Barberton Excessive College to shut two days for mattress bug remedy

Barberton High School will be closing Wednesday and Thursday after a spate of calls to the district about bed bugs.

Lessons take place remotely.

Jeffrey Ramnytz, headmaster of Barberton City Schools, said the calls came in after rumors surfaced on social media about the nasty bugs at the high school.

“We have no reports of anyone infested,” he said.

The superintendent said that last week some bed bugs were discovered in a storage cupboard that was inaccessible to students and the beetles were eradicated.

But people who knew about the discovery apparently spread the news on social media, prompting concerned parents to reach out to the district.

“We got a lot of calls,” said Ramnytz. “People called Summit County’s Public Health. We wanted to calm people down [and] In conversation with the board of directors, we decided that we had to take care of this matter. “

Ramnytz said he was confident the bed bugs were eradicated last week, but the public outcry convinced him to take the broader measures.

“The whole room was done twice and we hadn’t heard anything,” said the superintendent. “This is done as a precaution to calm people down, and I fully understand that.”

In a post on the district’s website and on social media, the district announced that exterminators would arrive Wednesday at 9 a.m. to inspect and eradicate all areas of the high school.

Ramnytz said the high school will switch to distance learning for the two days.

“We are experts in remote,” he said.

Still, the superintendent said, his district’s focus is on keeping children in classrooms and encouraging a return to normal.

“I don’t think they can hold out for another 18 months [uncertainty],” he said.

Some students who chose the distance learning option in the 2020-2021 school year suffered academically and emotionally, with teacher-student separation having a negative impact, he said. Barberton offered both distance and face-to-face teaching last school year.

The school principal said the district strongly encourages the use of masks and more students have chosen to wear them since the school opened.

The bed bug problem, he said, is keeping the district busy.

“You throw that into the mix and it’s not just a job,” he said. “It’s an adventure.”

Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.