2014 Highlights: UC IPM Annual Report

New School and Child Care IPM Course

Learn what schools, child care centers, and pest control companies are required to do to follow the Healthy Schools Act. (Photo by K. Windbiel-Rojas)

California requires that pest control companies providing services in schools and licensed child care centers comply with a series of laws called the Healthy Schools Act (HSA). The HSA promotes IPM and seeks to minimize pesticide exposure to children in all public K–12 schools and licensed private child care centers.

IPM Advisor Andrew Sutherland, Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health (CERCH) Associate Director Asa Bradman, UC San Francisco Staff Specialist Vickie Leonard, and Luis Agurto Jr. from Pestec IPM Providers developed the training module Providing Integrated Pest Management Services in Schools and Child Care Settings. The course was developed with the input of dozens of California’s pest management professionals and child care providers, using surveys, focus groups and pilot courses.

Now available as a free online course hosted by UC IPM, the training module explains the history of the Healthy Schools Act and details what schools, child care centers, and pest control companies are required to do to follow the law. The Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health is also developing a database of individuals who complete the course so that schools and child care centers can connect with pest control providers familiar with IPM and the Healthy Schools Act.

The online course is divided into three narrated presentations. The first presentation is about the Healthy Schools Act. The second is a course on IPM and how it can be applied to control common pests in schools and child care environments, such as ants, rodents, spiders, and roaches. The third presentation discusses how pest control companies can prosper by incorporating IPM principles and practices within their business model. IPM effectively and efficiently manages pests, builds professionalism within providers, and captures value for the customer while minimizing unnecessary pesticide applications, pesticide exposures, and associated negative impacts on children’s health, the environment, and the larger community.

Licensed pest management professionals can receive two continuing education units by completing the online course: one Rules and Regulations and one IPM from the Structural Pest Control Board; and one Laws and Regulations one Other from the Department of Pesticide Regulation.