Students attending the Potters Primary School will be engaged in remote learning as health and education officials work to eradicate a flea infestation.
Confirmation comes from Director of Education Clare Browne, who told Observer on Wednesday that the Central Board of Health (CBH) was called to remedy the problem on Tuesday but the pests were still present yesterday.
“The principal said she went there early this morning as the process begins at 9 o’clock but the principal was there well ahead of 8 o’clock to see the efficacy of whatever chemicals might have been used,” Browne said.
“Now, she indicated to me that the fleas were still present, at least there was still the presence of fleas. So, we don’t know if it is the same ones from yesterday that were sprayed or the dogs came back there last night and would have created another situation.”
He explained that the school’s principal said stray dogs are not normally on the compound during the day, however, it is believed that they may enter the school premises at night.
Because of that notion, the Board of Education (BoE) and the CBH are working together to address the problem.
“We are hoping they will work out how we tackle the situation at Potters. In addition to that, the principal with assistance from staff would walk the fence today to ensure that there are no holes in the fence so that we can get the BOE to plug those holes the stray dogs are entering,” Browne added.
He is also hopeful that students will be able to return to school soon.
“The attempt to repair the situation was made yesterday but it just didn’t work in the way that was anticipated, and so we wanted to eradicate the fleas totally and so we are tackling it from two angles — by spraying the existing fleas and certainly trying to cut off the source of the fleas.
“We are hoping that the children can get back to their education in short order,” Browne added.
The flea outbreak is not the first case seen in public schools. A few years ago the Clare Hall Secondary School fell victim to the parasites, resulting in classes there being halted as well.