Bed bugs found at Providence high school

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — When Cindy Ordonez learned bedbugs were found at her grandson’s school, Mt. Pleasant High, she went into high alert.

“It’s scary,” she said. “It’s messed up.”

Ordonez told her grandson to immediately change out of the clothes he wore to school as soon as he got into the car.

“Strip then down before they even walk in the house,” she advised other families.

The school department told families classes were relocated, so the classroom where the bedbugs were found and the two classrooms next to it can be treated.

“Not enough,” Ordonez said. “You’ve got to do the whole school, the whole floor. Maybe the whole floor. But they go everywhere.”

Tony DeJesus of Big Blue Bug Solutions said the school is doing the right thing by targeting a specific area for treatment.

And he says there’s not much schools can do to prevent this as it’s easy for bedbugs to be brought from home.

That’s why he says parents can help.

“They should be checking their children’s backpacks, their clothing, their sweatshirts, things like that periodically,” DeJesus said. “If you suspect something, throw it in the dryer on high heat.”

But Ordonez isn’t sure she wants her grandson to attend school here anymore…and she’s not even sure she wants to go to the parent open house tomorrow evening.

“Is anybody going to show up?” she asked. “Because I don’t know if I’m coming.”

The school department said that treatment started after students left this afternoon.

If you’re concerned about bed bugs, DeJesus says they are difficult to find because they can be as small as the period at the end of this sentence. And he says they can be difficult to get rid of, usually requiring more than one treatment.

De Jesus also says to remember that they go after blood — not crumbs or scraps.

And he says fortunately, though bed bugs can produce itchy bites, they are not known to transmit disease.

© WLNE-TV / ABC6 2019