MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT SCOTT M. STRINGER DECLARES WAR ON BED BUGS IN NEW YORK'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS
DEMANDS FASTER RESPONSE AND MORE EXTERMINATORS TO FIGHT EMERGENCY
Calling the alarming growth of bed bugs in New York City's public schools "a scourge that must be ended now," Manhattan Borough Scott M. Stringer has criticized the Department of Education's cumbersome response to suspected infestations, and blasted the City's decimation of the ranks of exterminators who combat them.
"When it comes to protecting the physical well-being of our students, eradicating bed bugs should be the environmental equivalent of war," Stringer said, in a press conference on Manhattan's Upper West Side. 'Instead, City Hall is making it harder, not easier, for schools and principals to fight this growing menace.
"Slashing the number of bed bug inspectors and pest control aids in the midst of this epidemic, and forcing schools to jump through needless, time-consuming hoops is akin to laying out the welcome mat for bed bugs at our city schools," he added.
Stringer pointed to news reports that the number of bed bug cases in city schools has jumped to 336 in the first two months of the school year, more than double the 135 discovered in the same stretch last year. That's on track to shatter last year's record of 1,019 cases.
"These statistics are chilling, they're unacceptable," the Borough President added. "But what's even worse is that at the exact moment we're experiencing this invasion, the city has cut the ranks of its exterminators by more than half--from 77 active members in 2001 to 33 in 2010--and reduced pest control aides from 149 members to just 28."
Meanwhile, the Dept. of Education has laid out a cumbersome, time-consuming procedure by which school officials detect and report cases of suspected bed bug infestations, Stringer added. The DOE's Office of School Support Services currently provides "Bed Bug Kits" for schools offering detailed instruction for them to (1) capture specimens with gauze or tape (2) position them in plastic bags (3) seal the bag and (4) send the bag through the U.S. mail to a DOE address in Long Island City. At that point, the DOE's Pest Management Unit tests the specimen and finally notifies school officials if it is a bed bug.
"This might be fine for a high school biology project, but time is of the essence in fighting bed bug infestations," Stringer said. "Schools should get swift professional help if bed bugs are discovered in classrooms or other areas. Forcing principals to become CSI inspectors and bag their bed bugs - then send them via snail mail for testing--makes about as much sense as fighting a building fire with a garden hose."
To combat these twin problems, Stringer called for the City to:
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Immediately rehire an appropriate number of inspectors, and require that schools are given top priority if a bed bug outbreak is suspected.
- Establish new, more rigorous guidelines that guarantee schools will be tested within a matter of hours, if not days, if an infestation is suspected. "At the very least," he said, "DOE should ensure that no more than 24 hours passes between the time a principal identifies a specimen that may be a bed bug, and when an exterminator comes to a school site to address the problem."
The Borough President noted that the New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board, in a reported submitted last April to Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council, offered recommendations to combat bed bug problems. A key suggestion was that citizens report possible infestations "as quickly as possible," because "The longer you wait the more likely the problem is to spread and the more difficult and costly it will be control."
"Surely that same assumption should apply to all of our public schools and their more than 1.1 million students," Stringer concluded.
Another elected official voiced similar concerns:"In a system of over one million students, it was only a matter of time before the scourge of bed bugs inevitably spread through schools," said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF). "There are ways to manage these outbreaks and keep them from multiplying. We need to commit city resources to addressing this problem before parents, teachers and students alike become more focused on their school's bed bug outbreak than the day's lesson."