Implementing Integrated Pest Management Practices in Missouri Schools

Project Coordinator:

Ms. Judy Grundler
Missouri Department of Agriculture
Plant Industries Division
Integrated Pest Management Bureau
PO Box 630
Jefferson City, MO 65102
573-526-0837
573-751-0005 (fax)
judy.grundler@mda.mo.gov

Project Co-Coordinator:

Dr. Russell Thompson, Associate Director
Missouri Center for Safe Schools
5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499

Executive Summary

Pests and pesticide use in schools can result in unhealthy indoor and outdoor environments, especially among sensitive populations such as children. Integrated pest management (IPM) is a strategy that focuses on long-term prevention or suppression of pest problems through a combination of practices such as regular pest population monitoring, site and pest inspections, an evaluation of the need for pest control, occupant education, and structural, mechanical, cultural, and biological controls.

This grant will support the development and initial implementation of a school integrated pest management (IPM) program in Missouri. The major components of the project are:

Establishment of the Missouri School IPM Workgroup.
Development by the IPM Workgroup a survey instrument for measuring the current stat us of school IPM awareness and implementation.
Develop promotional materials as appropriate, including example school procedures, a joint letter from the Missouri Commissioner of Education and the Director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture encouraging implementation by school districts, and a website with information and contact information.
Prepare and conduct training for the safety coordinators and the business officers for each of the school districts on IPM.
Identify four (4) pilot school districts: one inner city (Kansas City or St. Louis), one suburban, one large town, and one rural for future pilot program.

Objectives

Our objective is to assist our state in establishing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices in Missouri schools that will enhance indoor and outdoor environment quality for children by reducing pesticide use and pests in and around schools. This project aims to build the capacity of school district personnel to recognize, manage, and prevent pests and pesticide related health risks by us ing IPM rationale and methods. This will enhance environmental quality the schools with the reduction of pests and pesticide use and will ultimately benefit the health of Missouri's children. This project will be working with partners across the educational sector of Missouri. The Missouri Department of Agriculture and Missouri Center for Safe Schools will provide organizational support for the project. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be able to emphasize the importance of IPM as a component of the school safety program through communications with superintendents, safety coordinators, and bus iness officers, and as part of the periodic accreditation process. Specific objectives include:

Establish a State IPM Workgroup to provide direction for implementing IPM practices in Missouri Schools.
Development by the IPM Workgroup of a survey instrument for measuring the current status of school IPM awareness and implementation.
Conduct IPM training for district safety coordinators and school business officers in all Missouri school districts.
Develop plan for pilot project of IPM programs for four (4) pilot school districts: one inner city (Kansas City or St. Louis), one suburban, one large town, and one rural.

Justification

Representatives from Missouri recently participated with the EPA sponsored IPM in Schools Workshop organized in Ames, Iowa. During this workshop Missouri participants received an abundant amount of resources from states that currently implement IPM program in schools. We will organize available resources to implement an IPM in schools program in Missouri which will utilize the current organizational structure to disseminate the resources, first through schools districts then into individual schools.

Missouri will work with a team approach in involving all the stakeholders in a. (sic). The will assist in the development of the survey and instructional information us ed in the training sessions. Involvement by key individuals within the state educational organization will assist in developing a survey that collects relevant information and getting the appropriate people to attend the subsequent training sessions. Involving all the stakeholders will also assist with buy-in by the schools districts in the state.
Missouri is home to 524 school districts that typically contract structural pest control to commercial pest control applicators, while handling most landscape pest management on an in-ho us e basis. However, this information was last measured in the late' 80s by the Pesticide Bureau with the Missouri Department of Agriculture. A phone survey was conducted us ing ten percent of the districts (Lea, 2004). There is a need to see what if any IPM practices are currently being utilized in the state prior to development of the instructional training sessions.
Training sessions for the district safety coordinators and school business officers are the necessary first step in school IPM implementation throughout Missouri. They are the school district leaders responsible for overseeing the safety of school operations and the contracting of services. It will be very important that this group has the knowledge of IPM practices and the ability to pursue contracts with IPM oriented control measures. The trainers of this group will be able to assess the IPM needs throughout the state and prepare strategies for getting through roadblocks to implementation. The trainers of this group will continue to be a resource for those responsible for school district implementation.
The final component of this proposal will be using the information received from this project to develop a plan for a future pilot program. This pilot will be designed using four school districts: one inner city ( Kansas City or St. Louis ), one suburban, one large town, and one rural. The selection of these districts will be based upon information obtained through the other objectives. The pilot program plan will be designed to look at the IPM implementation and needs within each type (urban, suburban and rural) of district.

Overall Summary

On a national level pesticide exposure risks to children is gaining attention while being documented by government agencies. (National Research Council 1993, Woodruff et. al. 2000) In 1999, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO 1999) reported that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) regulates the us of pesticides in the United States, but there are no specific provisions in the law about the use of pesticides in schools. The GAO also responded with Poison Control Center data from 1993 to 1996 showing approximately 2,300 persons were exposed to pesticides while in a school environment (GAO 1999). It is noted in this GAO report that some cases are not reported and some cases are not added into the national database, leading one to conclude that this is an under-reported figure. The GAO identifies Missouri as a state without any specific requirements or laws pertaining to pesticide use in schools (GAO 1999). Missouri has not yet had a statewide effort to implement IPM in schools (Lea, 2004).

Pests and pesticide use in schools can result in unhealthy indoor and outdoor environments, especially among children. The risk of harm from exposure to pesticides is considered higher for children than for adults exposed at the same levels (National Research Council 1993). IPM is a strategy that focuses on long-term prevention or suppression of pest problems through a combination of practices such as regular pest population monitoring, site and pest inspections, an evaluation of the need for pest control, occupant education, and structural, mechanical, cultural, and biological controls programs. IPM programs in schools can safeguard human health and the environment by reducing or eliminating pesticide applications on school property (Boise and Feeney, 1998). Techniques can include such methods as sanitation, pest-proofing waste disposal, structural maintenance, improving soil health, and other non-chemical tactics

Approach and Outcomes

Establish a State School IPM Workgroup that will include representatives from state agencies and organizations that will evaluate needs of stakeholders. The workgroup will be made up of 20 representatives from MO Department of Agriculture, MO Center for Safe Schools, MO Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, MO Dept of Health and Senior Services, Missouri Pest Control Association, MO Parent Teachers Association, School administrators and Teacher Organizations (MO State Teacher Association, MO National Education Association). The IPM Workgroup will provide input in development of the survey and training objectives.
Survey school district safety coordinators to assess current use level of IPM practices and query districts on interest in a pilot program to implement IPM practices.
Develop promotional materials as appropriate, including example school procedures, a joint letter from the Missouri Commissioner of Education and the Director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture encouraging implementation by school districts, and a website with information and contact information.
Prepare and conduct IPM training for district safety coordinators and school b us iness officers in each of the Missouri school districts.
Develop follow-up survey of training participants to assess implementation and address and needs or assistance that they may have in implementation of IPM in their school districts.
Develop pilot program for looking at IPM implementation for four (4) pilot school districts: one inner city (Kansas City or St. Louis ), one suburban, one large town, and one rural. The pilot program plan will be designed to document their efforts and the impact on safety, health, and finances.

Impact Assessment

This proposed project meets the Pesticide Environment Stewardship Program (PESP) goal to address specific pesticide risk reduction by evaluating and initiating IPM implementation in Missouri schools.

Results will be measured through feedback from State IPM Workgroup members and they provide input for the development survey and interpretation of survey results.
Results from the survey will provide an assessment of IPM implementation in Missouri schools and areas that challenge implementation.
The survey results will also be used in providing information resources to the district personnel during the training sessions.
Training sessions will be evaluated for the IPM information provided.
A follow up survey will be conducted with the participants of the training sessions, which provide a measurement of implementation based upon the training sessions and success rate of implementation across the state.
The results from these measures will also be utilized in development and design of a pilot program to study IPM implementation and effects upon four different school districts in the state.

The anticipated assessment from this proposal will be increased adoption of IPM practices in Missouri schools, which is consistent with the PESP purpose of reduction of risks associated with changes in pesticide use.

Literature Cited

Boise P, Feeney K. 1998. Reducing pesticides in schools: How two elementary schools control common pests using integrated pest management strategies. Community Environmental Council, Organic Consulting Services report, 49 pages.

GAO 1999. Pesticides: Use, effects, and alternatives to pesticides in schools. U.S. General Accounting Office, GAO/RCED-00-17, 18 pages.

Lea, Jim. 2004. Plant Industries Division, Missouri Department of Agriculture, Personal communication.

National Research Council. 1993. Pesticides in the diets of infants and children. National Academy Press, Washington , DC.

Woodruff TJ, Axelrad DA, Kyle AD. 2000. America's children and the Environment: A first view of available measures. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 240-R-00-006, 87 pages.

Timetable

October to November 2004 - Formulate the state work group, meet with to outline stakeholders needs and receive input to develop survey.

December 2004 to January 2005 - Develop survey, meet with for input on survey.

January 2005 - Distribution of the initial survey.

February 2005 - Evaluate survey results

March 2005 - Meet with to present survey results, receive input on need for promotional material and website

April to May 2005 - Develop promotional material, website, and promotional letter from education and agriculture leaders

June 2005 - Meet with to present promotional material and website design

August 2005 - Distribute promotional material

August to October 2005 - Completion of regional training for district safety coordinators and make presentation at the Missouri Association of School B us iness Officers conference.

December 2005 to January 2006 - Identify four pilot school districts (one inner city, one suburban, one large town, one rural) develop pilot program for future use.

February 2006 - Develop follow-up survey for training participants

April 2006 - Evaluate survey results

May 2006 - Prepare final report

Major Participants

The applicants include partners from the IPM Bureau of the Missouri Department of Agriculture and Missouri Center for Safe Schools. Additional partners include Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, School IPM Program at Iowa State University, Pesticide Bureau of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, and the Missouri Pest Control Association. Each of these organizations would have a single person who is qualified either in IPM or educational information that is willing to participate and/or assist with the project.

The IPM Bureau of the Missouri Department of Agriculture currently oversees several projects which implement pest management practices. Judy Grundler has a master's degree in entomology with over twenty years of experience in the field. Her current responsibilities include regulatory management of the Missouri Organic Certification Program, Missouri Boll Weevil Eradication Program, and oversight of the grant funded Hypoxia Education and Stewardship Program, IPM in Greenho uses Program. Other projects have included cooperative biological control programs for the cereal leaf beetle and Japanese beetle in Missouri. The IPM Bureau has the experience needed to implement this program.

The Missouri Center for Safe Schools is funded by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to serve as a resource for all school districts in Missouri. The Center's purpose is to provide services throughout Missouri which foster the development and maintenance of safe schools where students can learn at optimal levels. Russell Thompson, Ph.D., is the Center's associate director, a position he has served in since the Center was established in 1995. Throughout that time he has been involved in training school safety coordinators and evaluating all aspects of school safety, including facilities and environmental safety. The Missouri Center for Safe Schools is located at the School of Education, University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Project Budget

Funding Request
Budget Category	Funding Requested	Matching Non-Federal Funds	Matching Federal Funds
First Year Funding	$30,000	0	0
Second Year Funding	$10,000	0	0
Total Funding	$40,000	0	0

Project Period: October 1, 2004 - May 30, 2006
Project Duration: 18 months