Harford County school officials have canceled overnight and weekend sessions at the Harford Glen Environmental Education Center near Bel Air for the rest of the year while staff and an exterminator monitor the facility for bed bugs, a spokesperson for Harford County Public Schools said Thursday.
"Due to concerns associated with isolated bed bug cases, all residential/overnight sessions have been canceled at Harford Glen," HCPS spokesperson Jillian Lader wrote in an email.
The overnight visits ended March 18, Lader wrote, after a single live bed bug was found in a monitoring station.
"Visits to Harford Glen are a highlight for our students so we hope to resume next school year, but will focus on ensuring there is no longer a concern before resuming any residential visits," Lader wrote.
In the meantime, Harford Glen staff and teachers crafted alternative "day-only" programs for the students who were recently scheduled to come to the center for overnight visits, and written notices were sent to parents and guardians, according to Lader.
"Harford Glen follows a strict regimen of cleaning and disinfection on campus, and they consistently take appropriate measures to ensure the safety and cleanliness of the facility," Lader continued.
She also noted that an exterminator hired, for about $3,600, used a "heat treatment," which she described as a "multi-step process," to deal with the bed bugs. The exterminator also installed a system that HCPS facilities staff and the exterminator can use to monitor for any more bed bugs.
"At this time, there has been no evidence in the monitoring stations of any bed bugs," Lader noted.
The 340-acre Harford Glen is a former farm off West Wheel Road that includes wooded and marsh areas, two streams and a multitude of smaller waterways, as well as a manor house that dates to the early 1800s plus classrooms, a dining hall, dormitories, meeting areas, restrooms and bathing facilities, according to the Harford Glen website.
The school system acquired the land from the federal government in 1948, and it has been used for outdoor education since the 1950s, also according to the website.
Bed bugs are considered a "public health pest," according to an Environmental Protection Agency website on the pesky insects, although they are not considered spreaders of disease.
Bed bugs, which are about 5 millimeters long and have flat, oval-shaped bodies, are known for biting people, drinking their blood and leaving itchy bites. They can hide in any small nook and cranny in a home, including mattresses, bed frames, seams of chair and couch cushions, drawers, electrical outlets, under wallpaper and even the joints between walls and ceilings, according to the EPA website.
They are also mobile, hitching rides on human hosts or mattresses and furniture, and they can resist a number of current pesticides, according to the EPA. The agency has registered more than pesticides that can be used against the insects, however.
There are multiple ways to control bedbugs, some of which involve inspecting secondhand beds and furniture, as well as hotel rooms and keeping a clean and clutter-free home.
Visit www2.epa.gov/bedbugs for more information.