School officials work with city, Board of Health to ensure students’ safety

By Steve Freker

Revere school officials have addressed incidents of a bed bug breakout in

local schools by employing increased professional cleaning and outreach to parents of schoolchildren

both in the affected schools and also, districtwide, according to an online report.

According to reports, school officials said there have been three separate incidents in which bed bugs or bed bug bites were found on students over the last two weeks. In a letter sent to school staff, parents and caretakers, Revere  Assistant Superintendent Richard Gallucci said the school district discussed the three situations with the Revere Board of Health.
School officials confirmed  any classroom where bed bugs were present was professionally cleaned, along with adjoining classrooms, in accordance with protocols from the Mass. Department of Public Health’s Community Sanitation Program, reports indicated.
According to reports, the Board of Health told the school district that bed bugs are a nuisance insect, but their bites do not spread disease. Board of Health officials also noted when bed bugs do move from one person to another, they mostly do so via bags or backpacks in a school setting.  Person-to-person transfers are not common. Revere Public Schools, in its letter, asked families to closely monitor any bags or backpacks that students are bringing to school over the next several weeks to ensure there are no signs of bed bugs.