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Swarm of bees found in high school classrooms could lead to even bigger discovery

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Published  August 28, 2024 6:41pm EDT
News
FOX 29 Philadelphia

Inside the bee problem at North Penn High School

The buzz going around North Penn High School isn't gossip, but instead actual bees! The school says honey bees were found in two classrooms at the high school. Here's what's bee-ing done about it.

LANSDALE. Pa. - There’s quite the sticky situation at North Penn High School that people are buzzing about. 

The school district sent out the following statement:

"Monday, August 26th, before the start of the school year, honey bees were found in two classrooms at North Penn High School. It was determined that the honey bees entered exterior weep holes and built a hive in the cavity between the interior block wall and exterior brick of the building. The bees then found their way into the two classrooms through the ceiling."

"They get into all kinds of places up high, down low, everywhere from downtown Philadelphia to out in the suburbs like North Penn," said Craig MacCorkle, the owner and CEO of Liberty Bell Beekeepers. 

MacCorkle removes bees all over the region. One of his next tasks will be to get rid of the infestation at North Penn High School, which he paid a visit to on Tuesday.

"In this case there was probably maybe 2,000 bees inside the classroom," said MacCorkle.

The school district says initially the bees were removed, but they didn’t return to one of the classrooms which that class has been relocated to a different area of the building until the issue is resolved.

Additionally, two rooms on either side of the classroom where the bees have returned have been relocated as a precaution.

"The bees probably arrived in the springtime April, May, or end of June is when honeybees naturally swarm, that’s their reproductive behavior. They divide, multiply to the world. One of the teachers actually remembers the bees showing up one day and all the students were in quite a hustle because they had this whirlwind of bees outside the window," said MacCorkle.

Students showed us video of the bees during the spring near a window at the school, which MacCorkle says he’ll be up for the challenge of helping rid the school of their swarm. 

"We actually believe they are behind a beam. In this particular instance, we are going to have to cut open the brick, remove the brick, go inside, use a safe collection vacuum to gather the bees, remove all the comb and make it safe so, they can’t reinvest the location," said MacCorkle.

Liberty Bell Beekeepers will be at North Penn High School Friday to remove the bees, while the students are off for the long holiday weekend.