Tips for More Effective Asthma Management in Schools

Posted on July 6, 2012 by janet.hurley

Asthma is a growing health problem, especially among school-aged children. Asthma prevalence has increased from 7.3% of the population in 2001 to 8.4% in 2010 (CDC NCHS Data Brief no 94 May 2012). In its 2011 Asthma & Children Fact Sheet, the American Lung Association reported that 7.1 million children under 18 had asthma. The Association also reports that the annual direct health care cost of asthma is approximately $50.1 billion (Asthma in Adults Fact Sheet). In 2008, there were more than 14.8 million asthma-related school absences (Meng et al. 2012).

A life-long disease once acquired, asthma causes wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightening and coughing. Susan Hoffmann, the Delaware director of the National Association of School Nurses and lead school nurse for the Caesar Rodney School District in Camden, Delaware, compares asthma episodes to the embers of a fire—“sometimes it’s just smoldering in the background but then you have flare-ups.” Asthma symptoms are caused by three issues: inflamed airways, increased mucus production and tightening , called bronchoconstriction, of the smooth muscles that surround the airways.

According to Hoffmann, schools should “develop a multi-disciplinary team of administrators, teachers, parents, custodial staff and coaches to create asthma management policies and look at ways to reduce triggers throughout the school.” Hoffmann recommends the following actions to deal with asthma at school.

Establish strong links with asthma-care clinicians to ensure appropriate and ongoing medical care. Medical providers should develop an asthma action plan. Plans should include actions for tiered symptom levels, such as green (no symptoms), yellow (moderate symptoms) and red (asthma crisis). The school nurse should keep plans for each student on file and share them with teachers, physical education coaches and other staff.
Use a coordinated, multi-component and collaborative approach that includes school nursing services, asthma education for students and professional development for school staff.
Ensure that students have access to all medications. Consult state laws to determine if children are allowed to carry their own quick relief medications.

Well-controlled asthma should not limit a child’s ability to participate in school activities. However, uncontrolled asthma is the leading reason for school absences. “Asthma symptoms can lead to a disruption in sleep because the child cannot rest due to coughing, which can result in decreased school performance, learning difficulties, restlessness or fatigue,” comments Hoffmann. Additionally, the side effects of some asthma medications include irritability and sleeplessness.

IPM in schools and homes go hand-in-hand with asthma management. Common triggers for asthma include mold, pet dander, and cockroach and pest allergens. Sealing leaky pipes, promptly cleaning up spills, and sealing cracks and crevices can greatly reduce these triggers by denying pests water, food and shelter. Reducing moisture is critical to eliminating mold.

According to the US EPA’s Asthma Triggers: Gain Control, “Droppings or body parts of cockroaches and other pests can trigger asthma. Certain proteins are found in cockroach feces and saliva and can cause allergic reactions or trigger asthma symptoms in some individuals.” Some IPM tips for reducing cockroach allergens include:

Keep counters, sinks, tables and floors clean and clutter-free. Cluttered areas provide harborage for cockroaches and are difficult to clean. (More information about cockroach habits can be found in our December 2011 newsletter.)
Clean up any crumbs and spills right away. These are a great source of food and water for roaches.
Store any food or food products (like pasta or rice used for art projects) in airtight containers, such as Tupperware® containers or Ziplock® bags.
Seal cracks or openings around or inside cabinets.

Resources

The US EPA Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Tools for Schools program has a number of free resources to help schools implement IAQ programs, including a set of lesson plans to teach children about asthma. To manage IAQ in schools, EPA recommends six technical solutions, including providing quality HVAC systems, controlling moisture and mold, practicing IPM and using proper cleaning and maintenance techniques. The American Lung Association’s Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative also includes information and tools for school asthma management. The National School IPM Working Group created a document, Reducing your Child’s Asthma using Integrated Pest Management: A Practical Home Guide for Parents, to educate schools and parents about the cost benefits and asthma reduction that can be achieved through IPM implementation.

Educators and others can gain access to best practices, tools and resources with AsthmaCommunityNetwork.org, a national network designed for community-based asthma programs. EPA’s School IAQ Connector email discussion list is also available for members to ask questions about asthma management. Join by sending a blank email message to schools_iaq_connector-subscribe@lists.epa.gov.

School Pest News Volume 11, Issue 3, June 2012

Posted on June 13, 2012 by janet.hurley

Typhus – By: Elizabeth “Wizzie” Brown, Extension Program Specialist

Travis County recently had a death due to typhus, last year typhus showed up in the Lower Valley area. Typhus is one of those “diseases” that has not been prevalent for many years, but like everything else it is making a comeback.

Typhus is a bacterial disease that can be spread by lice or fleas; fleas (rat fleas & cat fleas) are often the common vector. Typhus is caused by one of two types of bacteria- Rickettsia typhi or Rickettsia prowaze-kii. The type of typhus contracted depends upon the type of bacteria. R. typhi causes murine (also known as en-demic) typhus. It often occurs in the summer through fall and is rarely deadly. Risk factors include exposure to rat fleas, rat feces or exposure to various animals such as cats, rats, skunks, raccoons or opos-sums. Symptoms of murine typhus include abdominal pain, backache, diarrhea, head-ache, joint and muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, a high fever (105-106 F) and a dull red rash that begins on the torso and spreads.

R. prowazekii causes epidemic typhus. Lice and fleas of flying squirrels spread this bacterium. Symptoms of epidemic typhus include chills, cough, delirium, high fever (104 F), joint pain, light sensitivity, severe headache, severe muscle pain, and a rash that starts on the torso and spreads out.

People get murine typhus from of an infected flea. Most fleas defecate while feeding, so the bacteria can enter the body through the bite wound or by the area being scratched. You may also get murine typhus by inhaling fecal material infected with the bacteria.

Treatment of typhus generally involves antibiotics. Epidemic typhus may need intravenous fluids and oxygen as well. If someone suspects that they have typhus, they should see a physician as soon as possible.

Of course, to reduce the chance of having flea-carrying organisms around, encourage the following:

1. Do not leave pet food out overnight.

2. Make sure all garbage cans have tight fitting lids.

3. Keep fire wood and other items off the ground.

4. Keep yard maintained.

5. Inspect the outside of the home and seal any areas where rodents may enter (use stainless steel mesh screening or flashing).

6. Treat pets with a monthly flea treatment (see veterinarian for recommendations).

7. Treat any indoor & outdoor flea infestations promptly.

Gnats Driving You Crazy? By: Molly Keck, Extension Program Specialist

Examples of different types of small flies Bart Drees

With all the mositure we have had, you might be one of those folks Molly wrote about. Most people are dealing with are fruit flies and mistakingly calling them gnats. Fruit flies are smaller than house flies, and have red eyes. They appear tan in color and are no larger than an 1/8 of an inch long. In the photo of small flies above, the fruit fly is on the far right.

Fruit flies are attracted to ripened or decaying fruit and vegetables, but they are also known to breed in drains, dirty mops or rags, recycling bins, trash cans, soil, and other areas of moisture and decaying or fermenting food.

In order to manage fruit flies, you truly have to find the source. Once you have eliminated the source, its important to keep fruit and veggies either in the refrigerator or a brown bag for a couple weeks or you will attract them back into the home.

If you’re still seeing flies, check the drains. An easy trick is to put tape over half the drain overnight. If flies are stuck to it, you know they are breeding in the organic matter that lines the drains. There are drain cleaners that will eliminate that “gunk” using enzymes. Bleach, boiling water, and other products will only kill the larvae in the drain now; it does not keep the adults from laying more eggs.

If you have potted plants, they may breeding in the soil. Check by digging, or placing the plant in a small space overnight. Its easier to re-pot the plant, but at the minimum, don’t over water and allow the soil to dry out.

I’m noticing a correlation between the new green compost bins the city has provided us. Its wonderful that we are composting and reducing our trash, but we are also keeping our rotten food longer in the home, which is attracting and allowing fruit flies to breed. If this is your issue, remove the food regularly, if not immediately.

Again, finding the main source is the key. Recently, we had a MAJOR issue in our office. I’m a little embarrassed to admit, I was the cause! I had placed an apple in an insect cage and allowed it to rot and ferment. Removing those rotten apples almost immediately (within a weekend) got rid of the problem! It may not be as easy as that, but searching for “ground zero” will make your problem less of a problem.

For more information about fly treatments and sample management plans check out our website at https://schoolipm.tamu.edu/forms/pest-management-plans/

Putting out the Unwelcome Mat for borers By: Dr. Mike Merchant, Extension Urban Entomologist

Since early spring Dr. Charlie Helpert has tirelessly driven the country roads of north Texas, and knocking on doors in the area, in a effort to make Texas trees safer from insect attack. The enemy is the emerald ash borer, and the weapon is an early detection network of traps and volunteers trained to spot this foreign invader that threatens ash trees throughout the eastern U.S.

I wrote about this project last year and so far the news has been good. No ash borer yet in Texas. But the work goes on, and so Dr. Helpert continues to deploy and man his early warning system.

The project is part of a nationwide effort to monitor and control the spread of this borer with a selective appetite for trees in the genus Fraxinus. Ash trees are important hardwood and shade trees for this country, and in areas where the borer is active are putting the hurt on trees and tree owners alike. The goal of the project is to give states like Texas early warning and, in the process, a chance to slow the spread of the borer.

Last year Dr. Helpert was the only man standing between emerald ash borer and Texas forests. This year, in a strategic move, the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) decided to expand the trapping network in Texas. Approximately 1700 traps have been deployed throughout the state in a cooperative effort between Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas Forest Service and Sam Houston State University.

The city of Plano, TX recently interviewed Dr. Helpert for a video (see above) about his efforts to install the purple sticky traps in ten north Texas counties. He and Denise Moore with the City of Plano explains the effort and what tree owners can do to protect their trees from borers of all kinds.

Finally, if you happen to see this pest on your school property please drop Dr. Merchant an email at m-merchant@tamu.edu

Pest Private Eye Video Game Allows Kids to Become a Pest Detective

By: Jodi Schmitz, Project Assistant, IPM Institute of North America

Looking for something to keep the kids busy this summer? Want to teach them about pests, pesticides and IPM? Let them become the Pest Private Eye, a detective who helps schools solve their pest problems! The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension’s Pest Private Eye and the Case of IPM in Schools (Pest PI) is a free educational video game that teaches kids about pests and IPM.

As the Pest Private Eye avatar, kids explore the rooms of Eureka Elementary School, pick up IPM tools such as a vacuum cleaner, window screens and snap traps, and use them to manage various pests. “In some parts of the game, you need to apply critical thinking to find out how to deal with difficult pests,” says Erin Bauer, extension associate at the Pesticide Education Office for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). “The cockroaches in the kitchen are one example. In real life, you may need to use both sticky traps and roach bait to manage them and it’s the same in the game.”

Bauer and Clyde Ogg, associate extension educator for pesticide safety education at UNL, have been working on Pest PI in some form since 2007. “We had a few beta versions and it just got better as we went along,” says Bauer. “The first version looked more like a cartoon but then we transitioned to a 3D look.” It mimics role-playing point-and-click games that are popular with kids today.

Bauer says the purpose of the game was to get the word out about IPM. “Hopefully, kids can walk away with one or two things that they can tell their friends or parents which helps bring IPM to an even broader audience.”

In addition to the game, there is also a comic book of Pest Private Eye’s adventures at Eureka Elementary School, as well as a teachers’ guide, Power Point and other IPM resources for child care facilities. Educators can use the game and associated materials in their classrooms, 4-H groups, libraries or other environments.

School Pest News Volume 11, Issue 2, April 2012

Posted on April 25, 2012 by janet.hurley

Learning Opportunities Abound
By Janet Hurley

Over the past ten years, we have watched school IPM information become more frequent. In addition to school IPM, we have seen IPM in public housing also increase. Rather than duplicate, AgriLife Extension will either be forwarding more emails or announcing more online training resources. Below is just a sample of what we have seen so far:

During the month of March, the University of Florida released its Bed Bugs and Book Bags curriculum. The curriculum is designed for third through fifth grade students, although it can be adapted to any age group. There are three lessons with a total of ten activities and a teacher’s guide that focus on bed bug biology, feeding, and prevention and is appropriate for classrooms, day cares, camps, and meetings. You can find all the information you need at the Duval County Extension Website http://duval.ifas.ufl.edu/Bed_Bugs.shtml

During the month of May you can catch two webinars on ant control. The first one is on fire ants and it will be held Thursday, May 10 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT (10 to 11 a.m. CDT or 8 to 9 a.m. PDT. Killing fire ants is actually easier than you think—if you understand how they live. This seminar will help you learn how to apply integrated pest management tactics that are as economical and environmentally friendly as possible. You’ll also learn about fire ant biological control agents such as the Pseudacteon phorid flies. To participate, log in as “guest” (YOU DO NOT NEED TO PREREGISTER) at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/fireant If you have specific questions that you want us to address during the webinar, post them to the Imported Fire Ant eXtension Facebook page (Fire Ant Info).

The second webinar will be on other nuisance ant species Ant Management on Thursday, May 17 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT (10 to 11 a.m. CDT or 8 to 9 a.m. PDT) and brought to you by the Urban Integrated Pest Management eXtension Community of Practice. Managing ants is actually easier than you think—if you understand how they live. This seminar will help you learn how to apply integrated pest management tactics that are as economical and environmentally friendly as possible.

Topics:
– How Can You Tell if You Have Odorous House Ants? Dr. Karen Vail, University of Tennessee
– Understanding the Biology and Behavior of Carpenter Ants, Dr. Dan Suiter, University of Georgia
– Managing Problems with Pharaoh Ants, Dr. Michael Merchant, Texas A&M University

Participation link has not been released – I will send this out later in the week with the final details.

National Healthy Schools Day Provides Opportunities for IPM Education

Spring is a great time to take on new challenges and with National Healthy Schools Day on April 24, 2012. Now is a perfect opportunity to both prepare for the inevitable increase in pest activity that comes with warmer weather, and take your IPM program to another level.

School officials, staff and parents can use materials like Kick the Pesticide Habit: Children, Learning and Poisons Don’t Mix, The Business Case for Integrated Pest Management in Schools: Cutting Costs and Increasing Benefits and IPM Standards for Schools: Tactics and Resources for Reducing Pest and Pesticide Risks in Schools and Other Sensitive Environments to look for opportunities for improvement.

Districts looking to implement a new IPM program can start with developing an IPM policy to formally state their commitment to IPM. Next steps can include designating an IPM coordinator, providing training for the coordinator and key custodial, maintenance and food service staff, and beginning to assemble an IPM plan. Districts with existing programs can evaluate schools using an audit checklist. Particular attention should be paid to potential sources of food, water, harborage and access for pests.

The most cost-effective measures you can take include installing door sweeps under exterior doors, sealing cracks and crevices around baseboards, and trimming vegetation back to reduce pest access and leave a clear inspection path around buildings. Our Building Out Pests article series, published in October, November and December 2011, gives more tips for structural pest management.

National Healthy Schools Day graphics, flyers and posters are available to download and print. Contact Healthy Schools Network, Inc. for more information.

IPM Coordinators Vital to IPM Program Success By: Jodi Schmitz, IPM Institute of North America

An IPM coordinator is an essential piece of the school IPM puzzle. They provide the leadership and networking to achieve pest complaint and pesticide risk reduction by working hand-in-hand with parents, students, teachers, staff members and pest management professionals.

C.G Cezeaux and David Henderson, Co-IPM coordinators for Spring ISD discuss their outdoor IPM program with Dr. Tom Green and their contractor

According to Janet Hurley, extension program specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service, “The ideal coordinator is someone who is a key, influential person within the district who can motivate teachers, administrators, food service, custodial and maintenance staff.” The coordinator should have the power to make decisions and effect change quickly. “If the coordinator doesn’t have that power,” says Hurley, “it can be a little like a Mario game. The issue has to jump up a level to the coordinator’s boss for resolution, and then back down to the coordinator level. It’s just not efficient.”

IPM coordinators can be responsible for tasks including interpreting the district’s IPM policy, maintaining the IPM plan, ensuring notifications of pesticide applications go out to the right people, conducting facility inspections and maintaining records of pest complaints and pesticide applications. Depending on the size of the district, the IPM coordinator may also be the pesticide applicator, facilities director and/or superintendent. Coordinators often wear many hats, so it is important for them to enlist strong support and cooperation of key staff.

Spring Independent School District (ISD), located in Texas, has worked hard to obtain cooperation with other departments like risk management, child nutrition and student health to implement IPM practices. David Henderson, IPM coordinator and lead certified applicator at Spring ISD, says it’s incredibly important to build a rapport with key school departments so the entire IPM program is a success.

In addition to knowing key pests and appropriate solutions, Hurley suggests coordinators should also be trained on how to change human behaviors. “IPM is no different than any other behavioral science. Coordinators need to know how to change a teacher’s belief that all bugs are evil and must be dealt with immediately using pesticides,” says Hurley. IPM coordinators function as educators to teach staff their role in the IPM process.

Cecil Fueston, IPM coordinator with McKinney ISD in Texas, also stresses the importance of communication and education. When he became the IPM coordinator, Fueston made it a priority to stop by the schools regularly to introduce himself and explain his role. “Now I’m known as ‘the bug man,’” Fueston says. Chris Mills, IPM specialist at Union County Public Schools in North Carolina, says it’s important for him to make periodic visits to the schools because, “I’m constantly talking with the students and staff to train them on how they can help with pest management,” says Mills.

State or regional workshops put on by organizations like Texas AgriLife Extension, California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), University of Minnesota IPM3 and Rutgers can be a great source of information and often include continuing education credits for IPM coordinators. The Facility Masters Webcast Series hosts informative webinars, and professional listservs such as Schoolbugs provide an avenue for school IPM professionals to ask questions and get answers. “We attend trainings every year, despite the Texas requirement that training only needs to happen every three years,” says Henderson, “because we want to learn new things right when they happen.”

Mills comments that it would be useful to have more regional training opportunities strictly for IPM coordinators, like that handled by Texas Integrated Pest Management Affiliate for Public Schools (TIPMAPS). Fueston describes TIPMAPS as an avenue for training, networking, and problem solving. “It’s really helpful to be able to bounce ideas off of others and talk about pest management techniques that work in a school system,” says Mills.

Need a position description for an IPM coordinator for your district? Samples are available from the California DPR, Guilford County Schools and Texas AgriLife Extension

School Pest News, Volume 11, Issue 1, March 2012

Posted on March 14, 2012 by janet.hurley

Who Can Work Under My License? By Dr. Don Renchie

There seems to be a lot of confusion buzzing around schools these days about who can apply pesticides. First, only licensed applicators can make ANY type of pesticide application – even “organic” on school properties. The Texas Department of Agriculture’s “Structural Pest Control Act” has required all applicators be licensed as commercial, noncommercial, or technicians before they make applications in or around schools, childcare centers, or educational institutions since the mid-1980s.

What has many school IPM coordinators confused are the differences between the “Incidental Use” rule and the TDA category 3A “Ornamental and Turf” license, which allows political subdivision non-commercial applicators to supervise non-licensed district employees.

Incidental Use allows the IPM Coordinator to train someone within the district, whose primary job responsibility, is NOT to respond to pest complaints or calls, to treat an occasional pest problem. First, the pest problem must be considered an “Emergency; such as fire ants in a classroom, bees, wasps, or hornets next to an exit door, or some other stinging or venomous insect. The rule allows the coordinator to train an individual on a specific insecticide for use in a specific location or area. For example, the district has an A/C tech that travels the district replacing filters and other A/C related repairs. When an individual gets to a site and it has a hornets nest in close proximity of the A/C unit, under the Incidental Use rule, the person could use their supplied can of hornet killer to help reduce the insect population. This same individual would need to complete an application use record for incidental use and return that form to the school IPM coordinator. TDA requires the IPM Coordinator to train all individuals on Incidental Use upon initial employment before any applications are allowed, annually before any applications are made and anytime pesticide products are changed or anytime the pesticide product label changes. If individuals find themselves constantly treating for a pest, TDA would require that person to become a licensed applicator in the appropriate category.

The political subdivision non-commercial ornamental and turf category (3A) license was established by TDA to allow cities, counties, state, and other governmental entities/agencies with their landscape and grounds maintenance programs. Schools fall under this classification as well. Under the 3A category license, the school district noncommercial applicator can supervise unlicensed district employees as long as they work out of the same office or the same location. Furthermore, the supervising applicator would need to insure the non-licensed applicators were trained annually and before they made any 3A applications. All SPCS requirements for posting under the IPM in Schools regulations would have to be satisfied. The supervising applicator would also need to insure that a TDA “Affidavit of Supervision” was in the employee (s) or IPM Coordinators files (if the applicator isn’t also the Coordinator) to maintain compliance with TDA recordkeeping requirements. The licensed applicator and the unlicensed person in accordance with recordkeeping requirements for TDA and the school IPM program must also complete application use records. While the unlicensed person will not have a license number, their name should be clearly written on the record in the event there are questions later.

Finally, individuals who are licensed with the 3A category or work under someone, can only make pesticide applications outdoors. These applications can be for insects, weeds, or diseases but must be done outdoors and preferably away from children as well. And remember all records should be keep on file for two years, with many schools having to abide by the Open Records Act, some districts have been keeping their records for five

School IPM Website – One Stop Learning and Resources

When was the last time you visited the Texas School IPM Website (https://schoolipm.tamu.edu ) Over the past year, we have been trying to update and reorganize the website so you can find all the forms and resources you need to keep your program in compliance and help educate your staff about your IPM program.

At the top of the page are tab headings, these headings are the most frequently used areas of the webpage. For example, are you looking for a specific TDA – SPCS form, then click on the “Structural Pest Control Service Forms”you will find links to TDA and selected forms that you can download and save to your computer. Not sure, how to establish

thresholds and pest specific management plans; then check out our “pest management plans” tab. Under the section titled “Management Plans” you will notice a list of thirteen common pests in and around schools. Extension Entomologists and Biologists from across the southern region have constructed these management plans. We will also be releasing additional plans in April to give you twenty plans for the most common pests around schools.

Confused about training your teachers and staff about IPM, then check out our IPM Presentations section, where you will find power point presentations, handouts, and fact sheets that you can use in your district. Thanks to several of our School IPM Trainers from around the country, we recently added a YouTube school IPM video site. Check out the IPM Minute Videos and submit us your topics that you would like to see in the future.

Healthy Schools Heroes 2012: Champions for School Quality and Safety By: Ellie Goldberg, M.Ed

Every year to mark the anniversary of the March 18, 1937 Texas School Explosion, Ellie Goldberg, salutes a Healthy Schools Hero whose inspirational leadership sets a high standard for safety that protects children from hazards and unhealthy school conditions.

The Healthy Schools Hero award is part of a campaign to make March 18 an annual day to bring the lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to every school, to update school values and technical skills for 21st century citizens, and to celebrate the leadership for safety that can save lives.

This year, on the 75th anniversary of the tragedy, two school leaders from small Texas towns are Healthy Schools Heroes because each demonstrates extraordinary personal responsibility in making safety a core value and taking pride in schools that are clean and in good repair.

They both understand that high standards, regulations, and professional training are essential safeguards for ensuring the quality and well-being of their communities.

Both school leaders know the story of the 1937 New London School Explosion. They take no short cuts when it comes to safety.

More Details About Healthy Schools Heroes 2012

Pride of Purpose, Pride of Place

Superintendent Harold Cowley of Yantis ISD is a 2012 Healthy Kids Healthy Schools Hero for his extraordinary leadership and dedication to the safety and well-being of the children and teachers in Yantis, TX. Superintendent Cowley is high qualified to be chief administrator of a modern school system because of a special combination of his values as well as his technical knowledge and skills. READMORE

We Make Decisions Based on Health and Safety

Disa Schulze, Director of Support Services, Danbury ISD, TX, is a 2012 Healthy Kids Healthy Schools Hero for more than twenty years of dedication to the safety and well-being of the children and teachers where she is responsible for Maintenance, Food Service, Transportation, and Safety. READMORE

Gee, I love my job by Mike Merchant

Posted on February 29, 2012 by janet.hurley

As I write, I’m sitting in a mostly dark room listening to my Texas AgriLife colleagues Don Renchie and Janet Hurley walk a group of almost 40 school IPM Coordinators through a long list of rules and regulations about how pesticides must be used in Texas public schools. In between jokes, back-and-forth banter, and scribbling pens, learning is taking place and it’s a beautiful thing.

Given a choice, I suspect most of us would probably not choose to spend our day watching a PowerPoint slide show and listening to speakers for hours. But there is little boring about this session between a group of eager learners and an entertaining speaker (and if you know Dr. Don Renchie, you know what I mean). I know the efforts made by Janet Hurley to keep this training interesting, relevant, and interactive. A wireless audience response system gets students interacting with us trainers, and shows both the class and the trainers how well the message is being conveyed. Refreshments are handy and (at least today) the chairs are comfortable. Life is good.

I’ve found few things more satisfying that imparting knowledge to a motivated group of adult learners. Some of my personal best friends are teachers and find great fulfillment in teaching children important life skills. Personally, give me a group of adults. Sure kids are cute, and their innocence and naivete is engaging; but adults need education just as much as the kids. Adults are easily bored, often critical, sometimes prejudiced and usually forgetful; but nothing in my book is better than giving adult learners skills that they need to excel in their jobs and/or life. The rewards outweigh the pains.

School IPM coordinators, and the PMPs who work for them, are given the weighty responsibility of keeping school districts pest-free while balancing pesticide risks. This isn’t easy. Coordinators have to first master a dozen or so pages of laws and regulations; they have to learn tongue-twisting pesticide names and their properties; they have to organize reams of records; they have to fight for scarce budget dollars; they have to counsel frustrated principals, teachers and sometimes parents; and they have to be ready for unannounced visits from state inspectors. Few of them asked for their jobs as IPM coordinator, rather they were assigned the position usually on top of several other jobs.

Watching and listening to classes like this respond to speakers and ask intelligent and probing questions is highly satisfying. Over the years I watched some of our IPM class and PMP alumni work their way up through the food chain in their school districts and pest control companies. I’ve seen people who were initially reluctant to be assigned the job of “bug killer” only to embrace the position and take great satisfaction in their new job. I like to think that I and my colleagues have played a part in the pride and high performance of more than a few of these men and women. And that’s why I love my job.

—
Posted By Blogger to Insects in the City at 2/28/2012 02:46:00 PM

Structural Pest Control Service Winter Update

Posted on January 30, 2012 by janet.hurley

The Structural Pest Control Advisory Committee met today after a (literally) stormy day in Austin–and I don’t mean politics. Yesterday brought some wet relief to parched central and north Texas, as well as rare winter tornadoes in several communities.

Today’s committee meeting was mostly uneventful in terms of actions; however some interesting topics were introduced that should lead to follow-up discussions in later meetings. The meeting started off with a moment of silence for Bill Stepan, our committee member who passed away in November. David Kostroun then led the committee through responses to the Self-Assessment Questionnaire that we were asked to fill at the end of the year.

Priorities for the Committee
One of the priorities for the coming year that some respondents mentioned was better communication with the public about pest control issues and how to help the public find answers to questions about pest control, the reliability of pest control businesses, and pesticides. Tommy Kezar noted that the TDA website formerly allowed visitors to view regulatory actions to see what companies had been recently cited or fined for violations. This page is no longer view-able on the agency’s new home page. In fact, apart from information on how to file a structural pest control complaint, there is relatively little useful pest control-related information for consumers on the new consumer protection site. Given that the site is new, I trust that this will change. One feature I always found useful was the ability to check a company’s license information to assure myself that it was operating with a valid license. I hope this feature is restored.

Kezar also noted a couple of cases that he has seen where license renewals have been held up because of problems with background checks. Department staff were, allegedly, not very helpful in responding to efforts by licensees to discover the particulars about why a background check failed. Chief Administrator Kostroun promised to look into procedures for responding to such requests for information.

Performance Data for SPCS
Stephen Pahl, Administrator for the Consumer Protection Division of TDA (the new division that houses structural pest control) gave a brief presentation on data that the agency is required to report to the LBB (Legislative Budget Board). The data includes statistics on numbers of new business and individual licenses issued, complaints resolved and inspections conducted each quarter. Some of the more interesting numbers for the Sep-Dec Quarter included:

275 SPC business inspections were conducted in the fall of 2011 (slightly exceeded target goals).
45 complaints were resolved that resulted in a formal enforcement action (more than double the target goal).
The 43 non-commercial establishment inspections (hotels, restaurants, local governments, etc.) was about a third of the target for the quarter; however staff attribute this to the priority they have placed on conducting school IPM inspections and some difficulties with new schedule-optimization software.
139 schools were inspected, representing nearly 70% of the schools scheduled for inspection in the year. I understood that the rate of quarterly school inspections will likely taper off this year as software improvements are made to rebalance the scheduling of commercial and non-commercial establishments over the next few months.
Although quarterly data on school compliance rates for FY 2012 were not available, last year 52.4% of Texas schools were found to be in (complete) compliance during inspections. This metric, however, gives little insight in to the type or significance of non-compliance issues found by inspectors.
Complaint case sufficiency rate is the percent of cases sent to Austin from local SPCS inspectors that ultimately are approved for enforcement action. A high sufficiency rate indicates that inspectors are not submitting many frivolous or unenforceable cases. This year’s sufficiency rate was 92%.

School IPM Coordinator CEUs

Michael Kelly noted that the Department will be prioritizing the effort to publish formal rules for the new school IPM Coordinator CEU requirement imposed by Sunset committee action two years ago. To refresh your memory, as of January 1, 2011 School IPM Coordinators are required to obtain 6 CEU hours on pest control, pesticide and IPM-related topics every three years. We are now 13 months into the three year period, and rules for how this system will work have not yet been published. Kelly handed out the draft rule which specifies that only one of the six hours must be in laws and regulations specific to IPM programs in schools (I have stated in the past that I think this is inadequate, but won’t go into that today). What is still missing from the rules, however, is a mechanism for approval of the school IPM laws and regs CEU, and specific instructions for when CEUs will be due. It was suggested that there may need to be a new CEU category for School IPM rules and regulations. The committee agreed that coordinators who were certified prior to Jan 2011 should be required to complete their six hours by Dec 2013. Newer coordinators should be required to get their 6 hours within three years of taking their initial 6 hour orientation course (which they must take within six months of appointment as IPMC). Presumably the Department will be publishing new rules for public review within the next quarter.

Should Bed Bug Dogs be Licensed?

One of the most interesting discussions was a review of some information collected by Leslie Smith on bed bug dog certification, and discussion about whether dog handlers should be licensed. While no one is actually proposing that dogs be licensed, handlers and companies who provide dog-sniffing services appear to be another matter. The committee asked if Kelly would come up with some proposals on possible licensing options so that the issue could be discussed more rigorously, and recommendations formalized by the committee at the next advisory committee meeting.

Agency Legal Staff

Deputy General Counsel for Enforcement, David Gipson, reported that the SPCS has been without an official attorney for several months. It has been difficult, he said, to find qualified lawyers willing to work for the salary offered by TDA. As a result, legal work for SPCS has been divided among three TDA legal staff. According to Gipson, this has the added advantage of minimizing the impact on SPCS programs when an attorney leaves for any reason.

The next committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 26. The SPCS is receiving applications for positions on the advisory committee, especially the two open seats for industry and a consumer position. If interested, you should contact Michael Kelly.

—
Posted By Blogger to Insects in the Cityat 1/26/2012 05:53:00 PM

Michael E. Merchant, PhD, BCE

Professor and Extension Urban Entomologist

Texas Pesticide Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (TPDES)

Posted on January 18, 2012 by janet.hurley

Many of you have heard about a new Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) requirement/regulation relating to pesticide applications to, over, or near water. The regulation is the result of federal court decisions which place pesticide applications and use under not only the
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), but under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

TCEQ and other state environmental protection agencies nationwide (including Puerto Rico, Guam, and Samoa) had until October 31, 2011 to develop or adopt a Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (PDES) permit. TCEQ worked with stakeholders and EPA to develop an acceptable permit for Texans from all pesticide user communities (agriculture, structural pest management, governmental/political subdivisions, and consumer/homeowner…) to comply with without financial burden.

There are five sites of pesticide application to aquatic environments, which have thresholds requiring operators to file a “Notice of Intent” (NOI) with TCEQ ten (10) days prior to the application. A NOI is good for 1 year.

Operators are defined by TCEQ as individuals responsible for the site where pesticides will be applied. They can be an applicator (commercial or noncommercial), an entity (city or county), or an organization (homeowners association…) or an individual (farmer, rancher, or homeowner…).

1. Applications made to control “Mosquitoes and Other Flying Insect Pests” where the treatment area is greater than 6,400 contiguous acres and containing waters of the U.S. will require the “Operator” to submit a NOI ten (10) days prior to the application.

2a. Applications made to control “Aquatic Weeds and Algae” In Water where the treatment area exceeds 100 contiguous surface acres will require the operator to submit a NOI ten (10) days prior to the application.

2b. Applications made to control “Aquatic Weeds and Algae” At Water’s Edge where the treatment area exceeds 200 contiguous linear miles will need to file a NOI ten (10) days prior to the application.

3a. Applications made to control “Aquatic Nuisance Animals” (undesirable fish, lamprey eels…) In Water where the treatment area exceeds 100 contiguous surface acres will need to file a NOI ten (10) days prior to the application.

3b. Applications made to control “Aquatic Nuisance Animals” At Water’s Edge where the treatment area exceeds 200 contiguous linear miles will need to file a NOI ten (10) days prior to the application.

4. Applications made Over Forest Canopies for “Forest Canopy Pest Control” where the treatment area exceeds 6,400 contiguous acres and containing waters of the U.S. will need to file a NOI ten (10) days prior to the application.

5. Applications made for “Area Wide” pest control where the treatment area exceeds 6,400 contiguous acres and containing waters of the U.S. will need to file a NOI ten (10) days prior to the application.

There are three levels of compliance, each based on application site and access, type of entity making the pesticide application, and the size or distance of the application to, over, or near waters of the U.S.

Level I have two subcategories (Level IA and Level IB). The operator must insure applicators have TDA licenses for the application of restricted use or state-limited-use pesticides and regulated herbicides. In addition, Level IA operators (applicators) must submit a written or electronic NOI along with the appropriate fee(s) ten days before they commence any applications in a “Pest Management Area (PMA).” Annually they must file certain information for all pesticide applications to, over, or near waters of the U.S. with TCEQ.

Level IB operators (applicators) do not pay “NOI” fees, but they must submit a “Self Certification Letter” to the nearest TCEQ Regional Office ten (10) days before they commence any applications to, over, or near waters of the U.S. If they use restricted use or state-limited use pesticides, the applicator must be licensed with TDA. No annual reports are required. However, if an adverse incident occurs, the applicator must report the event to TCEQ within 24 hours

Level II and Level III are not subcategorized and have no financial or reporting implications for any affected operators (applicators). If restricted use or state-limited-use pesticides or regulated herbicides are applied, the applicator must have the appropriate TDA license. If an adverse incident occurs, the applicator must report the event to TCEQ within 24 hours.

All operators (applicators), including homeowners must keep records of all applications of pesticides to, over, or near waters of the U.S. regardless of threshold limitations for three years.

Click TPDES General Permit Requirement Matrix (PDF), which delineates each application area and the compliance efforts, fees, licensing requirements and reporting responsibilities based on the level of compliance an operator falls under.

More information about the TPDES, NOI Letters, and self-certification letters can be found under the AES website “Links” section http://www-aes.tamu.edu/links/

By Dr. Don Renchie, Professor and Team Leader, Ag & Environmental Safety

School Pest News Volume 10, Issue 8

Posted on December 19, 2011 by janet.hurley

Section 1 Crazy ants making tracks through South Central Texas. 1

Section 2 IPM and IAQ inspections can find open floor and wall penetrations. 2

Additional Information – University of Florida – Tight Spaces. 3

Section 1 Crazy ants making tracks through South Central Texas

Travis County is one of the most recent areas of Texas to be invaded by crazies – in this case, Caribbean or Rasberry crazy ants, said entomologists with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Crazy ants get their name from their erratic movements as they do not trail in a straight line, but rather in a random pattern, the experts said. They are small, black ants with long legs and antennae, and upon first glance may resemble tiny spiders.

“Crazy ants don’t sting and they’re not really a health hazard in that they’re not a disease vector,” said Wizzie Brown, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management specialist for Travis County. “They’re basically an outdoor ant, but in their search for warmth, water, or food, they often come indoors.”

Brown said confirmed crazy ant identification in Travis County has been from the northwestern part of the county, near where Travis and Burnet counties meet.

She said once crazy ants find their way into a home it is easy for them to multiply and spread to different areas, especially into bathrooms, kitchens, and pantries.

“Although not harmful, crazy ants can certainly be very annoying, especially if they get into your food or invade your house in large numbers,” she said.

The main problem with crazy ants, she said, is that they just won’t go away.

“Once they have invaded an area, you will hardly ever hear about them leaving on their own accord,” Brown said. “They have a very high reproduction potential and tend to stick around.”

Crazy ants were already discovered in nearby Bexar County earlier this year, so residents there have been aware of them for several months.

“We’ve even had crazy ants at the AgriLife Extension office here in San Antonio,” said Molly Keck, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management specialist for Bexar County. “I’ve gotten calls from people all over the county saying they have them, but so far they really haven’t taken hold in any particular residential area.”

Keck said crazy ants love concrete, so sidewalks, driveways, or paved areas around the home provide them with an excellent habitat.

“To manage crazy ants, try some basic integrated pest management practices first,” she suggested. “Seal and caulk up small cracks and holes around windows and doors. Remove trash, leaf litter and other debris from near the house and keep food well hidden and off the pantry floor. Trash piles, discarded papers or magazines and cardboard are some favorite places for crazy ants to nest.”

Keck said chemical control is limited and there are few, if any, effective organic options.

“Barrier sprays around the foundation of the home and long concrete pathways are reasonably effective,” she said. “And indoor sprays at entry points may also keep them at bay. However, these are only temporary and will not permanently control crazy ants.”

For large quantities of crazy ants, both Keck and Brown recommended calling a pest control professional.

“You can manage small numbers of ants adequately with spray or barrier pesticides rated for ants,” Brown said. “But these control methods are less than effective against large ant populations, especially if they keep spreading to new areas.”

“You’re better off having pest control professionals managing large crazy ant populations because they are more experienced with pesticide mixtures and treatments,” Keck added. “Ultimately professionals tend to use far less pesticide than non-professionals.”

Both experts also noted that if county residents need help identifying a particular ant species, they may bring samples of the ants to the AgriLife Extension office in a closed baggie or small container with a well-fitting lid.

Brown can be contacted at 512-854-9600 or ebrown@ag.tamu.edu, and Keck at 210-467-6575 or mekeck@ag.tamu.edu.

Section 2 IPM and IAQ inspections can find open floor and wall penetrations

When a Facility Director receives complaints from teachers, staff, principals and others it leads to some type of investigation or inspection. Investigations into indoor air quality (IAQ) complaints have revealed several cases where the IAQ of a classroom, staff office, or school building was adversely affected by an open and unsealed pipe penetration through a floor, wall, or ceiling of the building. The next time you have an unknown problem consider these situations.

In each case, occupants of the classroom were experiencing an adverse reaction to an unknown airborne irritant that was not identifiable by visual traits or normal IAQ tests. The occupants reported their concerns to the school administrator who contacted an IAQ consultant to conduct a building investigation. In each case, the investigation revealed that an open floor or wall penetration was hidden from view. The penetrations were either above a suspended ceiling, in an enclosed chase, behind cabinetry, or hided by a counter or other classroom furnishings.

During construction or renovations, the penetrations were made for passage of a pipe, conduit, or duct through an exterior floor or wall but were left unsealed due to insufficient construction funds to pay for proper sealing of the wall or floor opening.

In some cases, the penetration was for an abandoned building system but in most cases, the penetration was formed during the installation of a new building system.

The opened and unsealed penetration allowed contaminated exterior air to enter the interior space and the building’s HVAC air conveyance system. The infiltration of this unconditioned air carried water vapor, particulate matter, gaseous odors, and infectious microbes into the school building. The infiltrated water vapor increased the interior relative humidity and led to mold development or other microbial activity. Airborne particles, gases, and microbes increased the adverse health effects of the classroom students and teachers. In many cases, the unconditioned air was coming from a basement or crawl space with an earth or dirt floor. Some openings were large enough for small rodents, skunks, or raccoons to enter the classroom.

School construction and renovation activities must include sufficient funding to properly seal these floor and wall penetrations during the construction phase. If they are not sealed at this time, the costs to seal them will go up higher, since walls or furnishings that have to be removed to gain; access for the repair will require additional labor costs after the fact. Once corrected these additional sealing procedures of these penetrations can improve the thermal efficiency of the School’s Heating and Air Conditioning system and save dollars from the district’s energy bills. Funds for sealing penetrations in walls and floors must be included in the total school construction budget and should be considered before not after a new project is started.

This information is not complete without some vital images – Penetration images that can cause pest and odor problems to see the images most often found once the problem has been diagnosed. Remember when you are conducting a school IPM inspection; there ARE areas that you should note as well on an inspection sheet.

Additional Information – University of Florida

Know the Facts: 90 years of tight spaces

The association between tight spaces as cockroach harborage has been known for over 90 years.
In 1975, Walter Ebeling, the father of urban entomology, wrote a textbook where he referenced a 1920 publication by Wille.
Ebeling credits Wille with determining that adult German cockroaches can “move about in space only 1.6 mm in width or depth.”
How much is 1.6 mm?
- About 0.06 inches, which is virtually meaningless to me.
- However, my UF credit card is almost 1 mm thick.
- So 1.6 mm would be just shy of the thickness of two credit cards.

Emphasis on clutter and sanitation

Why de-clutter? The virtues of de-cluttering are endless: eliminate breeding sites, increase ability to treat and most importantly, de-cluttering will help with all-important inspections and monitoring programs!

Does sanitation really improve treatment results? We have a number of excellent cockroach products, particularly baits, but their efficacy can be compromised because of poor sanitation. Sanitation includes de-cluttering and the removal of competing food sources, which will improve your treatment results. Additionally, cleaning surfaces appropriately (soapy water with water rinse) will help remove grease that can compromise the effectiveness of some products as well as remove allergens deposited by cockroaches, which are known triggers for asthma.

Finally, cleaning surfaces of fecal spots will also remove pheromones will are responsible for cockroach aggregations. The gregarious behavior of German cockroaches in association with pheromones has been recorded as early as 1945 by Ledoux.

For more information about school IPM, go to https://schoolipm.tamu.edu

To join or leave this listserv, reply to this e-mail with SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject heading.

Go Ahead! Make Our Day! STEAL This NEWSLETTER!!

AgriLife Extension School IPM program gives permission for you (IPM Coordinators, Maintenance & Operations Directors, teachers, custodians, and other interested parties) to steal this or past newsletters. In fact, we beg you to pass this newsletter on, steal articles to use in your own school’s newsletter. Our newsletters are for informational and educational purposes. Our objective is to educate everyone about IPM.

Educational programs of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating

Praise for another successful Statewide School IPM Coordinators Conference

Posted on November 21, 2011 by janet.hurley

I would first like to thank all the individuals who gave their time to speak at the conference, I know for some of you, this took you away from your home and family, and we appreciate it. Second I would like to thank TASBO for their support of this conference, we really could not have done it without you. To the TIPMAPS Board – you all deserve a “round of applause” thank you for helping with obtaining door prize items; speaking, helping with set up and making sure sign in sheets were completed. Finally, thank you all who attended this workshop, we had a small group (132) but you were all engaged. All the talks have been posted to the TASBO website. Click here to be directed to that page.

For those of you who could not make it or were not aware of this conference – start planning now! The Facility Masters Group will be meeting with TIPMAPS to determine the date and location of the conference next year. Know this, the Statewide School IPM Coordinators Conference is here to stay, so if you need CEU credit or really want to make your IPM program successful, this is the conference for you, budget for it.

If you are not a TIPMAPS member, please contact or download a membership form from www.tipmaps.org :

Paul Duerre, CIE – President TIPMAPS
Environmental Specialist, Killeen ISD
O 254-336-0071
C 254-681-0442
Paul.Duerre@killeenisd.org

John Gann RTSBA, CPSI, ATEM – Vice President TIPMAPS
Director of Maintenance, Keller ISD
O-817-744-3958
C-817-456-4201
John.Gann@kellerisd.net

Charles “C G” Cezeaux, RTSBA – Treasurer TIPMAPS
Director of Operations, Spring ISD
O 281-891-6425
C 713-594-0217
charlesc@springisd.org

A.J. Clinton – Secretary TIPMAPS
Maintenance Director, Springtown ISD
O 817-523-7375
C 817-980-7014
AClinton@springtownisd.net

Here is some of what you missed at the conference

Dr. Tom Green explains to the crowd about dirty floor drains and how they affect an IPM program.

Dr. Green presents Katy ISD with their IPM Star Award

Spring ISD receives their IPM Star award and Dr. Green loved their green IPM shirts as well!

Tim Myers, Klein ISD receives the plaque for their IPM Star Award. All three schools will also receive certificates and recognition in front of their school board later this year.

School Integrated Pest Management

Teaching, Research, Extension and Service

News you can use

Links

We're Social!

subscribe!