chantal Gerckens, said Monday she kept her two children home from school because she didn’t receive the school system’s follow-up phone call until nearly 7:30 Monday morning.
“I think kids would have already been on the school bus by then,” she said. “I already decided at 6:45 ‘I have to stay home from work, my kids aren’t going to school today.’”
“I don’t feel there was enough communication,” Gerckens added.
Superintendent Stephen Tracy was not at his office Monday. Lois Knapton, the school district’s director of special education and acting superintendent in Tracy’s absence, said that school administrators followed the district’s pest management policy in responding to the situation.
‘Clear Bill Of Health’
“The procedure says to assess the area where anything was found,” Knapton said.
School officials had Bug Busters do just that, she said, and on Monday, the school got a “clear bill of health.”
“Certainly there were some parents that did choose to keep their children home,” Knapton said. “The administration decided to open the school because we are satisfied and confident it is safe for our children to attend.”
“You can’t treat something if it’s not there,” Knapton added. “The first protocol is to find out if you have a problem. Right now we’re being proactive and preventative. There’s no problem that we can find.”
Just to be safe, Knapton said administrators will have Bug Busters set up more traps over the course of the week to be sure there isn’t a problem.
“We’re happy to do that because we want to make sure we have a safe environment for everybody,” she said. “If we need to take more corrective measures we certainly will.”
Check Your Sheets
Baldelli said that when bedbugs are found in a school, the most likely explanation is that one of the bugs, called “hitch-hikers” by exterminators, is brought to the school via a student’s backpack, pocket, or shoe.
“If you pick them up somewhere you can drop them off anywhere else,” she pointed out.
Infestations have “nothing to do with cleanliness,” Baldelli said, adding that because 60 percent of people don’t have allergic reactions to bed bugs “they don’t know they’re being bit.”
Those concerned about bed bugs in their homes should check their sheets, mattress, and box spring for reddish-brown spots — the bugs’ feces.
Another indicator to look for: the bugs also shed their skin like reptiles, Baldelli said.
