Cockroach problem continues at Ukiah High School

Cockroaches, likely in search of cool damp refuge from the drought, have invaded Ukiah High School, giving students and their parents the willies.

The infestation is not what it once was when it began last school year, according to school and county health officials, who credited regular work by a pest control company with reducing the number of bugs on campus.

But some parents say it’s not enough and are threatening to keep their children home in protest Monday, the first day of the school year.

“My daughter came home from orientation on Monday (last week). She told me they’re still there,” albeit in fewer numbers, said Ukiah lawyer Macci Baldock, who said she was considering not sending her daughter to school Monday.

In the spring, the cockroaches were everywhere, both dead and alive, she said. A cell phone photo taken by her daughter in June shows about 40 dead cockroaches on a bathroom floor.

Interim County Public Health Director David Jensen said he first heard about the problem at the end of the last school year, when cockroaches were reported scurrying about the gymnasium during a graduation ceremony.

Cockroaches aren’t new to the school, but their out-of-control population growth is. It’s a problem that school and health officials suspect is caused by the drought.

Jim Moorhouse, the school’s director of maintenance and operations, believes the population has spiked in part because there hasn’t been enough rain to wash out storm drains where the cockroaches breed and through which they travel. Cockroaches use the pipes “like highways,” he said during an interview earlier this summer.

The drought also appears to have drawn a relatively new breed of roach into the school buildings in search of water. The cockroaches found at Ukiah High were largely a type that normally lives outdoors and is commonly used to feed pet reptiles, Moorhouse said.

“It’s all due to the drought,” he said.

Jensen, who has a degree in entomology, is skeptical that a significant number of cockroaches could be washed away by water flowing through storm drains. But he too thinks drought is a factor in the infestation and that the cockroaches - which are subject to drying out in the heat - are seeking a cooler, damper climate.

“They’re looking for a nice environment,” he said.

To help keep them out, the school has screened off floor drains in the kitchen and elsewhere on campus, in addition to treating the school with chemicals, using only ones that are least toxic to humans, Jensen said.

He said health inspectors on Friday reported that “things are significantly better” at the school.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.