The Trenton Times published the following article on May 7, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Bedbugs at two Trenton schools spark concerns among students, parents

By Erin Duffy/The Times of Trenton 
on May 07, 2013 at 5:13 PM, updated May 07, 2013 at 6:48 PM

TRENTON — Bedbugs have been spotted at two city schools in recent weeks, sparking fear of infestations.

Trenton Central High School West sent out a letter to parents last Friday alerting them one bedbug had been found at the school. Everett Collins, the school district’s building and grounds executive director, said several of the blood-sucking bugs were also discovered at P.J. Hill Elementary School recently.

Dawn Wilburn, the grandmother of a TCHS-West junior, said her grandson told her he saw two bedbugs crawling up the back of one of his classmates and spied several girls scratching themselves.

Wilburn’s had bedbugs in her apartment before, and had to throw out all her furniture. Now, she makes her grandson check his clothes and backpack before he can even come inside.

“It’s a serious problem, not only in the schools, but the neighborhoods,” she said. “Bring one of them home and they multiply like I don’t know what.”

Collins said the district had already wiped down several classrooms and common areas at the West State Street high school campus with alcohol, the state’s mandated treatment for bedbugs.

“You’re not allowed to do any extermination,” Collins said. “The state does not want you to put down any harmful chemicals that could hurt the kids.”

If bedbugs — flat, one-fourth inch long bugs that primarily bite and feed at night — are discovered within a school, they’re sent off to the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Mercer to determine if the bug really is a bedbug. Three or four have been confirmed at Trenton High West.

“A lot of times what this does, it creates hysteria,” Collins said. “The poor bugs take a beating now. Every bug seen within a 5-block radius of Trenton will be killed, smashed, eliminated. Don’t make the assumption that every bug captured is a bedbug.”

Collins said schools try to pinpoint which student or staff member the bedbugs hitchhiked in on, but it’s hard to narrow down.

If a student has tell-tale bites or is dealing with a bedbug infestation at home, the school refers the case to the city’s health and human services department, which will then go out and examine the home for bedbugs. If bugs are found, the student can’t return to school until the home has been treated for bug infestation.

Collins stressed that bedbugs don’t carry disease, but admitted they are a nuisance.
“It is very difficult to get rid of,” he said.

Bedbugs have turned up at several city schools in the past two years, including Daylight/Twilight High School and Stokes Elementary.

Contact Erin Duffy at (609) 989-5723 or eduffy@njtimes.com