Moving Forward with School IPM Coalitions
Coalitions create an ongoing peer-to-peer support network for school professionals and others working to reduce pest problems and pesticide use in schools. This publication is designed to provide a practical guide to starting and sustaining effective coalitions for Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
Why IPM in Schools?
IPM is a proven method that provides successful management of pest problems with minimal impact on human health, the environment and non-target organisms. Children’s behavior and developing systems make them especially vulnerable to pests and pesticides (National Academy Press 1993). Establishing high-level IPM programs that focus on preventing pest problems in schools can reduce both pest complaints and pesticide use by 70 to 90% (Gouge et al. 2006). IPM improves results, including reducing asthma risks for both students and staff by effectively addressing cockroach and rodent issues which can cause asthma and asthma attacks (Nalyanya et al. 2009).
Why School IPM Coalitions?
In 2002, one of the first school IPM coalitions was formed in Arizona. Led by faculty working for Indiana University and the University of Arizona, the coalition met regularly to hear from experts and share successes and challenges. Coalition members were school professionals including facility managers and school health personnel, maintenance, food service, custodial and other staff, area pest management professionals, state agency staff and others. Within three years, 30% of all Arizona school children were benefiting from IPM.
School IPM coalitions foster efficient transfer of information, encourage collaboration, reduce duplication of effort and speed expansion of IPM in additional school districts within a region. Forming a school IPM coalition allows districts to easily share resources without having to “reinvent the wheel”. The coalition provides educational opportunities, hands-on training, peer-to-peer mentorship, technical support, and program and planning support for members
What makes a successful coalition?
- Diverse group of stakeholders with common goals.
- Strong, experienced leadership.
- Adequate funding to support coordinator time and other costs.
What are My Responsibilities as a Coalition Member?
Participate!
Whether you are an experienced IPM implementer or a novice, the coalition can’t exist without your active participation. Typically coalitions meet quarterly or twice annually. Keeping that commitment makes it all happen.
Share information
The greatest benefit from participation comes from sharing challenges and solutions. Implementing IPM means addressing both pest and people problems. No doubt others in your region can learn from you, and you from them by sharing successes and shortfalls.
Recruit like‑minded peers
You can be the most effective person to encourage your peers at other school districts to join the effort to make IPM the way we do pest management in all of our schools. Invite them along. Successful peer recruitment can result in the exponential growth of the coalition.
Implement and improve IPM in your district
At the end of the day, putting IPM to work in your district is the key to success for all of us. Participating in the coalition can help keep you and your district at the head of the learning curve and top of your game for IPM as well as related environmental initiatives.
What Can My Coalition Accomplish?
Increase awareness of the benefits of IPM in the school professional community. IPM is a better way for all school districts to meet their pest management needs. Meeting announcements, press releases, success stories and personal invitations can all bring about greater awareness.
Persuade school professionals of the relative advantages of IPM. Coalition meetings and communications can provide data already developed as well as new information generated within the coalition documenting fewer pest complaints, reduced pesticide use, transition to reduced-risk pesticide options and any cost savings. IPM is compatible with current objectives of school districts including facility maintenance, sanitation and energy conservation. Coalitions offer an opportunity for regions and districts to try new approaches on a limited basis, observe results first-hand and get the help they need to overcome challenges and ensure success.
Generate a commitment to make and expand change, and provide the tools that might be needed by members including district IPM policy and IPM plan templates, model IPM-based request-for-qualifications and contracts for pest management professional services, school assessment checklists and training tools. These tools are already available at http://www.ipminstitute.org/ school_ipm_2015/resources.htm for coalitions to modify to meet the needs of their region and districts.
Confirmation that IPM is a winning strategy. Pre and post evaluations of pilots and demonstrations, third-party verification, recognition and awards all help provide reinforcement for a job well done. Promoting these among the broader community helps give credit where credit is due and helps make everyone aware of why IPM is worthy of their support.
Getting Started
Who will take the lead? Strong, committed leadership is essential. Leaders will be responsible for creating and maintaining interest and momentum, assessing needs, facilitating priority setting exercises and maximizing collaborative benefits for participants. Duties include preparing and circulating productive agendas, recruiting expertise for educational presentations and generating financial support. Leaders should have strong facilitation and project management skills, be well respected in the region and be networked with the school IPM effort in other states in the region and nationally. Effective leaders may be associated with university systems, state agencies or non-governmental organizations. Access to administrative support staff can make the leader role more manageable.
Tips for Organizing a Coalition
Quarterly meetings may be frequent enough to maintain momentum and not overburden participants or leadership. Leadership teams will need to meet more frequently in person or by conference call to prepare for each meeting. Coalitions may also form smaller workgroups that may meet more frequently to tackle specific objectives, working on model documents, training materials or outreach materials in response to state legislation for example.
Your geographic scope should be manageable for participants to travel to meetings. More than an hour travel time is likely to discourage attendance. Coalitions may consider reimbursing members for travel beyond a certain distance.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are often needed for school professionals, pest management professionals, registered sanitarians and others and can add value for members to attend and new members to join.
Prior to the first meeting is the time to secure initial funding, determine geographic scope, define goals, set specific preliminary objectives for recruiting, training and educational opportunities, identify potential guest experts and create an initial timeline for the year ahead. The first meeting is a good opportunity to present these plans and get feedback from initial participants.
Creating Productive Meetings: Primer for Coalition Leaders
Getting everyone there requires lots of advance notice, frequent reminders and useful agendas. Incentives, including food, continuing education units and relevant information motivate members to attend meetings.
Useful meetings address the needs of your participants. Bringing in outside experts who are good presenters can add value. Half-day meetings allow participants time for travel and/or taking care of responsibilities at work.
School crawl‑through. These are great opportunities for coalition members to see firsthand what to look for when inspecting their own schools. Small groups of up to eight participants accompanied by an experienced person (two works even better). Crawl-through activities should be
accompanied by a debriefing so that participants can discuss what they observed and may require longer than a half-day meeting to accommodate.
Wrapping it up. Make sure you capture contact information for everyone in attendance with a sign-in sheet. Ask participants to complete an evaluation before the meeting ends to get feedback on how the meeting met their needs. Meeting agendas, brief minutes and presentations should be captured and made available to those who could not attend. These can be circulated by email or posted to a website. In addition to these documents, participant numbers and evaluations can be very useful for reporting to funders.
Don’t be a stranger in between meetings. Pest Presses are great timely tools to circulate monthly to stay in touch, see the following page for where to find them
Tools for Sustainable Coalitions
There are many helpful resources available online that have been utilized by active coalitions across the country. Whether you are looking for tips on communications, budgets, organizational strategy or IPM certification or recognition, there is an array of ready-to-use tools.
Pest Presses are great tools for spreading the IPM message, including timely issues specific to seasonal pest problems. A growing collection is available for your use and adaptation for your own coalition pest press. For some of the most popular pest presses around the country, check out http://www.extension.org/pages/ School_IPM:_Online_Newsletters_and_Pest_Presses.
Newsletters and Listservs are simple ways to communicate to the entire coalition as well as national and regional school IPM contacts.
To join the national School IPM listserv, visit http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/Florida/list.htm. To receive the national School IPM 2015 eNewsletter, visit http://www.ipminstitute.org/school_ipm_2015/ index.htm.
The Coalition Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) document supports the relationship between the coalition at large and its individual members and forms a mutual commitment to work towards shared IPM goals. To obtain a copy of the MOU for use in your coalition, visit http://www.ipminstitute.org/school_ipm_2015/ School_IPM_Coalition_MOU.
Public Recognition for school districts and IPM leaders through local media highlights IPM accomplishments to new audiences within the community. For personal achievements, award plaques can be provided for school staff that played an important role in the success of an IPM program.
Budgeting for Success
People are what make a coalition work. Leaders should anticipate spending 80 to 100 hours a year to manage a coalition that meets quarterly. A number of tasks can be delegated to support staff including circulating meeting announcements and agendas, managing RSVPs, arranging meeting sites and logistics, summarizing evaluations and assisting with reports to funders and others.
Meeting costs can include handouts and refreshments, and if needed, room and AV equipment rental, travel and honoraria for guest presenters. For a list of professional school IPM speakers, visit http://ipminstitute.org/ school_ipm_2015/IPM_Speakers_Bureau.pdf.
Equipment may include inspection supplies such as a hand lens, flashlight, spatula, screwdrivers, a telescoping mirror and a digital camera. A laptop computer, storage media, speakers and projector, are useful for meetings.
Supplies can include flip charts, paper, printer toner, insect monitors and pest id guides.
Overhead or indirect costs include rent, utilities and other costs that may be charged by some organizations including universities to recoup their costs of hosting a project leader and support staff. University rates can be as high as 50% and need to be considered if applying for grants through the university.
Travel expenses for coalition leaders, and for members to attend meetings may be reimbursed.
Sources of Funding
Coalitions and school IPM projects generally have received funding from a number of sources. For a list of potential funders, visit http://www.ipminstitute.org/school_ipm_ 2015/School_IPM_Coalition_Funding_Resources.
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