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Impact...
By legislative mandate, 983,168 students (ages 6-18) in Indiana attend one of the 1919 public schools each school day. There they are taught by a corps of 55,075 schoolteachers with the help of 53,973 certified and 8,708 non-certified staff. All of these, both student and teacher, spend significant time in the school buildings and on the school grounds. During non-school hours, public school buildings also serve as a social center and host a myriad of extracurricular events and athletic contests on a regular basis. When the number of visitors and families of students and staff who frequent school buildings are added to the students and staff who work and learn in the buildings each day, it becomes clear that a large portion of Indiana citizens can be affected by the environment in public school buildings. By implementing IPM in every school in Indiana, together with the incorporation of IPM principles into the science curricula of each grade, nearly a million students, and by extension their families and communities, will begin to understand the concepts and value of Integrated Pest Management. IPM concepts taught in the public schools will diffuse throughout society as families become involved in their children's welfare and education. Exposure to these principles will foster their implementation, not only within the school, but also in homes, farms, communities and cities throughout the State of Indiana.
Support...
Assurance of human safety in public school buildings is paramount. The Governor of Indiana has announced that children's safety is one of his highest concerns. Insects and other pests infesting public buildings may, not only damage the structure of the building, but may also pose a direct threat to human health. At the same time, the unrestricted use of pesticides to control and prevent pests in schools is a common practice. Potential exposure of children, either directly, as they contact surfaces which have been treated with pesticides, or indirectly through inhalation, is a source of extreme anxiety to parents and guardians as well as to the staff who work in the buildings. Public opinion and a recent parent survey indicate that the level of parental concern about pests as well as the use of pesticides in public schools is high. No regulatory program currently addresses the use of pesticides in public schools even though such chemicals have been implicated in cases of serious health problems within Indiana as well as throughout other states. Goals... Adoption of an IPM in public schools program requires a concerted effort by experts in the field, working closely with school administrators, custodians, grounds keepers and pest control operators to actually implement the program and demonstrate its effectiveness. My goals are to help foster the implementation of IPM in schools through training at each of these levels. In addition, the development and use of curricula, used by public school teachers will not only promote a better understanding of Entomology, but also of proper pest management in the world in which we live. It is to this end that I am directing a significant portion of both my research and extension efforts. home | top of page |
