Back to News Releases

It Is Back-To-School Season, Keep IPM in Your Pest Management Toolkit!

(Sacramento) – As millions of California students head back to school, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) today announced an updated School and Child Care IPM website as part of its effort to help parents, teachers and staff successfully deal with pests at schools and child care centers. The website also provides support with compliance of the Healthy Schools Act.

The Healthy Schools Act, PDF (HSA) encourages schools and child-care centers to use effective, least-toxic pest management practices—also known as integrated pest management or IPM. When pesticides are used, schools and child-care centers must follow requirements of the Healthy Schools Act. The law applies to all public K–12 schools and public and private child-care centers, including those located at community colleges and universities. Private K-12 schools and family day-care homes are exempt.

“As students head back to school, we want to remind school officials that pests, like gophers, weeds, and cockroaches, are no match for a well thought out IPM approach,” said Lisa Estridge, DPR Manager, School and Childcare IPM program. “We have helped schools throughout California tackle pest problems using IPM. Bookmark the DPR website and reach out to us for pest management and Healthy Schools Act advice.”

To date, DPR has trained more than 850 California school districts on using IPM tools to treat pests at schools and child-care centers. The department has held more than 75 school IPM Workshops throughout the state, and three more will be held this coming school year.

The DPR School and Child Care IPM website includes:

• Healthy Schools Act Compliance Kit for Schools and Child Care Centers, PDF: According to the Healthy Schools Act, information about pesticide use at schools and child care centers must be provided to parents, teachers and staff via annual notification, warning signs, and recordkeeping. Compliance kits include templates for these requirements to make it easy for schools and child-care centers to follow the law.
• Online Healthy Schools Act Training: The Healthy Schools Act requires anyone using any pesticide at a school or child-care center to complete Healthy Schools Act training. The DPR School and Child Care Team created free, online courses to meet this requirement. Staff can choose which course best fits their role in pest management.
• Posters and Infographics: The DPR School and Child Care Team creates bilingual posters and infographics to share successful pest management tips to schools and child-care centers throughout California. Infographic topics include Alternatives to Herbicides for Weed Management, PDF, Outdoor Cockroaches Invading Indoor Spaces, PDF and Antimicrobial Pesticide vs. General Purpose Cleaner, PDF .

So, as children fill their backpacks with back-to-school supplies and teachers get their classrooms ready for the start of the school year, don’t forget to keep DPR in your IPM toolkit!  California School &ld Care IPM

###