OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Officials with the Oakland Unified School District on Wednesday announced the temporary closure of two elementary schools due to a planned cleaning to eradicate a flea infestation.
Oakland Unified officials issued a press release that said the schools — Esperanza Elementary School and Korematsu Discovery Academy, which are both located at 10315 E Street in Oakland — will be closed to students and staff on Thursday and Friday for cleaning to eradicate the flea problem.
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The issue first came up in mid-September. Since then, the OUSD has been working with exterminators to eliminate the fleas, but the problem has persisted.
“The schools, which have a park on one side and wooded area on another, have seen issues with raccoons, which experts who were brought in by the District believe may have led to the flea problem.” the statement on the closure read.
School district officials noted that they would not ordinarily shut down a school campus for cleaning, but said the temporary closure will “prevent fleas from spreading throughout the entire campus and…give treatments applied over the last two weeks more time to take effect.”
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Crews will additionally do deeper cleaning of all classrooms and common areas, including the removal of all carpets where fleas have been living and laid their eggs.
Students are being offered short term independent study and have work assigned. Teachers will also be encouraged to work with their classes virtually.
Eradication efforts could take up to a month or even a month and a half to be completed, so exterminators said the flea may not be entirely resolved after the two-day closure. But the efforts should lead to a noticeable improvement for students and staff when they return on Monday, Oct. 4.
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“We never want to close down a school, especially after the last year and a half we all experienced with COVID-19, but this is necessary to keep the school facilities safe for the Esperanza and Korematsu communities,” said OUSD Chief Systems and Services Officer Preston Thomas in the release. “We recognize the disruption this will cause and we apologize for it. But student and staff health and safety always come first.”