NJ Education Officials Take Aim at Bed Bugs

New Jersey education officials hope to fend off "big headaches" from a tiny source: bed bugs.

The state has alerted district chiefs to a webinar titled "Bed Bugs Go to School." The 90-minute program promises to teach them how to develop a "bed bug action plan" and avoid litigation from the itchy pests.

"Bed bugs can, and will hitchhike into your school," warns the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency in its pitch to recruit participants for the June 18 webinar. "The school can be bed bug free one day and have bed bugs brought in the next."

The webinar will tell educators what to do about bed bug sightings and possible bites, and how to limit items brought to school in backpacks. The memo to district leaders, distributed Monday, noted that the key to prevention is to teach everyone to stop bed bugs at their source, and "99 percent of the time this is the home."