Several Panther Valley parents say they have heard from their children that there are cockroaches inside the district's intermediate school.

But the greater concern, according to parents like Christina Wanamaker, is that the district has not reached out to them to notify them of the problem, and possible effects on their children's health."They tell us when there's lice, why wouldn't they tell us this," Wanamaker said. "They have an automated phone system."The bugs recently became a hot topic among posters on a social media group for Panther Valley parents. Several parents reported that their children have seen the bugs firsthand.Wanamaker said that her son first told her that he saw cockroaches in a science room on the second floor of the school last month.Parents have reported that their children have seen bugs more recently.Kelly Kilpatrick said that her son saw a cockroach in a bathroom Tuesday and flushed it down the toilet.District Superintendent Dennis Kergick said on Wednesday that school staff are actively monitoring and addressing the problem.Kergick, whose office is in the intermediate school, said that parents were not directly notified because the sightings have been sporadic, and he did not want to create a panic over a relatively small problem.He said that there have been some reports of cockroaches in the intermediate and high schools, which are located on the same campus in Summit Hill.However he said the last confirmed sighting of a cockroach was on Oct. 29.Kergick said that concerned parents should have faith that the school's maintenance staff is working on the problem.Though he added that an outside contractor is now coming in to look at the problem."The safety and security of our students is always the utmost concern of the administration and board of the Panther Valley School District," he said. "There have been some reports of insects being seen in some of our buildings."Kergick said that he believes that the bug problem may have something to do with the recent addition built onto the high school, and possibly even the oil spill that occurred at the intermediate school this summer.Kergick said that he plans to notify parents of the problem and what the district is doing to handle it.Wanamaker is still concerned.She kept her son out of school Wednesday after hearing Kilpatrick's report of another bug in the school. And she's concerned that the sporadic sightings may be a sign of a larger problem."Just because they're not seeing them, doesn't mean that they're not there. They typically don't come out during the day. And if they do, it means they're infested," she said.