School IPM Coordinator Training

Kids deserve a safe place to learn and grow. But bullies and drugs aren’t the only threats to a safe school. Pest control is an important, but often overlooked, part of school safety. Besides insects, weeds, and rodents, pesticides used to control them are potentially hazardous to kids. To protect children, the Texas Legislature passed a law in the early 1990’s requiring that integrated pest management, IPM, practices be used to manage pests in and around school facilities.

Both the National Research Council and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have since endorsed the IPM approach for schools because it can deliver superior pest control with less risk of pesticide exposure to children. Each school board in Texas must adopt an IPM policy that follows all legal requirements for pesticide use. The schools must make their policy available for the public to review. Importantly, each district must designate an IPM Coordinator who ensures compliance with the IPM policy. In turn the state law requires that these school IPM coordinators receive training within six months of appointment and obtain six hours of CEU training every three years. AgriLife Extension is one of two training resources in the state and the only resource for comprehensive information for the 1,026 independent school districts that must comply with this law and rule.