Healthy Schools, pesticide free

For years, CATs has been interested and concerned with the use of pesticides in schools. It is our goal to eliminate the use of pesticides around our children by advocating Integrated Pest Management. See below for further information -

- Healthy Schools Act -

The Healthy Schools Act was designed to protect children, teachers, and staff from unnecessary exposure to toxic pesticides. Passed in 2000, the Healthy Schools Act provides parents, teachers, and staff the right to know about pesticides used in California schools and promotes least toxics pest management. The CA Department of Pesticide Regulation is required to promote and facilitate the implementation of the Healthy Schools Act starting January 1, 2001.

McKinleyville School District's IPM Policy, 2003 – CATs participated on the Integrated Pest Management [IPM] committee to develop the new and improved 2002 McKinleyville School District IPM policy. We believe this IPM policy is exemplary and should be used as a sample for all other school districts.

• CATs has developed a sample IPM policy (56 kb pdf) for school boards, along with a simplified statement of no pesticide use (16 kb pdf) appropriate for very small schools.

- Integrated Pest Management -

As stated in the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 (Assembly Bill 2260):

“IPM is a pest management strategy that focuses on long-term prevention or suppression of pest problems through a combination of techniques such as monitoring for pest presence and establishing treatment threshold levels, using non-chemical practices to make the habitat less conducive to pest development, improving sanitation, and employing mechanical and physical controls. Pesticides that pose the least possible hazard and are effective in a manner that minimizes risks to people, property, and the environment, are used only after careful monitoring indicates they are needed according to pre-established guidelines and treatment thresholds."

There are many internet resources which provide information on IPM:

 

• Also see CATs' report on Pesticides in the Schools: Are Our Schools Flunking Out? A Mid-Term Report Card on Chemical Pest Management. Available for free on the web (660 kb pdf file)

 

 

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