District director comments on school infestation

GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn. — On Friday, April 26, around 10:30 a.m., we were informed by a WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News Tipster of unknown bugs inside of South Gibson County High School.

Although there were thoughts as to what the insects could be, they have now been identified.

Gibson County’s Special School District Director of Schools, Eddie Pruett, said that he was notified by Principal Phil Rogers earlier in the week of insects appearing in classrooms.

“Mr. Rogers had talked to me about them noticing some bugs. They weren’t quite sure what they were,” said Pruett.

He said the cleaning crew came and cleaned up the building.

Pest control was also called to spray the rooms.

On Thursday, April 25, a letter was sent home to parents stating that there were insects identified as lice in the school.

“This morning when Mr. Rogers was doing the walkthrough, he noticed that those insects were still present,” said Pruett.

Pruett said that’s when they wondered what they needed to do.

He also understood that this brought out some people’s frustrations.

“It did put an inconvenience on parents today and we hate that that happened,” said Pruett.

Pruett says the decision was made to let students out of school around lunch time.

“We called the UT Ag Extension Agency and had two entomologists come out and look at the bugs, the insects, and they were able to identify them,” said Pruett.

According to a release from the University of Tennessee’s Institute of Agriculture, the insects were determined to be mites.

No variations of lice or bed bugs were found.

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