PESTICIDES
Pests and pesticides in schools contribute to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) and present health hazards for school occupants. Pests (roaches, mice, rats and others) can spread diseases and trigger allergic reactions and asthma. Pesticides are made to be toxic and have been linked to asthma, cancer, nervous and immune system damage, liver or kidney damage, reproductive impairment, birth defects and damage to the endocrine system. Lawn chemicals used on school playing fields have been shown to impact development and lead to behavioral disorders. Outdoor pesticides become IAQ problems when they are tracked indoors and get embedded in carpets and when they drift indoors and into ventilation systems during application.
Exposure to pesticides poses a serious risk to children for a number of reasons. Children’s organ systems are still developing. Pesticide vapors, fumes or dusts may be inhaled or come in contact with eye tissue. Residues from chemicals can come into contact with skin and either burn skin tissue or get absorbed through the skin and be carried to body organs. Many of their behaviors expose children to threats from toxic chemicals. They often play on the floor or ground and come in contact with chemical residues. They then either put their hands in their mouth or don’t wash hands before eating and accidentally eat chemicals through hand-to-mouth contact.
An alternative to the use of traditional pesticides in schools is the adoption of an integrated pest management (IPM) program. IPM is defined to be the use of all available pest control techniques, including judicious use of pesticides, when warranted, to maintain a pest population at or below an acceptable level while decreasing the unnecessary use of pesticides. IPM emphasizes pest prevention by identifying and eliminating conditions conducive to pests. Multiple tactics are used, not just pesticides.
Preference is given to non-chemical tactics, but if necessary, the least risky products are used. IPM relies on an understanding of pest biology, such as their life cycle and food preferences. Tactics are used which eliminate food, water and places where pests can hide and breed.
Classroom clutter is a general cleanliness problem, a pest problem and a health concern. Clutter contributes to the accumulation of dust and gives pests, such as insects, cockroaches and rodents, a place to hide and breed. By reducing clutter, schools can help to keep pests, allergens and dust at a minimum. This will improve the indoor air quality for all students and staff, especially those who have asthma.
When clutter is reduced, there is increased access to floor spaces, countertops, window sills and shelves. This makes it easier for custodial staff to sweep, mop, vacuum and dust and creates a healthier learning environment. De-cluttering the inside of cupboards and closets eliminates hiding places for pests and reduces allergens.
Summary Of CT LAW Dealing With Pesticides In School Buildings & On School Grounds
(CT General Statutes Section Nos. 10-231, 19a-79a, 22a-59a, 22a-61b, 22a-63 and 22a-66l)
· Requires that only licensed applicators can apply pesticides within any building or on the grounds of a public school, other than a regional vocational agriculture center, except in emergencies
· Bans application of pesticides during school hours or planned events, except in emergencies.
· Bans restricted pesticides, even in emergencies.
· Bars children from reentering an area where pesticide was used until it is safe according to the specifications on the pesticide label
· Requires school boards to provide parents, guardians and staff with a written statement at the beginning of the school year of the board's policy on pesticide application on school property and a description of any pesticide applications made at the school during the previous school year. (During the year for transfer students)
· Provides a registry at the school for parents, guardians and staff to sign up on who want to be notified before pesticides are sprayed
· Requires schools to maintain pesticide application records on site for five years
· Bans the use of lawn-care pesticides on the grounds of public and private schools with grades K-8, except in emergencies
· Exempts athletic fields of schools with grades K-8 until July 1, 2009. Until then, these fields must be maintained by using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods. At the end of the two year period these athletic fields must become organic as well.
· Makes the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) responsible for administering and enforcing school pesticide applications
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Question: What are some basic integrated pest management techniques to reduce the number of pests in my school?
Answer: The most important part of IPM is prevention: keeping pests out in the first place, eliminating food and water sources and cleaning out places where pests can hide and breed... Close pest entryways by having screens on windows and plugging holes and cracks in walls. Fix leaks, remove water damaged materials and clean up food sources.
Clean lockers and desks on a regular schedule and eliminate clutter.
RELATED LINKS
EPA website section on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in schools:
American Lung Association website section on Pesticides:
http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=35384
Beyond Pesticides website section on Children and Schools:
www.beyondpesticides.org/schools/indes.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website section on Rodent Control:
Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Ct website section on Pesticides:
http://safehealthyct.org/pesticides49.html
Environment and Human Health, Inc. website section on Pesticides:
EPA IAQ website section on Pesticides:
EPA Tools for Schools Kit Appendix K – Integrated Pest management:
www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/tfs/kit/guidek.html
EPA Tools for Schools Kit Integrated Pest Management Checklist:
www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/pdfs/kit/checklists/ipmcklst.pdf
EPA Tools for Schools Kit Background Information for Integrated Pest Management Checklist:
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/pdfs/kit/checklists/ipmcklstbkgd.pdf
New England Asthma Regional Council website section on Integrated Pest Management:
www.asthmaregionalcouncil.org/about/IPM.html
Pest Press Issue on Clutter Control:
Reducing Pest Problems in Schools by Reducing Clutter Fact Sheet:
The ChildSafe School Resources on Pesticides:
www.grassrootsinfo.org/cssresources.html
HOW do you de-clutter a school?
Kitchen staff
- Do not use corrugated cardboard for long term storage. German cockroaches are actually brought inside our schools hiding in the corrugations. They actually feed on the glue starch that holds the boxes together.
Rotate out all corrugated cardboard if possible.
- Keep pantry shelving free of needless debris. Emptied supply boxes should be broken down and recycled rapidly.
Clutter is also a problem around and in drains: debris blocking and clogging up drains can not only lead to maintenance issues, but drain flies love to breed in the scum that accumulates around the edges (and bleach won’t help!). Make sure all drains have covers, especially sink drains. There are heavy duty metal sink-drain baskets that can be dish washed.
Custodians
Though you are the sanitarians of your schools, in general you are not responsible for decluttering areas other than your own. Custodians can set a great precedent by maintaining well organized custodial closets.
Hang brooms and mops (head end up) on a wall rack; brooms & mops are pest havens as they contain food, moisture, and a protected area in which to feed & breed. Keep these items hung up
Get good shelving! Too often, custodians have no shelving or organizational features in their closets. However, this is a “pest vulnerable area” and without organization it can lead to a rapid decline toward bugs, dirt and filth. Shelves should be wire (not wood), with the bottom shelf a minimum of 6” off the ground to allow for cleaning under. Use the IPM/IAQ program you are part of as leverage for good quality shelving that will get your school on the right track.
Custodians: make sure your closets are not reservoirs for cans of illicit pesticide sprays, from classrooms or elsewhere.
It’s a fact that we may not want to hear, but clutter does not inspire, it creates chaos …And of course nice nesting habitat for mice which often follow. No true clutter connoisseur lives or works alone! A cluttered workspace, be it a classroom or kitchen, creates barriers to efficiency and an environment in which many (including students) may feel stressed with the informational and visual overload. Clutter also contributes to the accumulation of dust and provides harborage for insects, such as cockroaches. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, insect allergens (which often come from insect feces and dead insects) along with dust mites account for two out of the six most common indoor asthma triggers. In this way, clutter is more than a stress-inducer – it can also be a health concern. Asthma accounts for more than 14 million missed school days each year and is the leading cause of hospital visits among children. Approximately one out of every 13 school-aged kids has asthma, which means your school probably has at least one in each class. Keeping insect allergens and dust at a minimum will improve the indoor air quality for all students and staff, especially those who are asthmatic.
When your health and that of a child are tied to clutter issues, de-cluttering becomes more than a suggestion. It becomes a necessity.
De-cluttering has the immediate effect of eliminating pest harborage. When clutter is reduced, there is increased access to floor spaces, allowing for more thorough cleaning by custodial staff. The same is true for shelves and inside cupboards. When there are nooks and crannies – created by “stuff” – for pests to hide and breed among, there will be allergens and lots of bugs. Clutter control also helps improve overall school hygiene. It’s easier for custodial staff to sweep, mop, and dust when things are generally organized. Minimizing clutter also helps teachers stay organized. It’s much easier to keep your room tidy when your cupboards and bookshelves are not overflowing with stuff!Remember:
Clutter control reduces pest harborage, improves sanitation, and ultimately improves the quality of indoor air that staff and students breathe each day.
Information sources:
1. Arizona Asthma Coalition. Website: www.azasthma.org
2. Beyond Pesticides. School Pesticide Monitor. March/April 2004.
3. Salam, Muhammad Towhid, Yu-Fen Li, Bryan Langholz, and Frank Davis
Gilliland. May 2004. Early Life Environmental Risk Factors for Asthma:
findings from the Children’s Health Study. Environmental Health
Perspectives. 112: 760-765.
4. USEPA Indoor Air – IAQ Tools for Schools. Website:
www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/images
Few bugs are bad! More than 95% of all insect species are beneficial to humans
TeachersAs the educators in your school, you have a great opportunity to set an example for students and staff. Get the kids to help out with the following suggestions, too!
Art supplies – Cockroaches dine on glue, and crickets, termites, booklice and silverfish (among others) will readily consume paper. One guess as to what they do with macaroni noodles and rice! Keep glue containers clean and capped. Store art supplies in plastic pest-proof containers, such as Tupperware or Rubbermaid, with tight-fitting lids.
Storage closets – have you ever seen a well organized teacher’s closet? We have and generally they belong to the best of the best teachers we know. We appreciate that it’s tough for teachers to create projects and educate on a budget; of course you want to keep all that stuff! But ask yourself one question: have you used it in the last 2 years? If the answer is no, then toss (or recycle) it. This goes for the rest of your classroom, too. No cheating by stuffing storage bins full of things you plan to get to “one day”. Benefit from the extra space and let the clutter go.
For everything that’s left, organize it and store it in plastic tubs with tight-fitting lids. No boxes – you’re importing cockroaches AND feeding them when you use corrugated cardboard!
End-of-week 15 minute desk clean off. Think “file not pile”. Documents go in one of 3 places: the file cabinet, recycle bin, or trash. Have students do this with their desks as well! Not all clutter is trash; it’s up to each of us to decide what is worth keeping and store it properly. Maintaining an uncluttered and organized classroom sets the tone for an organized day. Reducing classroom clutter helps custodial staff do their job more effectively, too!
Lost & found
Principals - make sure there is a designated person responsible for maintaining this area. Pest inspections almost always reveal a neglected lost & found area, with clothes lying on the floor in heaps. This is wonderful pest harborage, and you can expect to find cockroaches, mice, ants and crickets.For more information on the IPM in Schools
Contact Dawn Gouge or Jennifer Snyder
520-568-2273, dhgouge@ag.arizona.edu
Reducing Pest Problems in Schools by Reducing Clutter
Pests and Clutter
Schools and day care centers by their nature are prone to accumulating clutter. Boxes, papers, posters, books, and a myriad of items must be utilized by teachers to create effective learning. Effective use of multiple materials for learning is to be applauded, not discouraged. However, if these materials are not managed carefully on a daily basis, and are allowed to accumulate over time within classrooms and storage areas, a condition of clutter will result which can create pest issues. Stored materials that are left undisturbed for long periods of time are of particular concern. Clutter and pest problems go hand in hand.
Consider the following consequences of clutter:
Pests gravitate towards cluttered areas because clutter enables pests to hide and reproduce undisturbed from predators and people.
Some cockroaches, ants, and silverfish prefer the various types of crevices layered clutter (e.g., stacks of paper) provide.
Clutter can be dangerous. The brown recluse spider (Loxosceles reclusa) prefers to hide among layered papers and within forgotten boxes of cluttered corners, and similar areas. Brown recluse spiders and other pests have bitten children and teachers reaching into clutter piles to retrieve papers or other items.
Rodents also take advantage of clutter. It is not uncommon for 2-3 families of mice (15-20 mice) to share the base of one cardboard box in a classroom's cluttered closet Pest control efforts are impossible in cluttered areas. Should mice, spiders, cockroaches, etc., be embedded among boxes, paper piles, and junk, there is very little a pest management professional can do to eliminate the pests. There are no magic sprays, bug bombs, or mouse baits that will penetrate cluttered closets or rooms and eliminate hiding pests.
Custodial cleaning efforts are diluted or impossible in cluttered classrooms.
Clutter Management Recommendations
1. Reducing clutter makes you feel good
Reducing clutter has psychological benefits. Facing clutter each time you enter a classroom, an office, look upon a cluttered desktop, or open a cluttered closet can be psychologically burdensome. Clutter presents feelings of being overwhelmed by work before you even start to work. Facing an organized area on the other hand helps to promote quick work starts, and facilitates efficient use of work time. And once an area is organized, it is easier to keep it this way.
2. Reduce clutter in bite-size pieces
Sometimes, the clutter is so overwhelming, we realize it will take hours and hours of work to organize, and thus we procrastinate starting. We tend to think in terms of "when things slow down, I'll clean up this mess". But in these busy times, "cleanup days" have become rare events indeed. It is far more realistic to allocate 30 minutes 3-4 days each week, and reduce the clutter in bits and pieces. After a just a week or two, cluttered areas will amazingly look organized again.
3. Utilize modern storage boxes
For items that must remain in storage in the classroom or office, modern plastic see-thru boxes exist in nearly every size, shape and color for storage needs. Utilize such boxes to eliminate clutter. Questionable and long term items can be stored in inexpensive banker's boxes in off-site storage rooms or areas until they are needed.
4. Allocate specific storage spaces
Teachers should allocate certain areas of the classroom for organized storage. Schools should allocate certain rooms for organized group storage rooms. In older schools, storage areas may be virtually nonexistent. However, pre-assembled, storage sheds of all sizes are now economically available, and can be installed on school grounds. During the planning stages of new schools enough extra space or storage buildings should be considered to foresee for future storage needs of the staff.
5. Organize a Clutter Reduction Effort
When clutter for the entire school or daycare center has become severe, clutter reduction teams should be organized. The fear of staff members of losing valuable items can be overcome by placing their items into banker boxes clearly marked with their names, the date, and contents.
6. Clutter Management Efforts Must Have Administrative Support
School principals and daycare managers should request from their custodial staff on a quarterly basis a list of those classrooms or areas where the clutter is inhibiting proper cleaning or pest management inspections. Reminder notes should then be sent to personnel, requesting their immediate cooperation. Brief stop-by visits two weeks later by the administrator is necessary to convey the message that clutter management is important.
7. Store items properly to prevent pest infestations
To discourage pest infestations into stored items and storage rooms, all boxes, should be stored off the floor by a minimum of 8 inches and preferably 12 inches. This space will allow for necessary access by brooms and mops. This space will also discourage any insects and rodents from hiding beneath the first shelf. It is important to avoid using storage shelves that enclose the bottom shelf close to the floor. It is common for school maintenance shops to assemble such storage shelves using 2x4 stud lumber and plywood, and beginning the first shelf with the 4-inch side of the stud. With these types of shelves, the bottom shelf is enclosed and basically creates a pest cave in which mice and insects will hide and thrive. In situations where boxes or other items are placed directly on the floor, an empty space of about 12- 16 inches between the boxes and the walls is necessary. This storage-free zone also allows for inspection, cleaning, and the application of pest monitors and pest traps if needed.
8. Be considerate of custodians
Building custodians, just like teachers, administrators, kitchen staff, and the parents, have a vital role to play in maintaining the overall quality and health of our schools. Please don't make the custodian's job more difficult by rendering your own work area hard to clean due to an abundance of clutter. Remember: In School or daycare center IPM programs it is the responsibility of everyone to work together to reduce both pests and pesticide threats to our students (and to ourselves).
Adapted from: Corrigan, R.M. 2001 Bugs and Clutterbugs: Reducing Pest Problems in Schools by Reducing
Clutter. Pest Control Magazine. 2001. Robert M. Corrigan, Ph.D, is an Urban IPM Specialist with RMC Pest
Management Consulting, Richmond, IN.