Aerial photo of North Penn High School, center, with district transportation garage at top center, North Montco Technical Career Center at top left, and former WNPV Radio site at top right, as seen in NPTV video “NPHS – A Building By Community.”
Thousands of unwanted guests are no longer causing a buzz at North Penn High School.
District staff gave another update Friday about a bee swarm that caused the closure of several classrooms this week.
“The contractor determined that the hive and all of the bees died, and there is no longer any bee activity,” district spokeswoman Christine Liberaski said Friday.
“The contractor explained that there are potentially many causes for this to happen, including infiltration of other predators such as wasps, certain mites could harm the hive or even other bees not from the hive wanting the hive resources. The hive could also be harmed by chemicals. The exact cause in this case is not known,” she said.
On Aug.26, district staff announced that an estimated 10,000 bees had been found in one classroom, were removed by district staff, and that a beekeeping company was planning to come at the end of the week to remove the hive and queen bee from behind a wall.
On Aug. 27, the district said the affected classroom had no bees in the morning, but they had returned later that day, and the room would not be used until the situation was resolved, and that a total of three classrooms would be closed as a precaution as students returned to school Wednesday.
On Friday morning, Liberaski gave another update, saying the contractor had determined that the hive had died.
"As a result of the hive dying, the exterior brick was not removed and the hive was not extracted. To prevent further intrusion, the weep holes will be temporarily filled," she said.
"Part of the renovation of the high school includes the removal of the existing windows and surrounding brick. The extraction of the remaining hive materials can be dealt with at the time of demolition."
District administrators and school board members have discussed major renovations of the high school at length in recent years, and have said they plan to finalize designs and bid out part of the renovations this winter, with the start of some work possible as soon as next summer.
North Penn's school board next meets at 7 p.m. on Sept. 10 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 7 p.m. on Sept. 30; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.
