Why Integrated Pest Management in Schools?
Pest management in schools must be designed to protect the health and safety of children and staff and minimize damage to structure and personal property. Public school facilities can achieve these goals by adopting and implementing an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy to manage pests in schools.
Schools need to control a number of problem pests in school buildings and school grounds to maintain a healthy and safe environment for children. The cockroach, a pest in many schools, sheds a protein that is associated with an increase in asthma among young people. Rats and mice, occupants of numerous school buildings, consume and contaminate stored food and, as an added bonus, carry a host of potential diseases. Yellowjackets, through their painful stings, present a life-threatening situation to certain individuals. Carpenter ants, termites, and wood boring beetles may weaken the structural integrity of school buildings. Weeds left to grow on running tracks can trip runners. Other landscape pests are managed for aesthetic reasons.
But how should these pests be managed? Conventional methods used by schools have recently come under question by concerned parents, teachers, certain school districts, and community activists. At the center of the concern is the potential harm of chemical pesticides. Chemical pesticides vary widely in chemistry and their potential toxicity. Pesticide use in schools can cause acute illness in children if they become over-exposed, either because the product was not used or stored properly. Examples of illness from pesticide use in school include asthmatic children reacting to the spray of an aerosol pesticide in their classroom, and teachers complaining of headache and nausea after returning to a school building that was not well-ventilated after an insecticide was applied inside. For more examples go to DOH school page. For immediate safety and long-term piece of mind, it is prudent to be cautious and minimize children's exposure to pesticides on school grounds. IPM is an approach to pest control that can help maintain a safe and healthy environment for students and reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. IPM emphasizes long-term prevention of pest problems through:
- good sanitation in kitchens and garbage areas
- physical barriers such as screens and caulk to keep pests out of buildings
- use of natural predators to control landscape pests
- selection of disease resistant landscaping, and
- baits or traps to take care of emerging problems.
If a chemical pesticide is deemed necessary to manage a pest outbreak, then the product with the least potential hazard should be used.
For a full discussion of IPM go to "What is IPM?".
The potential hazard of pesticides can be further reduced when:
- they are applied by trained and licensed persons reading and scrupulously following the label directions
- they are not applied when children are present
- they are applied to areas where children can not access them (e.g. wall voids)
- products are formulated in baits and gels and do not contain solvent carriers or become volatile
- treated areas are posted and access to the area restricted until ventilation or drying is complete
For model school policies and programs go to Adopting a School IPM Program
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