Introduction to IPM for Texas SchoolsMike Merchant and Janet HurleyTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Dallas

Some school IPM history

1981 Chillicothe ISD Head louse

outbreak Parents applied ag

chemicals to school School closed for

over 4 weeks by State Health department

History of School IPM regulation in Texas

1991 School IPM legislation introduced (HB 2751), attached to final appropriations bill

1995 Enforcement begins under Structural Pest Control Board

2007 SPCB dissolved enforcement taken over by TDA

TDA updated school IPM rules based on Sunset Recommendations

2018 TDA updates rules through a new Subchapter under structural pest control service

Currently TDA inspects about 250 – 280 schools each fiscal year

What is Integrated Pest Management (IPM)?

Environmentally sensitive and

human health-centered pest

control

Science-based, best

management practices for

pests

A process that minimizes risks • risks of pests • risks related to

pesticides• Liability risks

A team effort!

IPM is a strategy based on multiple control tactics to ensure that:

• Pest populations are managed at acceptable levels

• Risks to people, other non-target organisms, and the environment are minimized

• Pest control is practical and economical

Questions we ask in IPM programs:• What are the pests?

• Why are they occurring?

• How did they get in?

• Where do they live?

• How can we make our school less pest-friendly?

Why IPM is a good idea

• Reduces complaints/work order requests for pest problems

• Long term costs equal or less than conventional pest control

• It’s the right thing to do for the health of our children and school staff

• Usually reduces pesticide use

• More effective at reducing allergens and pest-carried disease

Health, Environmental and Economic Risks of Pests and Pesticides in Schools and How IPM Reduces Risk

Pests and poor pest management practices in schools causes:• Health risks • Environmental risks• Economic risks

Pests can contaminate food causing food poisoning and upset stomachs

Physical harm

Exposure to some pest allergens can trigger asthma

Health, Environmental and Economic Risks of Pests and

Pesticides in Schools How IPM Reduces Risk

• Asthma affects about 9.5% of school children nationally and directly affects studentachievement

• US EPA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend IPM in schools to reduce asthma problems

• Asthma is the number one reason students miss school

How IPM Helps Your School Campuses • Pest related asthma triggers include allergens

associated with:• Cockroaches• Rodents• Dust mites• Molds and mildew• Pollen

• Pesticides may act as sensitizers or irritants that can make airways more sensitive to allergens

• IPM minimizes risks from pests and pesticides

Economic benefits of IPM• Pests can also cause building and grounds

damage• Costs can add up significantly if the cause of

problems goes unfixed

• Litigation and school closures can be extremely costly

* Rodents estimated to be responsible for up to 25% of all building fires of undetermined origin.

Squirrel caused power outage (Frisco ISD)*

A clinical fable

Key Elements of an IPM Program

• Identification

• Inspection and monitoring

• Thresholds to guide response

• Reporting

• Sanitation and waste management

• Maintenance and pest-proofing

• Selecting management methods and products

• Education and communication

• Evaluation

• Rules, regulations and policy

Key Elements of IPM -Identification

• Pest identification allows us to answer the other key questions:

• What is it?• Where does it live?• How did it get here?• Why is it here?• What treatments are

most effective?Odorous house ants live both indoors and out

Key Elements of IPM – Inspect, Monitor, Measure• Why inspect?

• To detect pest problems as early as possible

• To address pest conducive conditions before problems occur, especially in pest vulnerable areas (PVA’s) like kitchens, and food service areas

Fire ant mound located outside school kitchen

Key Elements of IPM –Inspect, Monitor, Measure• Inspection involves regular observation and recording of:

• The physical condition of buildings and grounds• Assessment of pest conducive conditions including

sanitation and exclusion• Detection of pest damage and pest signs• Detection of unsanctioned pest control attempts including

pesticides from home

What is an IPM inspection?

• Looks for signs of pests• Looks for critical things pests need

(conducive conditions)

• Includes a report!• Perhaps the most important part of an

IPM service call

Food

HarborageWaterTemperature

Key Elements of IPM –Conducive Conditions

• Trees and shrubs should NOT be planted against buildings, as they may provide pest harborage or easy entry

• Plants near to buildings should be pruned away from buildings to maintain three feet of clearance to allow easy inspection

• 12-18 inch vegetation-free perimeter around building foundations is ideal

Key Elements of IPM – Conducive Conditions

Cockroaches live in and feed on cardboard boxes When practical, discard boxes, date and store supplies so oldest used first

Problematic Preferred

Key Elements of IPM –Inspect, Monitor, Measure

• Why Monitor? • Allows 24/7 assessment

of pest activity • Determines pest

population levels and distribution

• Measures progress of pest control

American cockroaches on sticky card from kitchen storage

Key Elements of IPM – Inspect, Monitor, Measure Inspections provide qualitative

assessment (are pests present? and where?)

Monitoring traps allow objective measuring of the problem (how many?)

Key Elements of IPM –Inspect, Monitor, Measure• Action thresholds:

• Thresholds are boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable pest levels

• Establish pest specific tolerance levels for particular pests in specific locations

• e.g., 1 German cockroach in a kitchen is cause for further investigation and action

• The IPM coordinator and the Pest Management Professional will establish indoor and outdoor action thresholds

• TDA requires each district to have written thresholds for important insects, weeds.

No such thing as a threshold of zero…• Thresholds can be greater than or less than one

(e.g, average number of cockroaches per trap 1 cockroach in 100 traps=0.01)

• Different actions may be triggered by high, medium, low numbers of pests

• Having a threshold shows that you’ve thought through your IPM response

Brown banded cockroaches on glue board

Thresholds can be linked to specific responses

• (<1 German cockroach/trap) Level 1 Response

• Increase inspection frequency • Review monitoring devices • Conduct informal or formal

training with kitchen staff

• (1-15 German cockroaches/trap) Level 2 Responses

• Place cockroach bait close to monitoring device areas

• (> 15 German cockroaches/trap)Level 3 Response

• Apply dusts, aerosols, crack and crevice treatments

• Pull and deep-clean kitchen equipment

Thresholds can also vary by location

Red imported fire ant

Key Elements of IPM -Reporting• Pest sighting logs or work order systems can help

school staff report and respond to pest problems

• Systems allow methodical data tracing which is required

• Report:• Pests found• Signs of pests• Supportive conducive conditions• Pest entryways• Unsanctioned pest control attempts

Reporting - Sample Pest Sighting Log

Date/time

Location Pest # of Pests Person Reporting Sightings

Action Taken Date Action Completed/ Person

6/1/1310am

Classroom 102B ANTS Lots of ants Mrs. Smith, Teacher

Observed Odorous House Ants, removed food, sealed entryway and will monitor outdoors

6/2/13Burns, Maintenance

6/3/139pm

Kitchen pantry small cockroach

1 Ms. Brown, Kitchenmanager

Found German roach. Removedcardboard, placed monitoring traps to determine if cockroach came in with a delivery

6/5/13Jacobs, Contract PMP

6/5/137am

Admin office Big cockroach 2 Mr. Jones, Lead custodian

Observed American roaches. Replaced external doorway sweep and will monitor for activity

6/6/13Jones, Lead custodian

6/9/13 Outdoor athletics storage

Widow spider in webbing

1 adult Mr. Jones, Lead custodian

Vacuumed web, spider and egg sacs, sealed void associated with web

6/10/13Jones, Lead custodian

6/9/13 Booster club storage

Mouse 1 Ms. Frantic, Parent volunteer

Reduced clutter, improved sanitation levels, stopped volunteers propping door open during afterschool events

6/14/13Jones, Lead custodian

Key Elements of IPM -Reporting

• Recordkeeping is important because it allows:

• Accurate flow of information from one employee to another

• IPM Coordinators can identify trends in pest populations

• Documentation of problems and evaluation of solutions

• Protection for liability purposes

• Legal compliance – it’s the Law!

Key Elements of IPM – Sanitation and Waste Management

• Good sanitation and waste management practices critical components of pest prevention:

• Improving sanitation reduces pest access to food

• Our waste is often (usually) just as supportive for pestsas our food

Key Elements of IPM – Sanitation and Waste Management

• Clean-up food spills immediately (some pests only need minutes to find a resource)

• Restrict food and drinks to certain areas

• Seal stored food in airtight containers (odors attract foraging pests)

• Maintain clean dumpsters and keep surrounding areas free of debris

• Deep-clean pest-vulnerable areas in kitchens, cafeterias, food storage rooms

Key Elements of IPM –Maintenance and Pest proofing

• Prevent pest access to buildings by “pest-proofing” this includes preventing pests from the outside getting in, and preventing hitchhiking pests brought in by building occupants and in deliveries from spreading

• Seal cracks, crevices and holes around exterior wall penetrations

Key Elements of IPM Maintenance and Pest-proofing

• Effective door sweeps and seals can reduce pest entry up to 65%

• How many gaps can you see on this door?

Selecting pest management techniques and products

Pesticides

Biological

Physical/Mechanical

Cultural/Sanitation

Communication and Education

Key Elements of IPM –Education and Communication• IPM Coordinators provide leadership and serve as the main point

of contact regarding pest management in district facilities• A schoolboard-approved IPM Policy provides direction and

institutional memory

• IPM Plans keeps you organized• IPM training provides guidance to the community• Education most often over-looked IPM tactic

Key Elements of IPM – Cultural and Sanitation

• Garbage cans and exterior dumpsters should not be maintained too close to the school.

• It is recommended that dumpsters be at least 10 feet from the entryways and when possible 50 feet away.

• Shrubs and trees must be trimmed so they are not in contact to exterior walls or rooflines.

• Recommended distance from buildings is one (1) foot.

• Exterior lighting must be non-attractant. • Replace halogen bulbs with low-pressure

sodium vapor lights over entry areas. (This is extremely important to keep crickets down so that spiders do not follow)

Key Elements of IPM-Physical and Mechanical

• Lights

• Traps

• Screening

• Vacuuming

• Deep cleaning

Key Elements of IPM –Biological Control• Use of living organisms to control pests

• Examples:• Parasitic insects• Predators• Nematodes• Microbial scum digesters

Key Elements of IPM – Pesticides• Herbicides (weed control)

• Insecticides (insect control)

• Fungicides (fungus control)

• Rodenticides (rodent control)

Pesticide classification

• Any labeled pesticide can be used in a Texas public school

• Low-impact insecticides use is encouraged through GYR classification system

• Green pesticides can be used at discretion of applicator

• Signature approvals required for use of yellow and red pesticides

Key Elements of IPM - Evaluation

• Is your IPM program evaluated annually to determine what’s working and what ‘s not?

• Are pests persisting?

• Are there emerging issues?

• Are pest management methods and products the least hazardous and effective?

• Are there community communication challenges or education needs?

Policy, Plan and Program What it takes to keep your IPM program going to be successful

What is an IPM Policy?

• a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by a government, party, business, or individual

• For school IPM policies are set by the School Board

• CLB – Local & Legal

Pest Management Plans • Plans are detailed instructions on how key pests will

be managed• Monitoring plans and thresholds• Preferred treatment plan (tactics and

strategies)• http://schoolipm.tamu.edu/forms/pest-

management-plans/

Pest Management Plans • All plans should incorporate multiple control

tactics

• Chemical and non-chemical tactics• Biological controls• Cultural controls• Physical and mechanical controls

• Pesticides• Low risk preferred over higher risk

• Preventative tactics

Integrated control plans available online

• School IPM website• https://schoolipm.tamu.edu/

forms/pest-management-plans/

• IPM Action Plans for more than a dozen key pests

• Use as a temporary plan, modify for your own district

What is an IPM Program

A set of related measures or activities with a particular long-term aim.

The IPM program recognizes that maintenance of a safe, clean and healthful environment for students and staff is essential to learning.

The key components of School IPM are:

• Pest Identification, Prevention, Maps, Recordkeeping, Set Action Thresholds, Monitoring, Analyze and Choose Options, Notification, Implementation/Action, Evaluating, and Educating.

What pests need to be part of a school IPM program?

• All environmental pests• Insects

• cockroaches, ants, bees, flies, termites, etc.• Vertebrate pests

• rodents, birds, feral cats, bats, etc.• Weeds

• aquatic and turfgrass weeds• Not medical pests

• Head lice• Bacteria, scabies, ring worm

Old model

The “Bug” man

Responsibility

New Model: Your IPM Team

Team work is the most overlooked part of the IPM Program use your team to make your program successful. • IPM Coordinator

• Superintendent/school board• IPM Contractors• Principals

• School nurses• Staff• Teachers

• Students• Parents

Keys to success of school IPM in Texas

Mandatory licensing

and training

IPM coordinators and applicators

Focus on IPM not pesticide

restrictions

Monitoring, thresholds, recordkeeping, education,

using less hazardous pesticides when available

Extension Involvement

1.25 FTE positions dedicated to School IPM

Enforcement20% schools

inspected annually

Questions