The New York Department of Education has reported that there is has been quite a few NYC schools that have complained of bed bugs creeping through the halls and classrooms this school year.  So far, the New York Department of Education has placed 16 schools on their bed bug list.  The schools span five different boroughs and have had one or more confirmed cases of bed bugs so far this school year.

According to the Bed Bug Advisory Board, this news is not good because if the trend keeps going as it currently is heading, NYC school bed bug infestations are on track for having over 1,000 bed bug incidents this year.  That would be a new record for NYC bed bug infestations within the school system.

Schools are required to save any bugs that are found within a school and send them to the DOE for confirmation. Some NYC teachers are claiming that their schools are infested, but are not on the DOE’s list of problem schools, so the problem within the school system might be far greater than is being reported by officials.

On August 30, 2010, Governor Paterson, signed Bill #A05434 into law which “requires city school districts having a population of one million or more to notify parents and persons in parental relation of any bed bug infestations found in a school.”

The previous policy was to only notify the family of the affected child, with additional notification left to the discretion of the school.  This bill cannot be implemented soon enough within the NY school system as NYC bed bug infestations are raging in many areas.

When parents are given early warning of potentially transporting the blood suckers home, they can be proactive in looking for the pests on their child’s bookbag, lunchbox, clothing, coat, etc.  If they happen to be unfortunate enough to find bed bugs on their child or their belongings, then they can immediately call a NYC pest control expert to eradicate the blood suckers before the infestation goes un-noticed and gets out-of-control.