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News you can use
- Statewide pest management trainings for school coordinators start in March
- From pests to pollutants, keeping schools healthy and clean is no simple task
- SPN: Warm-Season Turfgrass Fall/Winter Preparation
- Uninvited vultures draw community ire: AgriLife provides solutions to human-vulture conflict
- Statewide pest management trainings for school coordinators start in March New laws went in effect that school districts, coordinators need to be aware of
Author Archives: janet.hurley
SPN: Are You Ready for Those Spring Pests?
As the rain falls, so does our chances to bring a wide variety of pests into our homes and schools. Two of the most common for spring are termites and ants. As April approaches so does the emergence of termites. Termites that swarm are actually doing building maintenance a favor. While you may find the idea crazy that termite swarming is doing you a favor, understanding termite biology will make the idea more acceptable. Termites can damage buildings undetected for a long time because of their secretive, underground… Read More →
Are bed bugs worse than we thought?
Written By: Dr. Mike Merchant, Urban Entomologist and Professor, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Bed bugs are trouble. They drink our blood. They soil our homes with their feces and cast skins. They keep us awake at night and add stress to our already stressed out lives. And they’re revolting to most people. Until now, if there was one positive thing that could be said about bed bugs, it might be that they haven’t been found to carry communicable disease. The impact of bed bugs seemed mainly to come… Read More →
SPN: Licensing Requirements, Posting, and CEUs
Winter is almost over, and spring is heading our way, and it’s a good time to remind everyone of what the licensing and training requirements are for all employees. Texas has two sets of laws pertaining to pesticide applicators there is the Occupations Code and Agriculture Code. The Occupations Code covers the structural pest control applicators; Agriculture Code covers private applicators (Ag) and others like landscape management, greenhouses, right of way, vector, forest, and a few others. Licensing If you are an employee of a governmental entity, apartment… Read More →
SPN: Flu how the cleaning fits with your IPM program
Between the news, my social media feeds, email, and phone calls I know it’s flu season, how about you? Many who work in the IPM program are also involved in the school environmental health program as well, and there are lots of questions. The three big questions I get asked is what can we use, can we use disinfecting wipes, and do we need to post? Below are some of the best guidelines I can give you, along with some tips and documents to print and post. Full… Read More →
A Safer Way to Keep Schools Pest Free; Stop School Pests Launches Free Online Courses
New Online Courses Help K12 School Employees Make Schools Healthier Places to Learn Stop School Pests, a new online training program, is now available to school employees across the United States and beyond at www.StopSchoolPests.com. The training will help schools reduce pest complaints, pesticide use, and pest-related costs, and improve food and fire safety by teaching staff how to prevent pest problems before they occur. Students spend a major part of each day in school – on average 30 hours each week. Exposure to pests and pesticides can… Read More →
SPN: Before you go remember these tips
As we come to the end of December and before you leave for the holidays please remember these tips so when you return you won’t be returning to unexpected guests. Tis the season for parties with cookies, pizza, gingerbread houses, drinks, and lots of sweet stuff. All of this left out when you go on break means when you get back you can enter your classroom or work space to find ants, cockroaches, mice and even rats. Don’t assume that custodial will make it to your area, be… Read More →
SPN: How are your records?
How are your records? This isn’t the most exciting of topics, but this is a good time a year to take time to review your IPM program and your recordkeeping procedures. Posting Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) requires that prior to any indoor pest control treatment 48 hours in advance. This posting notification must be placed in an area of common access for schools, child care centers, nursing homes, hospitals, hotels, motels, food processing plants and warehouses. For those of you who service apartment complexes in 2018 you… Read More →
The Role of School Nurses in Integrated Pest Management for Public Health
By Meredith Swett Walker is a writer for Entomology Today School nurses do more than just apply bandages to scraped knees and administer asthma inhalers. They are also health educators, they help control communicable diseases, and they even do some pest management. In the past, the dreaded head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) was likely the only pest a school nurse needed to worry about. But, with the rise of arthropod-borne diseases like Lyme disease, West Nile, and Zika, nurses increasingly find themselves thinking about tick and mosquito control… Read More →
SPN: Fall Pests on the Move
Over the past month it seems that everyone I have heard from has discussed a large outbreak of one type of insect pest or the other. For this newsletter rather than discuss pest control record keeping, I am going to refer to several common pests and then give you links to past newsletter stories where you can find Action Plans or additional educational information you can use. Asps – Aka Puss Caterpillars Asps and other stinging insects are part of the nature in Texas, their frequency is dependent… Read More →
SPN: Educational Materials for Your School IPM Program
Three new infographics and two detailed publications from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service help demystify the best practices for controlling pests in schools, universities and other areas where humans occupy close quarters. “The average person, while not a pest control expert, is definitely affected when an infestation occurs,” said Janet Hurley, AgriLife Extension specialist in school integrated pest management, Dallas. “That means the average person is integral to controlling pests, especially where large groups of people converge.” Hurley, co-author of the new educational materials, called the infographics… Read More →
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