Edgewood closed to battle flea concerns
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on April 22, 2013 1:46 PM
Edgewood Community Developmental School was dismissed early Friday and parents were notified over the weekend that there would be no classes today while the district dealt with a potential flea problem.
"They did send students home early on Friday and today is a teacher workday," confirmed Ken Derksen, director of communication services and public information officer for Wayne County Public Schools. "Thursday afternoon there was a problem that was discovered. Animals had gotten up underneath the building. Some fleas were discovered."
The building was fumigated, he explained, but it was discovered Friday morning that the problem was not isolated to the original areas, so students were sent home.
"It would have been safe for students to return today," Derksen said this morning. "They felt they had to take extra precautions. They're working to get any of the animals from under the building removed."
Apparently, he said, some type of animal had gotten into a crawlspace underneath the school and that is how the problem developed.
Staff contacted parents Sunday to inform them that students should not come in today.
"We're confident everything will be normal by tomorrow but we want to take extra precautions," Derksen said. "We're working with Animal Control to do that.
"We don't know what type of animals had gotten under the building, but it sounds like they have gotten under some of the classrooms in a crawlspace."
The district does have regular routine pest management at the schools, he noted, and is now handling whatever maintenance needs to be done to prevent other animals from entering the building at Edgewood.