A bee infestation in the 800s wing of Hillsborough High School was discovered prior to the first day of school which prompted administrators to call exterminators to ensure classrooms were safe for students before the start of a new school year.

The discovery was a point of concern among staff members in the wing who had noticed the bees presence around the building days before the first day of school. However, the problem grew in weight when the bees appeared inside the classrooms.

Teacher Padilla Davis said that the bees had been present in the area for quite some time, but had only recently begun entering the classrooms. “I was very surprised that this problem was not mitigated before the first day of school,” Davis said. “But not too surprised, because the bees had been there for a while. They just were not there in the classroom.” 

Dr. Steven Jablonski, one of the schools Vice Principals, explained the when asked about the steps taken to ensure student safety.  “All areas where bees have been seen have been sprayed by professional exterminators,” he said.

In the meantime, teachers had to balance their own safety concerns with the need to keep their students focused and calm during the start of the new school year. The school acted quickly to address the problem and brought in exterminators to treat the area. Davis said that the issue was completely resolved.  Davis said.

Davis also emphasized that the bees did not endanger students, and she made sure to keep window shades down to block off any insects from entering the classroom and causing a disturbance to her students. Additionally, other measures were taken to increase security in the room. Nurses identified students whose allergies made them high risk in this situation, and they were safely situated in the classrooms.

Davis said those small adjustments were effective in keeping the situation under control. “The bees were really just confined to the window. They weren’t flying around the room. In fact, the students didn’t even notice the bees were there,” she said.

The school’s response.“Responding to bees is a challenge for public schools, since our staff is not legally allowed to spray,” Jablonski said. “We have to rely on a licensed contractor to come out to the high school and do the spraying. The other challenge that may make the response look slower than people may want is that once the bees have been sprayed activity increases and the die off takes a few days.”

The infestation is now almost completely resolved, and classes in the 800s as well as the school as a whole are continuing as usual.