School District of Philadelphia officials take action to prevent bed bug infestation

PHILADELPHIA - A big nightmare over a tiny, little bug.

The School District of Philadelphia is taking action to prevent an infestation of bed bugs. School officials say they found just one and they’re making sure that one doesn’t spread.

A letter was sent home to parents of some students at the Feltonville Community Education campus of Feltonville Intermediate School. The letter is in response to a bed bug found in a classroom.

Parent James Conway commented about it while picking up his sons from school. "I guess we can’t do anything about it. I mean, you just have to try to treat it, if it’s in the classrooms that they’re in and be careful. If you’re bringing them home, because they are a big problem, if you bring them home, to get rid of."

Conway’s 9-year-old son, Ethan, says it wasn’t his class, but he noticed a sign on a classroom door. "They had a sign on their door saying that their class was in a 5th grade class for the time."

The letter was dated Wednesday, February 15th. The letter says, in part:

"Our staff is in the process of conducting a thorough inspection of the school and treating appropriately where necessary."

FOX 29’s Shawnette Wilson contacted the district and a spokesperson said that just one bed bug was found and they determined it was brought into the school, attached to someone.

The spokesperson would not say specifically who or what it was attached to.

9-year-old Javier Santos says he was in class Thursday taking a test when he was told about the bed bug. "Our principal came in saying about that to stay alert about a bed bug that’s going around in the school. So, they had to switch our stuff into another classroom and almost all the classroom is going upstairs to third grade."