Holiday Cleaning for Hamilton Avenue School

While students and staff of Hamilton Avenue School are enjoying the winter recess, there is an effort underway to rid the neighborhood school of bedbugs.

District spokeswoman Kim Eves said last week that "it has been decided that we steam treat the entire school over the break." Since October officials have been at the , located on Hamilton Avenue and St. Roch Avenue.

One of the incidents involved finding a bed bug on a student backpack. Eves said that since the first incident in October, school personnel check each student daily before they're admitted to classes.

In all cases, the bugs were sent to the for testing, the affected classrooms were treated after an inspection from Parkway Pest Services which uses trained dogs to sniff out the bugs, according to Eves. There are 3 classrooms effected — one Pre-K, one 2nd grade, and one 4th grade. Until the winter break began on Dec. 23, students were inspected before entering their classes, and required to place their belongings in plastic bags. Teachers in those classes also had to bag their coats.

On Dec. 18, school officials held an informational meeting with parents to update the situation and offer suggestions on how to prevent infestation at home. Nearly 3 dozen parents attended.