You are here.
Revised School IPM Manual Available - February 2004
February 26, 2004
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Can a teacher use a can of "Raid" to eliminate ants in a classroom? What is considered a pesticide? Is every school in Pennsylvania required to have an IPM plan? Schools in Pennsylvania now have access to an updated manual that answers these questions and helps schools adopt an integrated pest management (IPM) plan.
IPM is a safe, economical and scientific, step-wise approach to pest management. IPM integrates knowledge of pest identity and biology with pest monitoring so that actions, if any, can be taken at just the right time. In addition, IPM uses a combination of management tactics such as biological, cultural, physical and chemical that is most likely to be safe and effective. All public schools in Pennsylvania are now required to have an IPM plan in place to manage pests in school buildings and on school grounds. The new legislation also prohibits pesticide applications when students will be present in the school building or on school grounds for seven hours, and will require schools to notify parents who request advance notification before applying pesticides in or around schools.
The Pennsylvania IPM Program (PA IPM) responded to the request of education school personnel and helped to develop the "Pennsylvania School IPM Manual".
"Although many quality materials on IPM for schools have been developed in other states and at the national level, PA IPM sought to design a manual specifically for Pennsylvania schools," says Ed Rajotte, IPM Coordinator at Penn State. With this in mind, appropriate materials from many sources were gathered and modified to meet Pennsylvania laws and regulations, conditions and pest problems.
The new edition of the manual contains sections on mosquito and tick IPM. More references have been added, and some content has been replaced with material that conforms to the new IPM legislation. The manual also includes chapters on suggestions for setting up an IPM program in schools and developing an IPM policy and a sample policy from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
Additionally, the manual contains a listing of commonly encountered pests in and around schools as well as information on the biology, identification and management of various types of pests such as ants, cockroaches, flies, fleas, head lice, silverfish, termites, and yellowjackets.
The goal of PA IPM and the various collaborators on the manual was to produce a user-friendly manual that would encourage schools to adopt an IPM program and to provide suggestions so that each school can decrease or manage pest problems.
Collaborators on the manual include Penn State College of Agriculture, Departments of Entomology and Agronomy; Pennsylvania Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Health; Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials; and the Pennsylvania Pest Management Association.
The manual is available for purchase through the Publications Distribution Center, Penn State University, 112 Agricultural Administration Bldg., University Park, PA. Call (877) 345-0691(toll free) to order by phone.
The PA IPM Program is collaboration between the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting IPM in both agricultural and nonagricultural situations. For more information, contact the program at (814) 865-2839, or web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu.