January 7, 2015

Familiar to many school maintenance and facilities departments, the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 requires schools to maintain records of all pesticide use at their school sites for 4 years, and to make these records available to the public upon request, including posting warning signs after each pesticide application and recording the amount of pesticides used.

In 2014, SB 1405 (DeSalnier) was signed by the Governor which includes new requirements under the Healthy Schools Act (HSA) that schools (and child care facilities) should be aware of.  In summary, the revised HSA requires the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) to develop a training course for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and the safe use of pesticides in educational environments.  Beginning on July 1, 2016, compliance with the HSA will require a school designee and any person who intends to apply a pesticide at a school site, to annually complete a training course provides by DPR or its authorized agent.  In addition, after this date any person hired by the school district will be required to complete at least a one-hour training course on IPM in educational environments (to be developed by DPR and approved by the Structural Pest Control Board).

 

DPR is still in the process of implementing the new requirements, but they have developed guidance/reference document that will help school districts prepare to comply with the new training and reporting requirements.  The following is DPR’s guidance document for your reference, which includes a link to DPR’s School IPM Website which is very useful:

 

What School District and Child Care Staff Need to Know About the Latest Healthy Schools Act Amendments

 

New requirements of the Healthy Schools Act went into effect on January 1, 2015. If pesticides are applied at a public K – 12 school, the school district must do the following:

 

1. Create a school IPM plan using the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) template and post it on the school district website.

 

2. Report pesticide applications made by school district employees to DPR at least annually. For pesticide applications made from January 1 to December 31, 2015 submit reports to DPR no later than January 30, 2016. DO NOT report pesticide use by licensed pest management professionals.

 

The template for a school IPM plan and the pesticide use reporting form can be found on the DPR School IPM Web site at www.cdpr.ca.gov/schoolipm/main.cfm. Pesticide products exempt from the IPM plan and pesticide use reporting requirements include self-contained baits, gels and pastes used in cracks and crevices, antimicrobials, and pesticides exempt from U.S. EPA registration.

 

If you have any questions about the Healthy Schools Act please email the School IPM Team at [email protected]. 

 

To help school district understand the new requirements, DPR has organized IPM workshops for school IPM coordinators and other school district staff responsible for pest management in schools.  These one-day workshops will review IPM principals including hands-on demonstrations and tours of major pests around school buildings and grounds.  The following are the dates and times DPR’s workshops have been scheduled, and more may be scheduled in the future.

 

 

Dates and Locations
February 19, 2015 Register	Costa Mesa (Orange County) Estancia High School 2323 Placentia Avenue Costa Mesa, CA 92627
April 9, 2015 Register	Turlock (Stanislaus County) Dutcher Middle School 1441 Colorado Avenue Turlock, CA 95380

~~Ian Padilla