Staff and students respond to increase in cockroaches

Upon returning to school this year staff noticed an increase in roaches, especially in the main office.

“Other years, I saw maybe one or two,” said Tyler Marshall, who is in his third year as a school aide. “This year I have seen quite a few, at least 10 or more,” he said.

Administration has tried to address the issue.

“We called the exterminator and he came but he is not allowed to use any sort of chemicals or sprays,” said Principal Meredith Inbal.

It’s true that in NYC schools some methods of pest control aren’t allowed. According to the New York State Department of Education (NYS DOE), “pesticides must only be used as a last resort, and if pesticides are needed, the least toxic pest specific alternative must always be selected.”

To comply with this policy, the NYC DOE allows exterminators and school staff to use glue traps.  Glue traps are small trays that you set out in areas where there might be roaches. They have a sticky adhesive and when roaches walk on them they get stuck and eventually die.

 “Glue traps aren’t the most effective way to get rid of cockroaches and most of the time they don’t even catch any roaches,” said Jose Colon, who has been the building fire person for about the last eight years.

Not only are glue traps not effective, but they are described by The Humane Society of the United States as “inhumane and dangerous” because they are a slow, torturous death for whatever living thing gets caught on them.

There are other ways to decrease the number of roaches in the building. The NYS DOE recommends using an Integrated Pest Management Plan (IPM), which “is a process for managing, preventing, and suppressing pests with minimal impact on human health, the environment, and non-target organisms.” IPMs include things like fixing leaks, emptying trash bins, eating in designated areas only and throwing out (in the compost bins) leftover food.

According to Colon, the increase in roaches in the building came when students returned to school after the pandemic.

“It’s when students started having lunch in their classrooms and the roaches came from the basement up,” said Colon. “Over the three to four years it has worsened.”

Some students have seen roaches, but haven’t noticed much of an increase within this year. 

“I think there is a roach problem and the school feels a little dirty,” said John Hopkins, a senior. “I haven’t seen any this year, but last year there were a couple of big roaches.”

When students do see them, they’re in bathrooms, the gym, hallways and sometimes on the ceilings. None reported seeing them in classrooms. However, several cockroaches have been spotted in the main office where there is often food left around.

“Most recently I saw one in the main office by the garbage cans,”  said Humanities teacher, Caroline Ward.

Marshall has also seen cockroaches in the main office.

“We were working on the computer at Ms. Ampuero’s desk. I was sitting at the desk and a roach, a baby roach, started crawling up the side of it,” Marshall said. “I ran. Yeah, I don’t like roaches.”

In addition, cockroaches can affect people’s health. According to the American Lung Association, they “can make asthma worse and cause allergic reactions in people who are sensitive.”

“This school is incredibly dirty and for some reason my asthma tends to get worse here than it does outside,” said junior, Jaden Davis.