Hundreds skip school in Garden City over bed bugs fear

GARDEN CITY, Mich. (WJBK) - Some students at Garden City High School spent the day at home after reports of bed bugs spread through the halls.

The concern started on Monday when the school said they found one bed bug found on one student. According to Garden City Director of Student Services Rosemary Gross, they started cleaning.

"The administration had our cleaning crew do thorough a cleaning of the classroom and all the common areas in the school," Gross said.

Despite their efforts to scrub, it didn't stop the rumors from flying on social media. On Wednesday, a few hundred students stayed home from school.

That includes Kathy Wilson's granddaughter who said she was afraid she could get them.

"Oh my word, she didn't want to be here. She was afraid she was going to get them," Wilson said.

Meanwhile, at school, those in attendance were subjected to something else: lock down.

"They put us in lockdown in second hour, none of us knew...nobody would tell us anything. We had a student get called out of our class and the student came back down and [said] I need to get my clothes. [He said] two more students got found with bedbugs in our school," Senior Julian Martinez said.

Two students were brought down confidentially to a classroom and checked out. Authorities said they didn't find anything.

"There were no bed bugs, no bed bug bites, and no students were sent home," Gross said.

"They've told a couple parents that it's a senior prank - and I'm a senior - it was no prank," Martinez said.

FOX 2's Charlie Langton was told that the only way to tell if there are bedbugs in the school would be to get a bed bug sniffing dog. That's exactly what's about to happen.

"We will have a dog come out that will check the rooms," Gross said.

The school says it will do what it takes to get rid of bed bugs if there really is more than one found in the school.