For years, Paul Guillebeau has taught pest-control companies
and farmers how to reduce pesticide risks. Now he’s turning his
attention to Georgia schools.”There has been an increased
effort to reduce children’s pesticide risks nationwide,”
said Guillebeau, Integrated Pest Management coordinator for the
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences. “Other states have IPM programs with their school
systems. We thought it was time Georgia joined them.”

With a $40,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program, Guillebeau
and his staff developed an IPM program for Georgia schools.

It Started With
a Survey

The first step was writing a pesticide usage survey, which
was distributed to all Georgia schools, public and private. This
was done with the help of the Georgia School Superintendents
Association
and Georgia Association of Educational Leaders.

“We needed to find out what the schools’ major pests
are,”
he said.

The survey fingered rodents, roaches, ants and head lice as
the biggest pests. It also found that a few Georgia schools try
to control pests themselves, but most rely on pest control
companies.

Working Together to Reduce Pesticide
Risks

When a school system expresses interest in the program,
Guillebeau
and the county agent schedule a site visit. “We sit
down with the school and their pest control company and discuss
the school’s program,” he said.

“A lot of schools had the idea that if they were paying
a company $5,000, it’s their job to control the pests,” he
said. “They don’t realize the role the school’s sanitation
and maintenance staff plays in their pest problems.”

At the same time, many companies were not aware of
alternatives
to spraying pesticides. “Pest control companies can still
make the same amount of money, do a good job and reduce the
amount
of pesticides they use,” Guillebeau said.

The pest control companies support the program. UGA is
partnered
with the Georgia Pest Control Association, and Guillebeau is now
a member of their “IPM in Schools” committee.

Killing Roaches and Spraying
Less

Just updating school roach control programs has greatly
reduced
pesticide usage. Five years ago, Guillebeau said, the standard
program was to spray the whole school once a month.

“They did this whether or not there were signs of
roaches,”
he said. “Excellent roach baits are now available that have
much, much lower toxicity levels and are just as effective as
sprays. And schools are realizing that just because they have
roaches in the lunchroom, doesn’t mean the whole school needs
to be treated.”

Guillebeau said the worst incident he uncovered involved
roaches
and chewing gum in an elementary school cafeteria.

“The school was performing their own pest control and
having roach problems in their lunchroom eating areas,” he
said. “They studied the area and found large amounts of
chewing
gum stuck to the bottoms of the tables. This was attracting the
roaches.”

Instead of scraping the gum off of the tables, the staff
sprayed
the bottoms of the tables with a pesticide. “It’s not a far
stretch of the imagination that an elementary school kid could
get some of that gum off there and pop it back in his
mouth,”
Guillebeau said.

This horror story is one of the reasons Guillebeau is fighting
to see UGA’s “IPM for Schools” program implemented in
all Georgia schools.

Spreading the Word Across
Georgia

So far, Guillebeau has worked with schools in 23 Georgia
counties.
But he hopes schools will jump on the bandwagon as they hear
about
the program. The next phase is to begin working with Georgia day
care centers.

“I have no doubt that we’re going to be successful,”
he said. “It’s just going to take some time. It’s not that
there are a lot of new discoveries or that we’ve had a sudden
vision. We’re just getting schools and pest control companies
to work together to do the right things.”