Mission/Purpose
“To provide the best professional integrated pest management training and advice for school districts and other environmentally sensitive institutions in Texas and the Southwest.”
Vision Statement:
“To encourage, promote and assist schools in Texas and neighboring states to safely and effectively control pests through implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) strategies and practice.”
What is School IPM
Integrated Pest Management, IPM, is a strategy that provides quality pest control using the least hazardous chemicals and techniques. IPM is not a particular pest control provider, but rather an approach that can be used by anyone with proper 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 IPM practices be used to manage pests in and around school facilities. The New Mexico State Board of Education also adopted an IPM policy to reduce the use of pesticides. In Oklahoma, there are currently no laws requiring IPM. The Oklahoma State Cooperative Extension has developed educational programs for childcare facilities. Some school districts and daycare facilities are doing a good job of implementing IPM, but many are not making the grade.
History of Center
The Southwest Technical Resource Center is one of two such centers created in 2001 to promote public awareness of School IPM. Initial funding of the Center was provided from a seed grant from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA Office of Pesticide Programs continues to serve as liaison between the Southwest Technical Resource Center and the Midwest Technical Resource Center at Purdue University (contact person: Sherry Glick, Project Officer for Pesticides and Schools, Division of Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention).
Current funding for the Center and its programs is provided by competitive grants and the support of the Texas IPM program. Texas AgriLife Extension supports this program as one of their Certification and Continuing Education course providers.
In 2007, the Center’s Director, Janet Hurley became a member of the Southern Region School IPM Work Group, part of the School IPM 2015 Project. Ms. Hurley co-chairs the workgroup with Dr. Fudd Graham, Auburn University. Ms. Hurley and Dr. Graham are part of the National School IPM 2015 Steering Committee. This group works with the IPM Institute of North America to help disseminate information to schools, develop information for school IPM programs and help with demonstration of IPM adoption to schools and childcare centers nationwide.
The goal of School IPM 2015 is for every US public school to be practicing high-level IPM by 2015. The term “high-level” refers to the high end of the IPM continuum, which describes the progression of pest management strategies from high-risk, reaction-based action towards least-risk, long-term prevention and avoidance of pest problems. The continuum begins with a focus on monitoring and chemical suppression when pests approach unacceptable levels, and ends with a balanced system where pests remain at tolerable levels with minimal cultural and biological interventions
Our Location
Our center is located at:
Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas
17360 Coit Road
Dallas, TX 75252-6599
Location Map (from YAHOO! maps)
Janet Hurley, MPA
Extension Program Specialist II – School IPM
E-Mail: schoolipm@tamu.edu
Voice: 972-952-9213
Toll Free: 877-747-6872
Fax: 972-952-9632
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