Officials from Poplar Bluff Head Start have canceled school today and tomorrow after allegations of bed bugs surfaced on Wednesday. The text message sent to parents simply said, "No school Thursday or Friday," giving no explanation why. Officials at the facility initially denied the allegations of a bed bug problem until its confirmation by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Head start officials, also, said they never threatened to fire faculty and staff if they spoke to anyone about the bed bugs. However, anonymous sources within the school and concerned grandparent Diana Stout said the statements provided by Ann Smith, executive director of the Winona, Mo., based South Central Missouri Community Action Agency (SCMCAA), for the most part, were false.
Smith claimed the bed bugs had been eradicated from the facility in a statement sent to the Daily American Republic on Monday. But on Wednesday, an anonymous source provided photo documentation of multiple bugs found Wednesday morning. The source said upon discovery, some were dead and some were alive.
Smith also claimed parents had been notified on Dec. 1 and again after a Jan. 11 sighting. Stout said this information is not true.
"The first time we were notified of anything was when they called parents in the middle of the day to come pick up the kids because of 'general maintenance,'" Stout said. "They never said anything about bed bugs."
Stout said she asked teachers what was going on and they told her it was routine maintenance. She said she thought the timing was odd.
"They usually schedule maintenance on days when the kids aren't there, not suddenly in the middle of the day," she added.
Stout said a few weeks later when picking up her granddaughter, whom she is raising, she spotted an insect crawling on the child's jacket in the hallway of the Karen Drive head start facility.
"I saw something crawling on her coat," Stout said. "It was alive. So I picked it off and kept it because I knew I'd need proof."
Stout said she called the SCMCAA office in Winona, and was told the bed bug issue had been dealt with.
"I said, 'You don't get rid of bed bugs that fast,'" Stout said. "It takes a long time and they're hard to kill."
Stout said after her phone call a typed note was sent home in the backpacks of students. The note, which she provided to the DAR, said, "We understand there is a rumor circulating that the Poplar Bluff Head Start -- Part Year Center has bed bugs. Please understand this rumor is completely false."
The letter, which was signed by Myra Martin, SCMCAA head start director, further stated that staff members had found "a couple bugs," which they assumed came from a child's backpack.
The note assures parents that there are no bed bugs at the Karen Drive facility. Attached to the letter are instructions titled, "Four Simple DIY Bed Bug Treatments."
Stout said the teachers have never spoken to her directly about the bed bug issue at the head start facility. An anonymous source said the reason teachers have remained silent is because officials from the Winona SCMCAA office threatened to fire them if they discussed the issue. Something Smith has denied.
The source also said Smith visited the Karen Drive facility on Wednesday and told staff members they misunderstood her instructions.
Smith did respond to the DAR's request for a statement regarding allegations of threats. She said after interviewing a teacher at random, those allegations were proven false.
"The teacher stated that under no circumstances did anyone tell them not to talk to parents or they would lose their job," Smith said. "(The teacher) said they were told if parents asked or called, they were free to tell them that a few bugs had been found but that the pest control company was coming -- or had come, she couldn't remember -- to investigate and do what was necessary."
The teacher, Smith said, said the staff was told that if they weren't comfortable discussing the issue, to refer the parent to a supervisor.
"But they were told to be mindful of the confidentiality of parents and not be making accusations or assumptions about where the insects may have come from," Smith said in the statement.
According to another source, who requested anonymity, a substitute bus driver recently reported to head start officials that he had found bed bugs in his home and requested the SCMCAA pay to have them removed.
It is unclear what transpired during the conversation, but according to the source, the bus driver was written off the schedule soon after and told the cut was made due to a lack of funding.
A follow up email sent to Smith on Wednesday requesting information about the bed bugs reportedly found earlier in the day, and asking why the notes sent home made the bed bug problem seem like a non-issue. Smith had not yet responded as of press time.
The SCMCAA is a not-for-profit organization serving the counties of Butler, Carter, Dent, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, and Wayne, aiming to assist low-income residents in their efforts to become self-sufficient. The Poplar Bluff Head Start facilities are not affiliated with Poplar Bluff R-1 schools.